The Kitchen Sink

This is a very good place to come from. Cos it’s knackered and funny and it’s falling in the sea… But it’s not a good place to end up

The Kitchen Sink is set in a run down seaside town, following a family through a year. Martin’s milk float has seen better days – particularly the bits strewn over the kitchen floor. His wife Kath is concerned about him, about the state of her kitchen sink – and with their children: Billy aspires to enter art college, but his Dolly Parton portrait could let him down, while Sophie dreams of training as a ju-jitsu teacher - if she can keep her temper under control, and deal with the attentions of a young plumber who is himself caring for his ailing granny.

There is poignancy and pain, but through it all runs a deep vein of black comedy: the play is by turns hilarious and very touching; witty and warm.

The Telegraph’s review of it west end debut judged it: “one of the best new plays I have seen anywhere this year, and I cannot recommend it too highly.”

Neither can we!


The Kitchen Sink is on 16-17 and 20-14 October: tickets and further details are available on our website.

Review - Ladies in Retirement

Ladies in Retirement got off to a cracking start last Friday evening - not only did the first night audience almost fill the theatre but their reactions showed that the choice of play, the casting and the acting were highly appreciated.

I cannot have been the only one who secretly thought for several scenes that the costume department were not quite up to their usual high standards when choosing a wig for Leonora - it is brash, red and, well, not quite convincing. But as we discover during the course of the play, not only is this intentional, but it gives us another hint as to the character, played with great aplomb by Maggie Cardew.

For Leonora Fiske is an ex-good time girl, now living in retirement but still addicted to the good things in life, whether the newest music to play on her beloved piano, continually picking at the sweeties or guzzling champagne. Or indeed being visited by a handsome young man, as she is.

That handsome young man however is of the type with whom Leonora is very familiar - an appreciator of a pretty face and easy money, and capable of letting both land him in trouble. Adam Richardson is convincingly flirtatious and dodgy as Albert, the nephew of Leonora's live in companion, Ellen Creed.

But it is Ellen's other relatives who her mistress objects to, for when two other Miss Creeds come to visit, they outstay their welcome. Well, would you approve a house guest scattering driftwood and seaweed all over your sitting room carpet and filling your home with seashells and dead birds?

Di Evans at times is in danger of stealing the show as Miss Emily, the resentful, eccentric collector of such items, while Cynara Crump, as the more overtly vulnerable Miss Louisa with her treasured telescope, all she has left of a dead suitor, adds her own piquantly amusing observations.

With her mistress demanding the sisters are sent packing, and her responsibilities to them weighing heavily, what will Ellen do?

Glenys Williams perfectly portrays Ellen's dilemma, and the scene in which she is, as she says, 'made to feel her position very much' is a pivotal art of the play.

Add to this the subplot of Albert trying to seduce lady's maid Lucy, played with convincing innocence by Carole Simpson, and a nosy but kind-hearted nun, played by Suzie Chilton, and the mystery of what has happened to Miss Leonora Fiske unfolds with black comedy underpinning the thrilling denouement.

Ladies in Retirement is showing at the Apollo Theatre every evening until Saturday 5 September - don't miss it!

An exercise in slowly accumulating terror.....

The Apollo Theatre's next production is a creepy crime drama based on a real murder.

'Ladies in Retirement' is one of the most popular productions in amateur theatre, and for good reason: it combines mirth and mystery, and mixes it with an undercurrent of genuine horror.

It was first performed at the Apollo in 1981, and is now revived under the direction of Eve Fradgley, whose mother Maggie Cardew is the Theatre's artistic director for the season, and is assisting Eve in directing the play, as well as playing the part of Leonora Fiske.

The play is based on a murder that was committed in 1886, and inspired an American 1941 film noir of the same name.

One of the features of the play is the way it slowly ramps up the tension - or, as the New York Times put it, 'it's an exercise in slowly accumulating terror'.

Set in a dark, lonely house in the marshes of the Thames estuary, the cast includes Glenys Lloyd Williams, Di Evans, Cynara Crump, Adam Richardson, Suzie Chilton and Carol Simpson.

'Ladies in Retirement' runs from August 28 to 29, and September 1 to 5, marking the start of the Apollo's new season.

Tickets can be booked online at www.apollo-theatre.org.uk, and full details of all the plays in the new season can be viewed there, too.

 Maggie Cardew in discussion with her daughter, the director, Eve Fradgley.

And a flashback to 1981 with Mary Baker and Barbara Turner in the Apollo production of 'Ladies in Retirement' that year.

