The adult entry Between Mouthfuls’ by Alan Ackbourn was set in a restaurant and centred around the Waiter who was serving two couples at different tables, who worked together. As the Waiter flits between tables, you can hear the separate conversations between the different couples when he is there. As the evening progresses, we discover the relationship between the two couples are more interwined than we first thought. The Adjudicator thought the play had a lot of detail, and commented on the way the waiter, played by Michael Darvell, was integral to the timing of the play and kept in character throughout, doing a good job of keeping the pace up. The adjudicator also commented that Emma Evans, who played Mrs Pierce, gave a fine performance with great facial expressions and gave good energy to the play.

The Youth Entry ‘Deadly’ by Jonny Ardern is set in a park with each teenage character in the play representing one of the seven deadly sins. Set over a number of days, we see the different “sins” relating to each other in their own ways.  The judge commented that the play was well presented and all the characters were believable. The adjudicator thought the throwing of Lewis (lust), played by David Broadbent, over the wall by Wendy (wrath), played by Laura Bell, was fantastic. He also noted that David gave a confident performance throughout the play with good stage presence.

Nominations and Awards were given as follows:

Nominations: Emma Evans for Best Actress in ‘Between Mouthfuls & David Broadbent in the Youth Entry ‘Deadly’ for Best Youth Actor.

 ’Between Mouthfuls’ was also nominated for best dressed set.

Awards: Michael Darvell won the award for Best Supporting Actor in “Between Mouthfuls” & “Deadly” won Best Dramatic Moment.

Proposals have been submitted for plays and directors for the additional One Act Play. If you would like to take part please express your interest please send a message to committee. We will be re-grouping on Wednesday 7th April to confirm the play, director and audition date to everyone wishing to take part. Debbie Brown BATS Chairman

The Twenty Eighth Annual Festival will be held at Haynes Village Hall during the week commencing Monday, April 26th 2010.

BATS will be entering two One Act Plays as follows:

The Adult entry “Between Mouthfuls” by Alan Ayckbourn is to be directed by Karla Mikkena.

This play is set in a restaurant where there are two couples eating on separate tables and is very much moved along by the waiter who hears a lot more than he bargained for about the two couples!

Cast: Emma Evans, Michael Darvell, Hadleigh Spicer, Russ Jones & Janet Bennett
To be performed on Wednesday 28th April 2010

The Youth entry “Deadly” by Jonny Arden is being directed by Sue Jordan.

Seven friends attempt to make the most – or least – of their summer holidays. Each has a vice but it’s a vice they’re comfortable with, until Lewis makes a move on Priscilla, the new girl in town. Then it emerges that their sins could end up deadly…

Cast: Laura Bell, Lauren Endersby, Greg Jordan, Maddy Jordan, Seth Moloney, David Broadbent & Holly Smith
To be performed on Thursday 29th April 2010

The adult entry is also to be performed at welwyn drama Festival – dates to be announced.

BATS are entering the Drama Festival this year with two entries, one for the adults and one for the juniors, and are holding autitions on Monday 25th January.

The adult entry is going to be “In Flame” by Charlotte Jones, and is open to anyone over or under 18. The junior entry will be confirmed shortly and is only open to those under 18.

The performance will be in April some time between the 21st and the 24th. Hopefully see as many as possible on Monday.

Break a leg everyone!

We have been busy in December promoting our up and coming Pantomime and celebrating Christmas.

BATS entered a Christmas tree this year in the St Andrews Church Christmas Tree Festival, which was decorated in the theme of our pantomime Dick Whittington & His Cat on 4th December 2009, see picture below.

You may have also seen BATS supporting the turning on of the Biggleswade Christmas Lights. BATS were invited to form part of the parade and then sing a song from our much-awaited January pantomime on stage. Photographs include the principles, directors and producers of the show.

BATS have been letting their hair down however, with a Christmas meal at Simply Oak in Biggleswade. Lots of nice food, lots of dancing and a lot of fun (see below photos). The kids also got in on the fun, with a kids Christmas party after a rehearsal, involving lots of party food and games.

After a short break we are now back to our busy rehearsal schedule and look forward to seeing you all at our Pantomime Dick Whittington & His Cat on Friday 15th & Saturday 16th January 2010.

