wookey theatre group

About Us

Back in 2011 Polly and Liz were in training for the Bath Half marathon – definitely a mid-life crisis – and during conversation they talked about the slowly crumbling Wookey Church Hall. Brainstorming about what could be done to raise money for its refurbishment, Liz suggested a village pantomime like they did in the 1980’s.

 The momentum from the very start was amazing: someone knew someone in the village – Pauline – who wrote short stories, and she agreed to write a version of Cinderella. Jane Casey was great at sewing so took on the job of costumes and this more recently has been taken on by Jan. Set proved to be a bit of a problem, so they asked Lara because she was really ‘arty’! This was such a big task that Lara approached Tony, a local retired set designer (what are the chances?!) to help her. Tony then asked if we’d like photos of the production as his wife Myrtle was a very keen (and excellent) photographer. The music was another problem, so they asked John (who was ‘good with words’) if he could change a few lyrics to some songs to give them a more local flavour.

Audition posters went up around the village with the hope that someone would turn up. And they did – 22 adults and children.

Having asked if any members of the local choir if anyone would like to be involved, Ann said she’d like to ‘do something’ back stage and has stage managed every production since. Gay also volunteered to help and has taken on many onerous tasks from prompt to helping with the costumes and most importantly making endless cups of tea!

Rehearsals started in the damp, smelly Church Hall – many song lyrics referred to this unique aroma! The team soon realised that they needed lighting and staging, and someone said “why don’t you ask Ted? “. Ted had been in charge of the lighting for the pantos back in the 1980’s and was apparently waiting to be asked to help – and this completed the team and brought the whole production together.

Polly, the group’s Director, recalls: “I can clearly remember our first ever night opening to a full house, with Liz and I sitting together clasping each other’s hands, feeling sick with nerves. Then the audience started to laugh and we said ‘it’s funny, they’re laughing, it really is funny’!”

The first production was a big success and so feeling spurred on the team decided to stage a summer youth production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. They’ve never looked back and every year have either produced a pantomime in January or a musical ( Wizard of Oz ), and after two more youth productions in the summer months ( Bugsy Malone and Jungle Book ) decided to let the adults have a go and they performed a comedy play – Inspector Drake’s Last Case in May 2017.

There have been a few changes since Wookey Theatre Group started. Liz decided to take a step back in 2013 and Ann has been the group’s Producer ever since.  Very sadly their fabulous set designer Tony passed away, but before he did, he lined up another local retired set designer, Brian ( again, what are the chances?) to take over, and what an amazing job he has done. Jane Pruden more recently has taken on the role of Assistant Producer and we could not possibly list the number of jobs she does for us! But, we do know that we could not run the group without her valued contribution.  

Greg  joined the group in 2016 when he helped direct a mini film for Wizard of Oz. Since then he has provided much needed lighting, technical and sound support. In 2022 he directed a mini film that was so professionally produced it will forever be remembered as one of the key highlights in Vicar of Dibley.    

With the group’s shows becoming ever more popular and the demand for tickets growing Polly and Ann decided to launch a new website in 2018 to help promote their shows and to move ticket purchasing online. 

Polly says: “I quite often speak to other local theatre companies who struggle to get support, this just reminds me how lucky we are in our little village to have such an amazing array of talent. An audience member once said something that really resonated…’ as soon as you walk in there is such a strong sense of community and warmth’.

‘It’s not just people from within the village that have supported us, right from the outset Walton Press has recognised the work that we do and has sponsored every show by printing all our scripts, tickets, posters and programs, it all makes such a difference.’ “

As a theatre group we have raised over £30,000 towards Wookey Church Hall refurbishment project, which was why it all began. And we have no intention of stopping……..

Productions

2013       Cinderella

2013       Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

2014       Bugsy Malone

2014       Snow White and The Seven Doodahs

2015       Jungle Book

2015       (Sort Of) Sleeping Beauty

2016       Wizard of Oz

2017       Aladdin

2017       Inspector Drake’s Last Case

2018       Calamity Wayne

2018       Dad’s Army

2019       The Fladdams Family

2019       Blackadder 2

2020       Pirates of Panto

2022       Vicar of Dibley

2022       Oliver

2023      Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

TEN MEMORABLE YEARS

On 3rd December 2015 the Production Team were invited to the Pride of Somerset Awards ceremony at Rookery Manor. Wookey Youth Theatre had been nominated for Outstanding Contribution to The Arts and Culture. The other nominees were Farmfestival and Wedmore Opera both well established, highly respected groups. As a small community theatre that had only been running for a few years and against such strong opposition, it was with genuine surprise that Wookey Theatre Group was called out as the winner.

In June 2023 we celebrated our 10 year anniversary! We never thought when we started that we would ever get to 10 years or that we would have produced 17 fantastic shows! We invited back cast and crew who have helped us over the years to help us celebrate with cake and coffee in the hall. Such a lovely atmosphere, with so many stories and tales to tell. 

As a local village theatre group our goal is to put on good quality, fun and laughter packed performances, full of music and dance. We are tremendously proud of the strong sense of community that magically occurs through each and every performance.

Sponsorship