AN AWARD-WINNING Devon theatre company

are continuing to create ground-breaking

theatre work despite the current covid crises

Brixham-based South Devon Players Theatre

and Film Company have remained active

throughout the past turbulent nine months by

planning for the future and creating virtual

theatre productions on-line.

Their ongoing virtual season has been a

response to the restrictions on performing

traditional venue-based theatre which has seen

numerous theatre companies sadly closed and

countless productions placed on indefinite

postponement.

The company’s founder and director Laura

Jury believes that it’s crucially important

to continue to create professional work for

creatives and send a strong message to existing

and new audiences to show that creative and

dramatic performances can continue – albeit in

a different medium.

‘While the company will return to normal

theatre performance as soon as it is viable and

safe for cast, crew and audiences we feel it

imperative to keep working and creating in the

interim,’ she said.

‘For the time being we are working over

cyberspace, with actors and crew joining us on

screen from their home studios, in the UK, and

Ireland, creating new dramatic performances

online.

‘Audiences all over the world can access the

performance, and the cast and crew can earn

equal shares of whatever is made from the

online performance ticket sales as every penny

goes to the actors and crew.’

And the first of those productions takes to

the online stage at the end of this month with a

theatrical adaptation of the novel The Lost Girl

by DH Lawrence.

The play tells the story of Alvina Houghton,

the headstrong daughter of a widowed Midlands

draper, who comes of age just as her

father’s business is failing.

In a desperate attempt to regain his fortune

and secure his daughter’s proper place in society,

James Houghton buys a theatre. Among

the travelling performers he employs is Ciccio,

a sensual Italian who immediately captures

Alvina’s attention.

This celebration of freedom, however

fleeting, and a testament to the power of the

imagination to transform even the most mundane

life.

The Lost Girl is followed in February by a

steampunk-styled drama telling the tale – and

some of the theories – behind the notorious

19th Century London serial killer Jack The

Ripper.

This play was originally written and toured

by the company in 2017 to wide acclaim both

from audiences and ‘ripperologist’ historians

alike and has now been resurrected for virtual

performances.

Obviously using a cyberspace for staging a

theatrical performance has meant finding new

ways of working.

Continued Laura: ‘It has not been easy with

many of the cast and crew working from their

lockdown locations not only in South Devon

but also sheltering in places spread across the

UK, as well as in the Republic of Ireland and

the USA.

‘However, the team have pulled together

learning to use new technology and software,

and found ways to make it work on household

electronics to create these virtual productions.’

The Players keep each show streaming

online for 48 hours to allow people to access

the shows, regardless of work hours or global

time zone.

Tickets and more information on either show

are avail be by visiting the company’s website