11hr Productions Trip to Wales 2010

Seventeen 11hr Members and friends of the Company plus Annie the dog took a well earned break in a Country Mansion in Wales one weekend in October. Enjoying the good company, good food, perfect accomodation and beautiful scenery were the Artistic Director, Company Manager, Musical Director, Official Photographer, The Printer, The Scenic Designer, Keeper of the Costume Loft, The Limey, The Techie, The Lighting Designer, Honoured Spouses, Young Members and the Music Researcher! What a motley crew we were.

As well as collecting wood for the roaring open fire all had a fine time sight seeing, walking, mountain climbing, beach combing, cooking, playing cards and scavenging. The scavenger hunt was won by father and daughter pair, Abbie and Rich who were pleased to accept their lifetime's supply of invisible chocolate!

Roll on next year when we shall be invading Wales again this time with a Christmas themed weekend! How theatrical can you get?

Celebrating 5 Years of 11hr Productions

5 Years has flown by and what a lot we have packed in to those years. Check out our special picture video showing scenes from every single 11hr Production since 2005.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08acFN8kTgM

Babes in the Wood promises to be the greatest Panto adventure ever!

Rehearsals are going well for Babes in the Wood, our 2010 Pantomime. We are also fully charged for our forthcoming publicity drive, promoting the show in Birstall, Leicestershire on Saturday 6th November from 10am. 

Our very own Silly Billy, Red Riding Hood, Dame Lucy Lastic, Sheriff of Nottingham and even Wilf the Wolf will be outside the Co-Op Store entertaining the shoppers in the fair hamlet of Birstall extolling the virtues of our Panto and handing out flyers as they go.

 

Tickets available by phone or online via our website

www.11hr-productions.co.uk

USA Cultural Exchange Visit AWESOME!

AWESOME

11hr Productions 5th Cultural Exchange, which coincided with our 5th Birthday celebrations was heraled a great success.

They arrived on Tuesday 6th April and all 19 of them had a wonderful day touring our home City of Leicester inlcuding the Cathedral, Guildhall and Jewry Wall.

On Wednesday we took them on a tour of London to see all the great sights including Buckingham Palace, The Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square and St Pauls Cathedral. The weather wasn't brilliant that day but who minded, we were seeing all those wonderful sights they had been hearing about all their lives.

The Wednesday saw a beautful day, both weather wise and and city wise, with trips to Cambridge and Ely. In Cambridge they all tried their hand at Punting on the Cam, mercifully no one fell in!

In Ely we had a look around yet another Cathedral, surprise surprise!

Friday saw a trip to Nottingham and meeting with both Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham!

Then came the Big Day! We started rehearsals for our special VE Night Party. Only stopping for a Pizza lunch we all worked hard before the guests arrived at 7pm to enjoy a complete wartime expereince, including dancing, entertainment, a themed Murder Mystery and of course the 'on the ration' buffet!


11hr UK and USA sang for the congragation at church the next morning and spent the rest of the day with their host families. Beating the impending ash cloud they flew back home to Missouri on Monday.

A great week, a HUGE thank you to all involved and HAPPY BIRTHDAY 11hr Productions!

Quasimodo - The Hunch was Back!

With just six rehearsals and a lot of hard work, the youth theatre managed to produce two fine shows - The Madri Girls' prayers were obviously answered!

With Quasimodo, we literally took our set design to new heights with the construction of the facade of Notre Dame.  Thanks to Chris for the wonderful design and the team of helpers who worked late into the nights to construct and paint it.  It did seem such a shame though last night to have to dismantle it - fortunately, we can take comfort in the knowledge that there's a good copy in Paris! 

With the artistic director hors de combat for several weeks, Beth and Emma performed miracles (three for a Sainthood ladies!) and the success of the shows is a testament to their abilities.

Congratulations to everyone involved, and we look forward to the summer productions of Og (written by our own John Shaw) and The Miracle Worker.

Quasimodo - The Hunch is Back! (4)

Curtains up Friday 12th March! Scripts down this weekend for what will be a very long day's rehearsal.  There is still plenty of work for everyone to do, but, after all, isn't that what rehearsals are for?!

Showstoppers Academy of Dance were terrific in the pantomime and they are once again bringing energy and spectacle to rehearsals.

Notre Dame's Bells (4 of the boys) as well as Notre Dame's Belles (our wannabee-famous Nuns) were in fine voice.  It was also great to see that many of the children had already made their own masks for the Festival of Fools scene.

Tickets are for the shows on Friday 12th and Saturday 13th March can be purchased from http://www.ticketsource.co.uk/11hrproductions or by calling 0116 283 1646.

Quasimodo - The Hunch is Back! (3)

As promised, the set design of Notre Dame's facade.  Fantastic!

Quasimodo - The Hunch is Back! (2)

Showstoppers Academy of Dance joined rehearsals today going through a jazzy song-and-dance routine with The Madri Gals, a trio of nuns who think they can make it all the way to Broadway.  We'd like to think that Victor Hugo wouldn't mind the inclusion of 11th Hour's own Sister Act trio featuring in our show!

Meanwhile our Quasimodo, Esmeralda, Frollo and Pheobus reheared several of their scenes before everyone in the company came together to go through the Festival of Fools' scene.

With three weeks to go until the show then there is a huge amount of work to be done - and masks to be made by the children for the Festival of Fools scene (you won't be needing one Quasimodo!).

If you haven't been to an 11th Hour youth company show previously then you can get a flavour of what to expect by watching highlights from Act I Dick Whittington here.

Tickets are now on sale for the shows on Thursday 11th, Friday 12th and Saturday 13th March; these can be purchased from http://www.ticketsource.co.uk/11hrproductions or by calling 0116 283 1646.

Quasimodo - The Hunch is Back!

We are really pleased with how the rehearsal went this week with the atmosphere light and relaxed. The show is now starting to take shape.

Lines are starting to stick, and with half-term next week then there will ample opportunity to make further improvements.   The opening numbers and choreography look fantastic and the audience are in for a treat!

Progress is also being made on the design of Notre Dame's facade, and we hope to post the final design next week.

Tickets are now on sale for the shows on Thursday 11th, Friday 12th and Saturday 13th March; these can be purchased from http://www.ticketsource.co.uk/11hrproductions or by calling 0116 283 1646.

Quasimodo - March 11th, 12th and 13th

After a hectic January preparing and performing Equus, we can now concentrate all our energies on the youth theatre's next production. Scripts for Quasimodo are finally with the cast, and with less than five weeks to the show line learning is very much the order of the day. The youth theatre members are used to having to learn their lines quickly, but this will be a real challenge for them. We look forward to seeing their progress at next week's rehearsals.