PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - If you are a Plettenberg Bay local with dreams of developing your hidden acting talents, opportunity is knocking at your door.

The Bitou Amateur Theatrical Society (Bats) is planning to delight audiences in the near future with their sixth show after managing to pull off five successful ones over the past few years.

The new play The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie has achieved iconic status as it has been running nonstop in London for 67 years. "Many people in Plett will have seen it at some stage of their lives and it was also recently staged by Pieter Toerien in South Africa," said play director David Hall-Green, who is also a seasoned actor himself. "We know it will delight our local audiences. We have managed to cast most of the parts, but are searching for two English-speaking male actors in their 30s to join the Bats."

No experience needed
He added that all the Bats actors and actresses started off in past plays with little to no experience, but they wanted to experience the thrill of acting on stage. Hall-Green knows how to get the best out of his amateur actors and ensures they are all well prepared and confident by opening night.

"Auditions will consist of a very informal meeting and chat.

The cast will be expected to attend two evening rehearsals per week from April to August. The entire process of preparing for a play is enormously exciting and the cast always has huge fun and become a very close-knit group." Hall-Green established the Bats with friend and Plett neighbour Roger Davis about six years ago. Since then the two have proved that Plettenberg Bay has a wealth of undiscovered acting talent and have managed to produce five successful plays.

As most of the members of Bats are retired they try to source plays with parts for older people as well as plays with many characters to accommodate all the members.

Fun productions
Their first play was one by Peter Gordon and part of his Inspector Pratt trilogy. "It is series of funny plays about a police inspector who is pretty much a bungling idiot. Our first play in September 2013 was titled Murdered to Death. Following its success we did another play in the trilogy The Secondary Cause of Death. Although successful, we had the feeling that Plett audiences were a bit 'Pratt'ed' out so we searched for a new play."

This was when they came across Old Actors Never Die… They Just Lose the Plot, which focuses around a retirement home for retired theatricals where they continue their lives of high drama although their acting careers are long over. Their fourth play was one dubbed Annie, One Two Three – an intriguing mystery about events during the Second World War and the complicated aftermath, some 50 years later. Their last play was the comic play by Noël Coward – Blithe Spirit.

Hall-Green, who was also a professional actor in the 1950s and '60s and had a 25-year journey with the SABC as radio personality, television presenter and newsreader, said despite the fact that most of the actors have no prior acting experience, they work hard and attempt to deliver a professional production.

Would you like to audition?

To be part of the Bats' newest production, contact Hall-Green on 083 407 6640.

The Bitou Amateur Theatrical Society (Bats) has produced five successful plays over the past six years including Old Actors Never Die… They Just Lose the Plot. They are currently calling on aspiring Plett actors to join the cast of their sixth production. Photo: Supplied

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