Biggleswade Amateur Theatrical Society proudly presents the Pantomime favourite “Dick Whittington And His Cat“, to be performed at Stratton Upper School. Come with the family to see the adventures of Dick Whittington and his Feline companion as they attempt to seek their fortune in London Town, with the help of his new friend Alice; however the evil King Rat attempts to thwart their plans with his own fiendish scheme. Come and share in their tale of mystery and adventure.

Show times are Friday 15th January 2010 at 19:30, and Saturday 16th January 2010 at 14:30 and 19:30.

Tickets will be £8 and concessions £7. These can be bought from Thomas Morris in December.

Hope to see you at the show,

Debbie Brown – BATS Chairman 

We have just finished performing in our Variety Show ‘Silver Plated’ Celebrating 25 years of BATS. It went really well and we all had a great time being involved in the production, despite some dark hours which I will get on to in a bit. The Show was produced by Sue Jordon and included old and new members, (some of whom were actually around in the founding years), performing old and new material.

I’d like to say a big thank you for those of you who attended the show especially on the Saturday night.  We had some interesting moments on Saturday night as we were plunged into darkness twice in one night!

The first time was before the show and lasted just under an hour, but fortunately we had a patient audience, who were also getting half price drinks during the black out. When the lights came back on we started the show but unfortunately the lights went off again just before the end of act one.  Our quick thinking back stage crew managed to shine torches on the actors so they could finish their sketch. We hoped the lights would come back on soon as we didn’t want our audience too drunk.

 As all the power was off we not only had no lights, but no mics or speakers to perform with. However luckily a piano had been left in the hall and Sarah Rees was able to start playing songs from musicals while Gregory Jordon performed table magic while we were waiting to be reconnected.

Happily the lights came back on after a short while and we were able to perform a shortened down version of Act Two.

So I’d like to thank cast and crew for their excellent performances on both nights and for coping so well with the darkness. I would also like to again thank everyone that turned up to watch our variety show.

Our next show is the Pantomime ‘Dick Whittington & His Cat’, which we have already started rehearsing and we will be performed in January next year.

Hope to see you all there,

Debbie Brown – Chairman BATS

Colouring Competition Winner

Hannah Penwright Aged 9

A big thank-you to everyone that entered the competition, hopefully see you all at the Panto.

Kay Young

Colouring Competition!

Win Panto Tickets and a selection of children’s toys and goodies.
Your design will be used as our programme cover!

BATS presents this years pantomime
Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs

We are performing at Stratton School on Fri 16^th Jan at 7:30pm
And Saturday 17^th Jan at 2pm and again at 7:30pm

If you would like to win 2 tickets, have the pride of your entry being used as our programme cover, seen by around 800 people, and not to mention a stash of other prizes, please enter our colouring competition.

Click here to download the flyer as a PDF File.

Colour the flyer and send into the Biggleswade Chronicle Office, High Street Biggleswade by Tuesday 13^th January. The Editor James Stewart and his colleagues will pick the winner which will be announced in the Chronicle in the 16^th January edition. Winner will be notified by telephone beforehand.

Good Luck!

Hello all and welcome to the BATS website, firstly apologies for the website being a little behind the times of late – our web master has been off having a baby, (well his wife has, but you know what I mean), So we are having a go at updating it ourselves for now!

Anyway, we are currently extremely busy with our final preparations for this years pantomime, SNOW WHITE and the 7 DWARFS, and I have uploaded some photos of the cast and some of our rehearsal shots for you to have a look at.

Our show goes on up at Stratton School on Jan 16^th at 7:30pm, and Saturday 17^th Jan with a matinee performance at 2pm, and evening show at 7:30.

We would recommend that you get your tickets in advance from Thomas Morris Estate Agent in Market Square Biggleswade (Near Greggs Bakers), but if you have any group booking requirements or any questions please feel free to email us through the contact section on the website.

Tickets are £8.00 for adults and £6.00 for children and OAP’s.

We hope you can come along, as the show promises to be a rip-roaring traditional panto, with songs and lots of laughs, – just the thing to wipe away those January blues!

Take care and hope to see you at the show!

Kay Young – Chairman.  BATS. x