Ladies In Retirement

Ladies in Retirement, our next production, is a play performed on Broadway in 1940 and made into a film a year later. The film was described as ‘an exercise in slowly accumulating terror with all the psychological trappings of a Victorian thriller’.

Set in Victorian times, the play concerns Ellen Creed, a proud spinster fallen on hard times, housekeeper/companion to wealthy, retired chorus girl Miss Leonora Fiske. When Ellen’s two rather eccentric sisters are given permission to visit, they soon outstay their welcome and Miss Fiske wants them to leave.

It is however Miss Fiske who leaves: Ellen says that she has gone travelling, but has she?

And who is Albert, a young man claiming to be the sisters’ nephew? What does he want?

Why does Miss Fiske’s signature on her bank cheques suddenly look different?

Is there a secret Ellen is hiding, and can she keep it from her family?

The play runs from 28-29 August & 1-5 September 2015

Tickets available soon!

Utility Warehouse – save money and support the Apollo Theatre at the same time!

As I’m sure you can imagine, keeping the Apollo Theatre open and offering good theatre to the Isle of Wight costs a lot of money.  However, we’ve joined a great new scheme which means that up to 5% of your household bills will be donated to us – at no cost to you!  What do you have to do?  Just make one phone call or go to a website and you’ll be raising money for the Apollo Theatre every day, just by leading your normal life.

The scheme’s run by the Utility Warehouse Discount Club, part of Telecom Plus PLC, one of the UK’s leading public companies. They’re completely legit, and provide 400,000 UK homes and businesses with everyday utilities, like phone, internet, mobile phone, electricity and gas.

Here’s how it works: join the Utility Warehouse as a customer, and you can save a bundle by getting all your utilities in one place. The Utility Warehouse guarantees to save you money, compared to your current suppliers, when you switch services; and if you’re not totally happy you can go back to your current supplier’s higher prices at any time.  At the same time, they give up to 5% of your utility bill to us, every month. So everyone wins!

It’s easy to join. Just call 0800 131 3000 and they’ll answer all your questions and talk you through the process. Alternatively, you can visit our Utility Warehouse website, www.utilitywarehouse.org.uk/K19890  and click on ‘join the club’.  Either way, it costs you nothing and you’re not obliged to sign up for anything… but, if you do, it could save you lots of money!

You’ll need to give them our appeal number – K19890 – to make sure your donations come to us.

Please join in and make a difference!  Call 0800 131 3000 or go towww.utilitywarehouse.org.uk/K19890 today, and quote our appeal number.

If you’d like to talk to a ‘real person’ to explain all this in more detail, drop the theatre Business Manager a line on info@apollo-theatre.org.uk to arrange a visit from our local Utility Warehouse representative.

The Kitchen Sink Auditions

The Kitchen Sink is a contemporary comedy play, with a few dark overtones, about a family of four, who are going through some difficult times. Dad's milk round doesn't pay - and bits of his milk float are housed on the kitchen floor; his son is trying to get into Art College offering sequinned Dolly Parton pictures; his daughter's temper gets in the way of her martial arts ambitions; her well meaning boyfriend juggles plumbing and looking after his gran, and Mum tries to hold it all together while cooking sushi for Christmas dinner......

There are five roles for actors as follows:

Mother - female, playing age 40 - 50.
Father - male, playing age 40 - 55.
Son - male, playing age 17-18
Daughter - female, playing age 19-21
Boyfriend - male, playing age 19-21

If you are interested in auditioning for this play, please come along to the Apollo Theatre this evening at 7.15pm.

If you cannot make this time, and also if you would like to be involved in any other capacity, please leave a message on our Facebook page and we will get back to you.

Shakespeare Revue - coming soon!!

The Apollo in Newport follows up the success of its production of The Tempest, with a Shakespeare revue show that was a big hit in London's West End for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

One critic described it as 'a joyous words-and-music anthology in loving mockery of the Bard'.

The Shakespeare Revue is a night of clever and witty entertainment inspired by Shakespeare's finest comedy writing, and features songs and sketches written by well-known names including Noel Coward, Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, and the 'Beyond the Fringe' team, as well as specially written material by modern writers.

Director, Alain Smith, and his experienced cast plan to serve up what he describes as a 'fast moving and sparkling night' which will make audiences laugh, and at the same time pay respect to perhaps the greatest writer in the English language.

Alain said: "It's a true revue, in that the evening will be made up of a series of short sketches and songs. It is perfect for people who love Shakespeare, but great fun even if you don't!'

The Shakespeare Revue is on at the Apollo on July 3 and 4, and from July 7 to 11.

Tickets can be booked online at www.apollo-theatre.org.uk, or by calling the box office on 01983 527267