Rotherfield Players present an ''Old Time Music Hall' to help 'Raise the Roof' of village hall

The Music Hall will be full of much loved old songs like “Bull and Bush”, “I Live in Trafalgar Square”, “She sells sea shells” and “A little of what you fancy”. Of course, our audiences will be encouraged to sing along and join in with the choruses.

There is also a hilarious Victorian melodrama ending in an extremely “over acted” death scene, a “stand up” routine, solos, duets and a very funny item involving almost all the cast called “If I were not upon the stage”. A routine which will have you in stitches, we promise.

All of these acts will be splendidly introduced by our seasoned Chairman, Peter Emannuel, who not only keeps the proceedings swinging along in his inimitable style, but also has a number to sing himself. So come along and join in the fun.

Do book your tickets for this wonderful show filled with lots of local talented “Artistes”. You can do this by booking “on line” from www.rotherfieldplayers.co.uk or Rotherfield St Martins office.

See you all there!!

'Raise The Roof' – What are we doing?

For years we have been labouring with the problems of a constricted stage. There is very little space in the wings where scenery can be stacked. Even worse the ceiling over the stage is very low – much lower than the ceiling in the hall.

There is not the height needed to hang conventional stage lighting over the stage and there are problems of headroom when an actor has to be seen going upstairs on stage. I think we have done well putting on challenging pantomimes and musicals but, believe me, it is very hard for the backstage crew.

The other serious problem which results from the low ceiling over the stage is the height of the stage floor – just 600mm above the hall floor level. It is very difficult to see actors over the heads of the audience in front of you, especially if they are sitting down.

The problem is even more acute for the Primary School when it puts on plays in the hall. The proscenium arch is low, 2600mm, because of the ceiling height behind so it is not practical to raise the floor of the stage at it now is.

We cannot make the stage any larger in plan but we can raise the roof over the stage. Five years ago we looked at a scheme to construct a small fly tower over the stage. It was ambitious but it would have been a magnificent facility. We got tenders and the total project cost would have been over £300,000. Then COVID hit and we had to shelve the scheme.

After the pandemic had subsided we looked again at the scheme. In the interim building costs have soared and the economic climate has deteriorated. We felt that it would be prudent to look at a more modest proposal.

We are taking forward a scheme which extends the profile of the hall roof over the stage with the ceiling open to the underside of the sloping roof. This gives us plenty of space to hang all types of stage lanterns over the whole stage area and allows us space for limited flying of scenery.

As part of the proposed works we intend to raise the height of the proscenium arch to 3700mm. We can then raise the stage floor on a semi-permanent basis by 300mm which makes it a much more sensible height.

As the scope of the new scheme is smaller it is structurally much simpler and, we hope, significantly cheaper. We are obtaining tenders for the works based upon the new scheme and, as soon as we have a total project cost, we will be fundraising in earnest. This is a great chance to make much needed improvements to the stage in the hall.