‘Twas opening night, and all through the park, no bird was a chirping; not even a lark.. The Shakespeare Sisters had set up their camp, and later George Secole will carry the lamp..

You’ve got Hero, Beatrice, Antonio and the hostess- I’ve got to hand it to her, she really is the most-ess. Then Don Pedro arrived with all of his crew, so began the performance of ‘Much Ado’.

We walked, we danced and we put on a show, as this promenade performance was a SMP first dontcha know… I’m not great at this rhyming thing, I should really stop – so here’s the rest of my blog post, hope it’s not a flop…..

Last night was opening night at the beautiful Bury Lodge Gardens and I cannot was express through words how much of a success it was. No one fell in the pond(which if I say so myself is an achievement, I’m pretty sure everyone I have coming have created a secret bet of when I will inevitably go for a swim between the Lily pads), the weather was glorious and much ado was had.

This being my second show with SP, I was eager to get back into the rehearsal room with the lovelies I met during panto and some faces I’ve never seen before to really bring this SMP first to life! Running around the park is a pastime I know most people enjoy, but imagine doing it with a cracking storyline, a beautiful sea of pastels, ace directing and dancing that would make anyone shimmy along to the music .. that smile you have plastered on your face? That warm fuzzy feeling in your stomach.. well that’s it, times it by like 1000 and that’s how it feels doing this show for an audience for the first time after months of rehearsal.

One of the highlights from last, included Lewis reading the order of service during the wedding for the first time and trying his best to not corpse.

Anyway – I thought It’d be a little fun to get a couple of the casts favourite lines or just how they felt opening night and went since I can’t instagram live this like a red carpet Q&A.. so here goes ….

• Lewis: “no comment”
• Sophie: “It was great. I wish I could start every show with a glass of wine”
• Rubia: ‘… the world must be peopled’
• Warren: ‘..die to live..’
• However my personal favourite has to be this heartwarming tale from newbie Helen: “Tonight I saw my mum in a park she used to take me too as a child at least once a week. She’s 85, the look in her eyes as she waved wildly to me across the pond, made her appear 50 years younger. Thank you SMP”.

Well that’s all from me. We still have three shows left this week, but I know that Saturday is limited to the last units so get booking ASAP otherwise you may miss this amazing show; and the chance to possibly see me go diving… (id get in on those odds…)

And of course , just an extra little thanks to everyone involved in the crew, creatives, bar and ticketing because without you the show couldn’t go up!

Tickets are limited for each performance so please book to avoid missing out on a unique show. Our Saturday night performance is SOLD OUT – we still have tickets available for our remaining two performances and tickets will be available on the door. If you still want to come on Saturday please contact the box office on 07708 708 062 or email SMPTickets@hotmail.com to check for returns availability. You can order your tickets by clicking the banner below.

Hello everyone, I’m Gemma and I’m playing the naive, innocent minded Hero. I’ve been a part of SMP for some time now, however, I have had quite a break but I am SO glad to be back. I must say at SMP we are a family and somehow this show feels the same as always although there are so many differences.

I’m in charge of blogging about our ‘get in’. Now usually, as some of you may know, when a company gets into a theatre, it’s a time for tech teams to sort lighting and sound, crew to organise getting the set sorted and the creative team to run through odd bits here and there with the cast. Now today we had most of those things yet there was no theatre to get into. No red seats for the cast to annoy the crew, no tanoy messages to dressing rooms, no blankets and onesies needed to keep us warm because we were outside in the sunshine in beautiful Bury Lodge Park!

Get in day is always magical as you see the production team’s visions start to fall into place in front of you (no matter the setting). Wedding chapels were being made and painted, moveable sound systems were being wheeled around and so many fairy lights were hung, we couldn’t count them all. I’m so excited to see what the next week will bring as we come to the end of another rehearsal process.

To look back on just a few fun moments, we have Bowman (our director) managing to play every part either once or twice, with impecable likeness to the real actor. Trips to the an-tee-podes with Michael (Benedick). And finally, Warren (Dogberry) sitting in bird poop in the walled garden (don’t worry – I’m sure you’ll all be fine, there’s chairs for that bit).

Being a part of this cast has been such a learning curve, as I believe it’s sometime since we all tried our hand at Shaksey-P. I really hope that everyone gets a chance to come along and share this SMP first with us. We were told at the end of panto, earlier this year, that we would be followed by our regular audience members to the ends of the earth. Well we’ve only gone as far as the park. So come along. We’d love to see you there!

P.S. the view from the dressing room is deffo the best we’ve ever had. From the basement to the attic!!

