Book now for feisty Flo Smith

Full details of the May presentation of FET at Les Cabannes are at this link
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1345869475331766717#editor/target=post;postID=4746069782354588043

FET in May

“Feisty, funny and frank…" Stratford-upon-Avon Herald 

For our second show of the year, we are delighted to welcome FLO SMITH - NOW AND THEN on Saturday 18th May at 8pm.

It's 1969 and a woman looks back on her life lived in London, from the Boer War to the Summer of Love... Flo Smith, daughter, sister, wife, mother, widow and grandmother recalls with horror, humour, tears and joy those turbulent times at home, and in the world beyond her front door.

Written by actor Christopher Saul, the play is based on recordings he made as a young drama student of his own grandmother, Florence Smith. Her loveable and forthright character is brought brilliantly to life by Ursula Mohan, whose many credits include playing a female King Lear (at the Tristan Bates Theatre in 2016) and Joyce the cockney clippie, in many episodes of On the Buses (in the late 60s and early 70s).

★★★★ A working class London girl who has endured poverty, injustice, a troubled upbringing, love and loss, her reminisces intermingle with world events... it is this intimate biographical detail framed against the background politics that give her gossipy ramblings a historical importance and unique insightfulness." Gill Sutherland, Stratford Herald 

The bar will open at 7pm and the performance will start at 8pm.

To book your tickets, please email: fetatlecolombier@gmail.com

Members €15 Non-Members €20

NB: your reservation will only be confirmed on receipt of your cheque

Ruth Etridge FET Secretary

www.fetatlecolombier.com

FET 4 theatre

 The new season at FET at the Theatre Le Colombier, les Cabannes, opened last night (22^nd March with four talented actors presenting extracts from works by some of Britain’s leading late 20^th century dramatists, called “4 Love”

The whole evening was planned and directed by Delena Kidd who interspersed the dramatic scenes with a commentary both witty, informative and containing illuminating personal anecdotes. Ably assisted by Nick Waring, Claire Carrie and our own Donald Douglas the six pieces chosen exhibited a range of performances and emotions.
We know what to expect from Michael Frayn and Alan Ayckbourn : words, wit and farce. John Osborne’s “Look Back in Anger” is part of much of our generation’s cultural heritage and Noel Coward is just himself – elegant wit, music but real subjects treated below the surface.

Unexpected (though most of us have seen the TV film) was how moving Alan Bennett’s portrayal of Guy Burgess in “An Englishman Abroad” was. Ms Kidd and Nick Waring played the pathos and seedy despair of the Moscow apartment perfectly. Many of the audience were, of course, expats themselves and although we have the freedom to travel (well, up to now..) we miss simple things just as Burgess missed his Savile Row suits and cosmopolitan friends. But what a sad figure he cut despite the desperate, whisky fuelled, humour.

Donald gave us a portrayal of a president and an officer, which would have been funny if it was not so potentially true. Purporting to be a posthumous work of Harold Pinter (how prescient for a playwright who died some10 years ago) the Pres in question “nuked” London, the capital as he thought of France. Then appraised too late of his error, nuked Paris in reprisal. Donald’s duet with Claire Carrie from the Osborne play was another view of broken love, and a situation probably familiar to many of the audience.

One thing we audiences at the Colombier have learned is just how versatile these actors can be. Delena Kidd played an elderly thespian forgetting all her lines, an acerbic snob, and a lovely portrayal of Corale Browne. Claire Carrie was a desperate housewife and a passionate lover; Nick Waring superb as the crawling male equivalent of Beverley Moss (remember Abigail’s Party?) in the hilarious Ayckbourn excerpt and the pathetic Burgess. And there was singing.

Donald in his variety of roles even managed to look presidential in his MAGA baseball cap. Making Les Cabannes great again is well on course with FET.

Reminder for FET's new season

Our first show of the new year is 4 Love, a collection of six famous scenes from six famous plays performed by four actors: Delena Kidd, who played in Sweet Mr Shakespeare, Claire Carrie from the RSC, Nicholas Waring from East Enders, and Donald Douglas from Cordes-sur-Ciel!

It promises to be an entertaining evening of laughter, tears and surprises, courtesy of some of the most brilliant English playwrights of the 20th century: Michael Frayn's Noises Off, John Osborne's Look Back In Anger, Alan Ayckbourn's Absurd Person Singular, Alan Bennet's Single Spies, Harold Pinter's The President and Noël Coward's Private Lives.

