The WADS timeline - 21st century

The 2000s
The new millennium has seen some new departures for WADS, including its first ever Shakespeare and an outdoor adaptation of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, as well as a return to some old favourites, such as Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward. And although WADS performed Aladdin for the second time in its history, this time it was a version specially written for WaterAid - Aladdin and the Magic Bucket. The naughties also saw WADS move to its new performance venue, at Testbourne Theatre, as well as the company perform its 100th play, Dario Fo and Franca Rame’s farce Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay.

2000
WADS performed a selection of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in the grounds of Whitchurch Primary School. Taking the form of an audience promenade, Canterbury Tales was adapted by WADS’ own Claire Isbester. The other performance that year was Sophie Tucker’s One Night Stand.

2001
Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling and Jack and the Beanstalk by PH Adams and C Carter.

2002
Noel Coward again - this time, Private Lives - and an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, plus the first WADS garden party, at 27 London Street.

2003
Abigail’s Party by Mike Leigh and Aladdin and the Magic Bucket by Paul Aust and WaterAid.

2004
Just one play this year - Oscar Wilde’s A Woman of No Importance - plus the second garden party.

2005
Noises Off by Michael Frayn and Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay by Dario Fo and Franca Rame - the 100th play to be staged by WADS.

2006
Dark of the Moon by Howard Richardson and William Berney and an all-female adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. There was also a poetry and prose evening, on the theme of Magic, Mystery and Mischief.

2007
Philip Goulding’s The Titfield Thunderbolt and Wyrd Sisters, adapted from Terry Pratchett’s book by Stephen Briggs.

2008
Fifty years since WADS was established. The company staged its first interactive murder mystery, Theatre of Horror.

In December, WADS put on a Christmas pantomime - Snow White and the Ice Queen by Peter Nutall.

2009 the 50th anniversary of  WADS’ first public performance - Haul for the Shore. To celebrate, the company staged a dramatic read-through, in full costume, of one its previous hits, Daisy Pulls it Off by Denise Degan, which WADS first performed in 1993. Several members from the original production, including Chrissie Ferngrove, Bridget Culley and Claire Isbester, were again among the cast.

“Henry wants a wife, and to catch one he advertises in the local paper. He gets rather more than he bargained for! An hilarious farce in one act, guaranteed giggles all around!”
So said the blurb for one of the three one-act plays that WADS performed in July to showcase the work of three new directors.

Called Another One Night Stand, the show featured Tennessee Williams’ This Property is Condemned for two actors, directed by Esther Privett and Alex Donovan, Waiting for the Telegram, an Alan Bennett monologue, and Wife Required, a farce by Falkland L Cary and Philip King, directed by WADS newcomer Sophie Robinson.

In the same month, WADS also performed Chanticleer, from The Nun’s Priest’s Tale -one of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales - at the Church Fete. This was part of the adaptation by Claire Isbester that WADS performed in 2000. The cast consisted of a fox, a cockerel, the narrator, the old widow and several chickens - some of whom were fete-goers press-ganged into performing.

In November 2009, WADS staged The Passing Out Parade by Anne Valery, where we met seven raw girls who had just signed up and followed their trials and tribulations at the hands of Joyce “blood-and-guts” Pickering. The playfeatured an all-female cast, including four actresses new to WADS. With a barrack room setting, a soundtrack of music and songs from the period, authentic1940s accessories, uniforms and even wartime undergarments, the show re-created the dark days of 1944 with comedy, drama and even tragedy, as the girls of B Company ATS came to grips with the Great British military machine.

2010

 WADS' second interactive murder mystery, this time in a joint venture with the Gill Nethercott Centre. Called M'Nango Valley, the setting was a dinner to launch plans to build a controversial theme park celebrating African culture and history in the grounds of Laverchurch Park country estate. 

Here are some pictures from our 2008 Christmas pantomime, Snow White and The Ice Queen.