Keswick Theatre Club have started rehearsals for their next production in the Studio at Theatre by the Lake. The comedy ‘Welcome to our Village, Please Invade Carefully’ by Eddie Robson runs from 6-9 November and tells the story of a village invaded by aliens.
The play was originally a BBC radio comedy and tells the story of Cresdon Green, a village that is the subject of a practice invasion by aliens. Katrina Lyons was only visiting her parents for the weekend, when the aliens launch their invasion and put a force-field around the village. Katrina is trapped in the place where she grew up, under the cosh of alien oppression, living with her parents. The invasion led by warlord Uljabaan, is a covert pilot scheme for a full invasion of Earth. Katrina determines to stop it and sets up a resistance movement, disappointingly her only recruit is sarcastic teenager Lucy – everyone else is keen not to rock the boat, and some think having the world run by alien marauders might actually be an improvement.
Because the play was originally written for the radio, Director Heather Askew is transforming the Studio at Theatre by the Lake to a Radio Recording Studio. “We’re taking advantage of the way the play is written to give the audience an insight into how radio dramas are made. We’ll be using microphones for both the cast and for the numerous live sound effects. We’re having great fun working out how to make the various sound effects live on stage, like a burning building and a malfunctioning printer. It’s really interesting to see how the cast are adapting to acting to the microphone whilst still reacting to the rest of the cast.”
Father and Son team Michael and Jonathon Dawson have been working on the technical aspects of the show, whilst Director Heather has been supported by assistant Director Sharon Helling.
Tickets can be purchased for £12 from Theatre by the Lake box office.