The show will play for two weeks in Cape Town, before coming to the Colombier on Friday 22nd March.

Book early to avoid disappointment!

The bar opens at 6pm and the performance will start at 7pm.

To book your tickets, please email: fetatlecolombier@gmail.com

Members €25 Non-Members €30

NB: your reservation will only be confirmed on receipt of your cheque      

Ruth Etridge FET Secretary

www.fetatlecolombier.com

Join or renew theatre subs for this year's shows.

Dear FET Friends,

Thank you for your patronage in the past and we hope that you would like to show your continued support by becoming a member of FET for our 2019 season.

This year's fees are due from 01/01/2019.

Membership costs 20€ per person.

We are busy preparing this year's programme and due to popular request FET has secured some shows with a company of actors.  As we are sure you appreciate the tickets for these shows will be more expensive but as a member you still get a 5€ discount on show tickets.

As a general rule, tickets for shows with one actor will cost 15€ for members, 20€ for non-members, whilst tickets for shows with a company of actors will cost 25€ for members, 30€ for non-members.

As a reminder of other benefits, members get priority booking ahead of the general public, can stand for the committee, and attend the AGM.

Membership cheques must be made payable to 'FET' and mailed to:

Mme Ruth ETRIDGE

FET

2355 Route de La Belautie

81140, CAHUZAC-SUR-VERE

Back at Le Colombier

For me the best part of the FET show this evening was just being there. After missing the whole of the 2018 programme with illness, being among so many friendly faces in the lovely little Colombier Theatre in Les Cabannes was a welcome reminder of how privileged we are to have this piece of our culture here.

But this is not to belittle the performances of Simon Green and his pianist David Shrubsole. Presenting the musical works of Noel Coward, interspersed with extracts from his diaries, reminded us of just how talented Coward was. Tender love songs, nostalgic ballads, acidic commentaries on contemporary life; all were there. The cynicism often made Coward’s songs unpopular, but the intricate lyrics reminded me of some modern rap performers.

One person I spoke to said “London Pride” moved her to tears as it was what her mother sang to her during the blitz. “20^th Century Blues” is as relevant in the 21^st century as it was then. And Coward’s words to Cole Porter’s “Let’s fall in love” were as witty and relevant to 60’s England as the originals were to the 20’s jazz age. I missed my personal favourite “Poor Little Rich Girl”, but we all have favourite Coward songs.

The title “Coward at Christmas” rather belied the content of the show, it being Coward, but Christmas only because we are in December. Simon Green presented the songs with compassion, but lacked the elegant wit of Coward himself (but who has it?) and David Shrubsole’s sympathetic accompaniment added greatly to our evening.

But finally, I loved being at Le Colombier again and am looking forward to renewing my membership for 2019.

If you haven't booked already, don't miss our next show..... Watch the YouTube clip for audience reaction...

We are thrilled to welcome In Loyal Company, a powerful one-man show hot off the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it won five-star reviews, on Wednesday 17th October 2018 at 7pm.

Performer and co-writer David William Bryan tells the true story of his great uncle Arthur – known as Joe – who never thought of going to war until the Liverpool bombing raids of WWII. He joins up and is sent to Singapore, only to go missing when his ship shinks and ending up in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp.

Pieced together by Bryan and his co-writer from family history and documentary research, Joe's story is touching, humbling and at times viscerally exciting, whilst Bryan's acclaimed performance is all the more heartfelt for his flesh-and-blood connection with the hero.

Watch this for audience reaction..

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb_1wsIMdIw

★★★★★ "a great story, and a truly stunning performance." Fringe Guru

★★★★★ "masterful writing and accomplished performance...a hugely powerful and deeply moving piece." Fringe Review

★★★★★ "this epic untold tale of survival is a one-man powerhouse performance." What's On Stage

★★★★★ "a thrilling and intense experience. Don't miss it." The Edinburgh Reporter

The bar will open at 6pm and the performance will start at 7pm.

To book your tickets, please email: fetatlecolombier@gmail.com

Members €15 Non-Members €20

NB: your reservation will only be confirmed on receipt of your cheque

Ruth Etridge FET Secretary

www.fetatlecolombier.com