Huge thanks to our Stage Manager Adam Humphreys, PSA legends Dave Stoughton and Simon Latter, Set builder extraordinaire Matt McManus and all our helpers especially Alex Snow, Luke Clow, David Bowman, Micheal Lacey and Warren McWilliams for spending all day at the park getting it show ready.

Tickets are limited for each performance so please book early to avoid missing out on a unique show. Especially if you would like to attend Friday and Saturday’s performances. You can order your tickets by clicking the banner below. Saturday night is extremely limited so please contact the box office on 07708 708 062 or email SMPTickets@hotmail.com to check availability.

If you have any questions about the show check out our FAQ’s here:

Hello, or as William Shakespeare would say, foresooth, I’m Helen and I’m playing the part of Leonata, Governess of Messina in the forthcoming SMP Production of Much Ado About Nothing.

‘Leonata, Governess of Messina?’ I hear you shout in dismay, ‘there is no such part in Much Ado About Nothing’. Firstly, congratulations for being so clever and secondly worry not, because thirdly, SMP have kindly converted the original male part of Leonato to a female part, Leonata via the cunning exchange of nothing more than one vowel…I would like to think it was due to my majestic audition that caused this change of vowel, but I now realise that it had nothing to do with ability and everything to do with me being over 50.

I did some googleising about the part of Leonato and can report that ‘…Leonato is the glue that holds the storyline together, through his seniority, stability and wisdom.’ None of these adjectives have ever been used to describe me, so I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Last Sunday saw our first rehearsal at Bury Lodge Park where we discovered a few things:

1. The pond is approximately 87 times bigger than we imagined.

2. Dancing on grass is hard.

3. Birds are very noisy.

But these issues did not dishearten us; we will take the following steps to overcome them:

1. Take bigger strides.

2. Don’t wear heels.

3. Shout.

Monday saw us back rehearsing at Holtwhites Hill where our Musical Director Kate joined us for the first time with her FABULOUS singing ladies. They sang beautifully and we danced, it was a very enjoyable first date. If anyone were foolish enough to ask me to marry them again, I would absolutely book Kate and her ladies to sing at my wedding. And, just like a wedding, I check the weather forecast for the second week of June, several times a day and I am giddy with excitement that the BBC Weather report says it will be sunny and warm for every night of the show, and I believe every word the BBC tells me.

Wednesday we rehearsed at our new home of the Scout Hut at The Walker Ground which is painted a strange lurid green, like a miniature version of The Land of Oz, but it is therefore reminiscent of the surroundings at Bury Lodge Park, so gets us into the spirit of performing in a park.

And what is that spirit? Well, I’ve done some more googleising and come across this report of when Bury Lodge Park first opened in April 1937… ‘As soon as Cllr Hollywood unlocked the main gates, the army of eager youngsters – many of whom had been waiting some time…swarmed through…their happy laughter could be heard as they sampled the delights of the slides, swings and merry-go-round, sailed excited races on the model yacht pond, and played football on the open grass plots.’

Eighty years on and St Monica’s Players are promising to bring that same feeling of anticipation to Bury Lodge Park to eager crowds, young and old, but if you could avoid playing football on the open grass we would appreciate it as that’s where we’ll be serving cream teas during the interval.

Tickets are available, it’s going to be a wonderful event. Don’t miss it.

Tickets are limited for each performance so please book early to avoid missing out on a unique show. Especially if you would like to attend Friday and Saturday’s performances. You can order your tickets by clicking the banner below.

Hi there am John and will be playing DON JOHN the BASTARD in the up and coming play “MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING” and am very excited about being given the chance to play the villain.

As we all know SMP have now lost their permanent home at the Intimate Theatre but rather let this beat us I have been amazed at how we have risen from the ashes and found new rehearsal spaces and performance areas through the sheer hard work and dedication of its members.

New rehearsal venues and performance areas have all been embraced-rehearsals are now both held at local cricket clubs where we have received a kind welcome-rehearsal pictures show us in our new Enfield venue all working hard as you can see-well Fay is sitting down on her phone and everyone else is basically …well…… errr…..doing their own thing.

This Sunday saw us visit the park where we will be performing and it really helped the cast to understand what the show will be -moving audience members around will impact on all our performances and will help create a truly wonderful evening under the stars. It also made us realise just how loud our lines have to be spoken – am sure I can cope

Tickets are limited for each performance so please book early to avoid missing out on a unique show. Especially if you would like to attend Friday and Saturday’s performances. You can order your tickets by clicking the banner below.

Hello! My name is Sophie and I play Margaret in our production of Much Ado. I’m chuffed to bits to have returned to SMP this summer, after joining the fun at the end of last year for Panto! They all said I’d get hooked and they were right…I couldn’t keep away!

