VCT Adult Drama – Vision Statement
VCT’s Adult Drama Group has been an established feature of the Theatre for the last six years, during which it has produced many plays and provided a valued outlet (some would say lifeline) for local people’s acting aspirations.
It began as an Adult Education class and has since become an independent body with an impressive annual programme, which includes an annual community “Price friendly” Panto.
Past productions have included:
Greetings from Netherley, based on the experiences of the local (now gone) prefab estate.
Looking for Love.com, a romantic comedy about internet dating
The Netherley Mystery plays, in conjunction with local church and faith organisations
Jekyl and Hyde
The Doctor and the Devils, based on the Dylan Thomas play.
Dick Twittington, Treasure Island, Babes in the Wood
The group have also assisted Valley with Drama input into projects on Flooding, NHS services and Bullying in the Workplace.
The group has performed in several local competitions and events including the Liverpool Fringe and the Leverhulme Drama Festival.
During the dark days of Covid restrictions, the group provided its members and others with a variety of activities online and on Zoom, which included writing and filming on smart phones, work which was placed on social media platforms.
Present and Future work
Valley Community Short Play Festival - 27th- 29th August 2021. This was started during the Covid lockdown with a call out for short scripts from the public. These were read online and 15 were put forward for the festival. The Valley Group are involved in the acting of several but the majority have come from outside the theatre and successfully introduced a new cohort of Creatives to what Valley can offer in terms of theatrical facilities.
Our aims for the future are to continue this as an annual event, to maintain the popularity of our annual Panto, which was sold out 3 out of 4 performances last year, and to co-ordinate an ambitious programme of new Drama, which is outlined below.
The Valley Community Theatre New Writing Project Proposal:
This project will build on the success of the short-play festival. We already know there are many writers out there looking for a suitable opportunity to present their work.
We know that the Theatre at The Valley is one of the best theatres of its kind and that the city has an acute lack of affordable theatre space.
We know that many writers are held back from producing their work because of worry about costs. We know that many people are put off, wrongly in our opinion, by the fact that our theatre is not a traditional “town centre” venue. There is a psychological block to coming out to see a play here.
We think The Valley Community Theatre New Writing Project will break down some of these barriers and enhance the profile of our theatre in the city considerably. We would structure the project thus, based on sucessfully securing funding for the project to cover our costs:
The Theatre to Provide:
An initial call-out for full length scripts
The reading of these scripts by Theatre professionals and experienced practitioners, and the selection of four plays
A partnership with the authors, based on the theatre providing the space to them free-of-charge for three nights performance and 12 nights of rehearsal
A technician for their performances and dress rehearsals
Front of House facilities and help with promotion
The writer to provide:
The script
The director
The cast
Promotional materials, based on a budget provided by us
The proceeds from the 3 nights box-office would be split 60/40, 60 per cent going to the theatre, forty per cent going to the writer.
There is a desperate need for theatre opportunities for new writing in Liverpool and a dearth of good small theatre space to deliver it. Valley Community Theatre, if supported financially, is ideally placed to offer such a service and at the same time play its part in attracting new cultural events to a Working-class out-of-town area.
