Sensational Shoestring Theatre 

[prev] …young people who have come through the terrific Youth Theatre can then go on to join the Shoestring Company.

It sounds like you’ve got an eye on tomorrow’s membership, which is great. And with the variety of plays you put on, presumably you’re after an equally varied pool of actors to draw on?
KW: That’s right. For example, in September, following on from The Shaughraun, we’ve got a new American play called Good People. This play requires a black female actress in her thirties. Unfortunately we don’t have a black actor in our company at present, so we’re very keen to recruit somebody who can play this part. We’d like to diversity our membership more generally so we can take on a wider range of productions. In this case we chose Good People because it’s such a great play. We didn’t want to not do it just because we haven’t got exactly the right people in our company. We’d like to expand the company so we can do the right plays!

And what’s your final production this year?
KW: That’s one of the really outstanding English plays of the 20th Century. It’s Roots by Arnold Wesker, which is set in Norfolk and written in Norfolk dialect. So you can see how we choose the programme to give a really wide range of plays for our audiences and to challenge our actors.

Four plays this year – and each so different from the next. Can we expect more of the same in the future?
PM: We are actually looking to do five plays from next year. In 2014 we did five productions instead of the four so that we could keep up the number of live theatre events at the Arts Centre. This year it’s four again because of our big trip down to the Minack, but we’ve seen that five productions can work really well.
KW: That extra production means local theatre lovers have an extra opportunity to enjoy more of what they love. We’re keen to keep them happy and attract

Interested in joining? Shoestring Theatre welcomes new members whether they wish to act, crew or help with set design, construction and wardrobe. Find out more on 01476 862124 or email  

www.stamfordshoestring.com
Twitter: @stamshoestring