I’m really happy to be involved in this particular production, not only because Much Ado about Nothing is my favourite Shakespeare play, but also because, I absolutely love the fusion of creativity that is being pumped into this performance. It’s becoming such a playful piece of theatre, featuring delightful music, gorgeous singing, charming dances and whimsical comedy moments!

I’m most excited that we are staging the show in the style of a promenade performance, and will be immersing our audience into the action right from the start! I think it’s really fun that we’re going to be encouraging them to become part of the ensemble, and guiding them around the beautiful gardens of Bury Lodge Park, as they follow Shakespeare’s classic story of love and mistaken identity. This personal interaction with our audience in such an intimate setting, outside in the fresh air (whatever the weather!), means that no two performances will be the same, and for me, that’s the most interesting and exciting bit! Anything can happen!

With only 4 weeks until show week, we are now starting to piece together all that we have been working on and interweave our scenes with the dance numbers. This has been awesome, as we are starting to see our performance come together and take shape and it’s looking fantastic! Our choreographer Jo, has done such a fabulous job coming up with such inventive and classy dances sequences that will complement the setting of the park grounds beautifully. It’s also been great working with David, our director, who has been brilliant at helping us define our characters and perform Shakespeare’s (often confusing!) text with confidence and understanding.

We are all extremely excited for our quartet of amazing singers to join us in the rehearsal room soon! They have been busy rehearsing separately from us (in secret!) with our musical director Kate, putting together the dreamy tones of their stunning voices to create a gorgeous soundtrack to our play, which we know is going to enhance it perfectly. I absolutely love the style of music that is being used, without giving anything away, it suits the production wonderfully! This week, we were treated to a teeny tiny sneak peak of what they’ve been up to…they sound incredible and everyone is in for such a treat!

There is a real buzz in the rehearsal room whilst working on our production of Much Ado…it’s fresh, new and exciting and something completely different to anything SMP have ever done before! Even if you’re not the biggest fan of ol’ Willy Shakey, we promise our performance will be an interesting, fun and unique experience! Come along and see for yourself!

Tickets are limited to 100 tickets per performance so please book early to avoid missing out on a unique show. You can order your tickets by clicking the banner below.

What a week we’ve had here at SMP!  The excitement started with not just one, but TWO birthdays among the esteemed members of our production team.  First up was our producer, Dogberry, and all-round source of joy Mr Warren McWilliams, who celebrates turning 40!

Honestly, he doesn’t look a day over 39-and-a-half.

And if that wasn’t enough, later in the week was the birthday of our show’s writer!  Unfortunately Mr William Shakespeare couldn’t join us in the festivities due to being 555 years old and very dead.  (Incidentally this was also the anniversary of his death!  One thing about us theatre people, we’re very good at knowing when to make a dramatic exit)

So there we were celebrating the lives of two great men responsible for some of the greatest works in the history of the stage (Mr Shakespeare boasts an impressive 37 scripts compared to Warren’s 10, however Warren has a somewhat higher chance of increasing his total in future).  And so we chose to celebrate like the refined, professional group of thespians we are.

We got hammered

Fortunately Monday was the Easter bank holiday, which meant a day off from rehearsal and not having to admit which of us were suffering from a 2-day hangover

Later in the week, Wednesday was a landmark day in SMP’s history!  After 60 years of making our home at Cannon house we’ve found ourselves having to say goodbye and move on.  So we shuffled off down the road to find another venue that we can all squeeze into (theatre groups have a surprising amount in common with hermit crabs) which is how we’ve found ourselves rehearsing inside the lovely scout hut at Southgate cricket club. 

First off, now that we’ve worked out all the scenes, and gone through the dancing it was time to sit down and do some singing.  Which was absolutely not just an excuse for Kate to serenade us en masse with her admittedly beautiful voice

After which we finally blocked the masquerade ball scene.  It’s going to be a stunning setpiece, set amongst the gorgeous bury lodge park, with the elegantly clad partygoers dancing gracefully around the banks of the pond.  But you don’t even need to imagine it, because we created a 100% accurate scale model that perfectly encapsulates the beauty of the scene:

Flawless.

It’s been a tumultuous time for the group, first bidding a tentative goodbye to our theatre in January, taking on a brand new open-air Shakespeare featuring singing and dancing which is new to all of us (and probably pretty unique in the 400 year history of the show itself), and now taking the first steps into our new home.  But we’re still together, still loving every moment, and in 5 weeks time we’re going to have something very, very special to show you all.  After all, in the exact words of everyone’s favourite God of Thunder:

(Look you gave me the blog THIS week, you’re getting at least one Avenger’s reference.  What did you expect)

Hopefully in another 60 years time when we end up looking for a new rehearsal space I’ll have joined good old Will Shakespeare in being comfortably dead.  Until that time, here we are and we’re ready to leave our mark

… I meant that metaphorically but whatever.

