Reps Newsletter – December 2008

Greetings all, and here’s hoping that, despite the continuing strange state of everything around us, you are all starting to get into the festive spirit and that this year’s festive season will be as pleasant and meaningful as possible for each and every one of you. I hope to see many of you down at Reps during the coming month and look forward to having a chat when you are there.

It’s panto time again!
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a panto and Graham Crutchley is presenting to us a sparkling production of Mother Goose, a show not seen at Reps for quite some time. With a full and fun cast and a lively and entertaining story and music, this will be a super treat for the whole family. It opens Thursday December 4 (preview night with special prices, Weds Dec 3) and runs until Saturday December 20 (remember that curtain up in 6.30pm each night). The matinee performance is 2.30pm on Sat Dec 13, for those people who don’t like travelling at night. Booking is open at The Spotlight now.

Welcome in the New Year at Reps
Linda Hyde is staging an amusing and unusual production at New Year, entitled Tomfoolery, which consists of many great works by the satirist Tom Lehrer. It will run from December 30 to January 3 – including New Year’s Eve. This will be very entertaining and a great way to end 2008 and start 2009. Booking will open soon. On New Year’s Eve Kathy Keen will be organizing our usual entertainment in the members’ bar, including pipers, so this will be an extremely social venue in which to welcome in the new year.

Rod Broodryk
Well done to all those involved in staging the Here’s To You production as a fundraiser for Rod’s family – it was a great show and wonderful evening with a near-full house. You will be interested to know that door takings given to the family to meet considerable medical expenses were: R1 990, US$1 463, ZW$9 425 000 and ZW cheque $1 trillion. A further $80 came from the coffee bar, donated by the girl guides and boy scouts from their sales and $70 from the foyer bar run by our own social events team – plus some donations handed in at the office from people who could not make the show. As a mark of respect to Rod it was a huge success and I would like to echo Chris Charnley’s on stage comment in fond memory … here’s to you, Rod!

Water, water everywhere … except in Harare’s water reticulation system!
As you have seen in earlier mails, the area around Reps has now fallen prey to the slow but steady demise of the water system in our fair city. We do not wish to close up shop so the alternative is to … you guessed it … make a plan. We need funds to buy and erect a water storage tank, so if you have some dollars spare please let us have them as soon as possible so we can get this done without too much further delay. Thank you to those people who have already donated so generously … we are well on our way!

Are you a card carrier?
If you carry an electronic bank card you can now buy tickets for shows at Reps Theatre. A point of sale machine has been installed and will be in use in The Spotlight, but ONLY during daytime hours 9am to 4pm Tuesday to Friday and 9am to 12 noon on Saturday. It will not be in use when the box office opens for ticket sales immediately before shows. Tickets bought through this method will be for Tuesday and Wednesday performances only. If you have any queries please call the Reps office or Spotlight.

The Story of Reps Volume 2
You should have all seen the mailshot about the coming publication of a second volume of the Reps history. We are collecting orders so we can purchase the paper well in advance and make great savings … and we have been given an excellent price from our friends at Pacprint for this stock. If you have ordered but not paid please could you do so as soon as possible (even in installments – that’s fine), and if you have not yet ordered please do so to reserve a copy (leather bound limited run, hard cover or soft cover) of this book, which will be a companion piece to Robert Cary’s original book from 1975. More info from Erin in the office or from Stan Higgins at aquarius@mweb.co.zw

Did you know …
… that we do not allow people to stand or sit in aisles in the theatre for one very simple reason: it is illegal as in terms of the municipal by-laws through which we are licensed, people may only be in the auditorium in a seat. This is because it is dangerous and if there were to be a need for quick evacuation this could result in a major problem and possibly a consequent disaster. It is essential that everyone understands this, please, and that no-one abuses front of house people who forbid the practice. While talking of front of house, please also remember that these people are volunteers doing their duty to the best of their ability and the rules they enforce are there for extremely good reasons – mainly the full enjoyment of whatever production is on by the whole audience. These rules include:
No glasses or bottles allowed in the auditorium
No use of cellphones in the auditorium (even on silent)
No filming or photography of any kind in the auditorium
No latecomers allowed for any reason
Patrons MUST stay in their seats throughout the performance and not run in and out to use the toilets or buy drinks

Benefits always passed on
When beverage prices rise, these costs are passed on to our customers in the bar – regrettable but essential, of course. When prices drop, as they have in the past couple of weeks, these reductions are also passed on to customers, and we hope you have been able to take some relief from this small but welcome change to our ongoing scenario of 5,5 quadrillion inflation!


Have a very merry Christmas and on behalf of all the Executive Committee and Staff of Reps, I wish you all the best for a truly changed new year!

Regards
Tim Garrard
Chairman