Community Theatre 4All was formed in September 2015 and draws its membership primarily from the villages of Talaton and Whimple.
The company gave its first performance, “Godspell”, in St Mary’s church Whimple in March 2016. Since this time the company has been highly active producing a wide range of work which have been performed in many different venues. Productions have included, an open-air “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (September 2017), tours to local village halls and pubs with a programme of comedy melodramas (November/December 2018), “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” (March 2020), and Tom Stoppard’s “The Real Inspector Hound” (February 2023). The company also, from time to time, undertakes the creation and presentation of original work that is based upon researched local history. “In Remembrance of a Lost Generation” November 2016, a play commemorating the lives of those whose deaths are recorded on the war memorials of Talaton, Whimple and Escot. The most recent historical play has been “Talaton a War-Time Refuge”, the story of six Kindertransport children homed in Talaton during the Second World War. This was performed in April 2022.
In addition to the adult group there is now a thriving youth group open to all young people between school years 4 and 9. This group is lead by Tom and Frances Samson. Tom is a trained Drama and Theatre Arts teacher and both Tom and Frances have Enhanced DBS Clearance for working with children. Young Community Theatre 4All have presented their own productions which have included “Where the Wild Things Are”, based upon the book of the same name and most recently the musical “Rats!”. In March 2024 Young Community Theatre 4All will present an original play “The Little Prince” that recreates Antoine De Saint-Exupéry’s magical story for the stage.
The adult and children’s groups will then join forces to give open air performances of “Toad of Toad Hall” in May 2024.
If you are interested in finding out more about Community Theatre 4All please contact Tom Samson at communitytheatre4all@yahoo.co.uk or on 07979 876211.