Tickets are already on sale at the usual spot.  You don’t want to miss this one.  We’re not just inviting you to watch our show.  You’re invited to join it.  And we’re all working incredibly hard to make sure it’s truly fantastic

Just ask John here

Tickets are limited to 100 tickets per performance so please book early to avoid missing out on a unique show. You can order your tickets by clicking the banner below.

Hello there and welcome to the Much Ado blog. I am Joseph and, for my first time with SMP, I am joining the production team as Choreographer. I must say that It is both a scary and exciting prospect.

I say scary because we have a really talented team of stalwart choreographers that work on the majority of SMP’s musicals and pantomimes and so to fill their shoes is a very daunting prospect. I have taught and choreographed a variety of projects for myself and other agencies in the past but to take on a role that is usually filled by such loved and respected individuals is something that you just don’t want to get wrong and, whilst being a wonderful opportunity to explore creatively, you want to ensure that you are honouring the standards of excellence that SMP have become known for. So, I was just a little bit scared taking on the role!

I say exciting because, having been a performing member of SMP for years and years, I have been interested in choreographing one of their shows for a long time but for one reason or another, it has never been quite the right time. This is a really unique opportunity for SMP to work in a slightly different way and, as a choreographer, the idea of promenade is an intriguing one because our audience will, to all intense purposes, be able to view the work from a number of angles and so this challenges you to think creatively about positioning and travelling.

Having the backdrop of Bury Lodge Park and Gardens as our setting will be truly magical and is such an exciting prospect- I can’t wait to start rehearsing in the grounds. I am also thrilled to be working with Dave, Kate and Warren on the production team. I have had the honour of being directed, produced and musically directed by them all in the past and of course performing alongside them and I can honestly say that they are a very talented bunch who achieve amazing things. Most importantly, I count myself very fortunate to be working with such a talented group of performers. They really have been superstars this past few weeks.

The last few weeks have been choreography. Most of the cast are more familiar with learning a song and then learning some choreography to perform whilst singing it but with Much Ado, the choreography is interspersed within the action and the actors become the dancers at a party or at a ball. The majority probably didn’t expect to be doing so much company dancing in this show but they truly have thrown themselves into our rehearsals. I have been so proud of their hard work and enthusiasm- rehearsals really have been fun and full of laughter. As with all rehearsals, sometimes people cannot be there but I have been so impressed with individual’s dedication to watching rehearsal videos so that they are not behind. I can honestly say that I have left each rehearsal smiling, feeling encouraged and looking forward to the next.

I can’t wait to see everything interweaving as we start to bring together the singers with the acting and dance sequences. I think that this will be the perfect platform to show the combined array of talent that our performers have. It is going to be a wonderful experience and I for one can’t wait for show week. I really encourage you to book tickets to join us and to be part of something special.

Tickets are limited to 100 tickets per performance so please book early to avoid missing out on a unique show. You can order your tickets by clicking the banner below.

Hello , i’m David and am directing the show. It is an honour and privilege to have been asked to take the helm for this exciting production, which will mark my ninth as director for the group. It seems amazing to think that all those years ago in 2006 these wonderful people first took a chance on fresh faced 25 year old, brimming with slightly outlandish ideas for staging theatre.

It’s been an amazing journey, with so many wonderful experiences, even if there has been the odd tense moment – I’m very proud of what we have achieved together. One of the great strengths of this company is their capacity to develop new creative talent and it is an honour to be working with longstanding friends and fellow cast members Joseph Krajewski and Kate Sanders on their 1st and 2nd shows respectively as Choreographer and Musical Director – I’m very excited to see what they bring to this!

That said the last two weeks have been all about setting and blocking the scenes of this fantastic play, making sure it is ready to receive the input of song, dance and staging. It is wonderful to work together on Musical Theatre balancing all the many inputs, but it is also really great when, as a Director, you get time to get really stuck into the actor’s interpretation of a piece without any other distractions.

We have laughed, we have cried, we have laughed until we cried – there has even been some rolling around on the floor! We have been able to really get under the skin of Shakespeare’s engaging creations and make them our own, and with this talented cast it has been a joy to do so. By the end of last week we were running the current adaptation in its entirety, and it’s looking great! Good enough in fact that we’re already considering what more we can add later in the process to take it even further.

I, for one, am very excited to see what transpires, if you want to experience this amazing evening of theatre, all you need do is get those tickets in now – I promise you won’t regret it, or forget it!

Tickets are limited to 100 tickets per show so please book early to avoid missing out on a unique show. You can order your tickets by clicking the banner below.