Oh, I love the Farndale plays! The hilariously funny and clever scripts of David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin Jnr are about a group English ladies, who every year, put on a play at the local community theatre. There's only one small problem: they're abysmal actors. Abysmal. They can't remember their lines, they have no sense of timing, and every once in a while they just skip pages of the script. To make things worse, the bumbling stage manager is always required to step in, because one of the Farndale ladies inevitably succumbs to some sort of catastrophe...and the sound and lighting technician can never get anything right...ever!

What a wonderful year we have had! With four very different shows but each successful in their own way.

On Friday 29 November we gathered to celebrate a wonderful year of theatre, outstanding creative achievements and the people who made them possible.

Beaumaris Theatre prides ourselves on producing theatre of extraordinary standards, none of which would be possible without our 2019 creative teams, casts and crews and our entire Beaumaris Theatre family. We can’t thank you enough for your devotion and commitment to your craft and giving our audiences four magical theatrical offerings which were each triumphant in their own unique way and we made them laugh, cry, applaud and ultimately uplift and entertain them and we couldn’t be more thrilled with our 2019 theatre season and our Talbots Re-Imagined.

Meet the talented Liam McWhinney who is currently starring as Buddy Holly in Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story!

I could gush and write effusively with exaggerated enthusiasm at length, however, I would like to reflect on the overwhelming reactions of our adoring audiences. The original ten shows sold out in record time and we added three additional shows which also sold out before our opening weekend was over.

During Production Week we'll rehearse every night, with one night of rest for the cast while the tech crew madly adjust and alter lights and sound to achieve the desired result. We will all eat, breathe and sleep Buddy-biz (although not much sleep happens during Prod Week!).

The Theatre means so much to me. The space is a refuge for me. Growing up in a turbulent space, not having a strong grasp on my own identity, I often found great solace in the theatre. I didn’t need to pretend or be something I wasn’t. Nor did anyone have to know unless I wanted them to, it was irrelevant to the space and I loved that. It was a facilitator. In that space, I learned how to be a better performer but more than that I learnt how to really engage with strangers and meet new people. The space gave me confidence, it reminded me time and time again that I was worthwhile and good at what I was doing there, something I often did not feel at school. Because of that empowerment, I was more confident with the other young people within the space and was able to make friends easily. I attribute my social growth entirely to the theatre. I learned not just how to socialize, but how to be a good person in general, how to care and be cared for.

It may seem strange to say I'm enjoying a production that is so fraught with emotions but it's Andy’s script that resonates so much with me personally, and as an actress, that gives so much to pleasure.

Director Colin Armstrong and his cast and crew have ensured Company is another splendid addition to Beaumaris Theatre Company’s pedigree of musicals. You hope they don’t run out them any time soon.

Working on Pillow Talk’s been a really interesting experience for me – growing up, most of the plays I worked on were by Shakespeare, or someone very much like him. As time went on, I worked on more and more contemporary shows, but never one where the writer was sat in the room, seeing my interpretation of their work.