Duets – Sharnbrook Mill Theatre

Our first in-house production since COVID-19 rocked the theatrical world, Duets is a comedy about love and relationships.
Here are all the details about the show and the cast. We hope you enjoy reading about it all!

Welcome to Sharnbrook Mill Theatre

Patrons: Joanna David & Hugh Laurie CBE

Sharnbrook Mill Theatre is a skilful conversion of a former water mill, known as Stoke Mills, which appeared in the Domesday Book! Read more here.

Chairman’s Message

Good evening everyone and a warm welcome back from everyone here at Sharnbrook Mill Theatre. It has been a long 19 months since our company have taken to this stage and without doubt this has been one of the most frustrating periods in our history. But we are back with a vengeance and we hope Duets will put a smile on your faces, which I think you will agree is something we all need!

Our cast has been in the most capable of hands of Susan Moore as their director and a big thank you to the entire production team for making this evening possible. Plans are afoot for a whole host of events through this year and next so watch this space.

You may have noticed the improvements that have been undertaken whilst the theatre was ‘dark’ — the Foyer, Stairway and Bar area have been completely refurbished, plus we took the opportunity to install air-conditioning and re-decorate the whole auditorium. We do hope this adds to your comfort when visiting us.

It is so good to see you, our audience, back with us so please sit back, relax and enjoy your evening. We look forward to welcoming you again very soon.

Douglas Pope – Chairman, Board of Governors.

Scenes in Duets

Blind Date
Jonathan – Mark Woodham
Wendy – Becky Woodham

Secretarial Skills
Barrie – Tim Jackson-Waite
Janet – Kaye Stevens

The Holiday
Bobby – David Mander
Shelley – Emma Legg

The Bride to Be
Angela – Kaye Stevens
Toby – Tim Jackson-Waite

The Cast

Mark Woodham
Mark has been doing this kind of thing for 30 years on and off, now. He has been a member of the Northampton Musical Theatre Company throughout that time, his last appearance as the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz at the Derngate Theatre. He has also appeared in shows with the Miss:Creates Team, the Masque Theatre Group, The NMPAT Community Choir and joined Sharnbrook Mill Theatre for Merrily we Roll Along, Cloud, Spamalot, Avenue Q and Entertaining Angels. “Lockdown and you realise what theatre means to you. So I jumped at this opportunity to bring life back to this wonderful stage.”

Becky Woodham
Becky has been known in local amdram circles as one for the musicals, having performed with several musical theatre groups over the past 30 years in shows such as NMTC’s Blitz as Mrs Blitztein, Miss:Creates’ A Man of No Importance as Margaret Grace, Sharnbrook Mill Theatre’s Cloud as Var and Avenue Q as a Bad Idea Bear. Never really being a ‘triple threat’ (act, sing and dance), more recently she has returned to plays: Bonkers Playhouse productions of Vagina Monologues and Ibsen’s A Dolls House, Sharnbrook Mill Theatre’s The Crucible as Goody Nurse and just before the world got messy, in Entertaining Angels as Ruth. The idea of dusting off your skills to perform again after such a long break is, in equal measures, exciting and terrifying, so keeping it to one skill, acting, seems the perfect return to the stage and one she is embracing wholeheartedly as Wendy in Duets.

Tim Jackson-Waite
Tim achieved abysmal ‘A’ level results and so ended up at drama school. 10 years of treading the boards followed by the realisation that man cannot live on baked beans alone led him to meeting the woman of his dreams and then, shortly after, his wife! Tim has three beautiful daughters (that he is aware of) and has used his drama training to great affect and now owns his own Estate Agency, Jackson Waite of Olney. Tim’s resume is far too short to be of any interest but he has appeared in plays by Berkoff, Checkhov, Brecht, Ibsen and a chap called Shakespeare. Insomniacs can catch him on old reruns of Escape to the Country and Wheel Clampers. Tim joined Sharnbrook Mill Theatre in 2015 and has enjoyed previous roles in Macbeth, Abigail’s Party, Cheshire Cats and The Crucible as John Proctor.

Kaye Stevens
Kaye has been treading the boards at Sharnbrook Mill Theatre for many years, in plays and musicals. She has also written and directed productions, such as Chase Dark and Cloud, with her collaborator – talented composer Kaye Tompkins. Often describing The Mill as her second home, Kaye is thrilled to return to the stage here and that theatre everywhere is beginning to buzz again after almost two difficult years during the pandemic. Having appeared in productions such as The Hired Man, Parade, Entertaining Angels, and as many Sondheim musicals as she has been fortunate to do, Kaye has loved taking part in Duets. It has been a soufflé, no, a delightful ‘meringue’ of accents, lace and laughter.

David Mander
This is David’s fourth appearance at Sharnbrook Mill Theatre. Previous performances here were Cash On Delivery, Silly Cow and most recently Men of the World. David has been acting on the stage since he was 18 and has appeared in over 50 productions throughout the county. He has also recently branched out into the world of professional voiceover work, but the day job has had to remain for the time being. David is moderately thrilled to be back at The Mill.

Emma Legg
Emma has performed several times at Sharnbrook Mill Theatre, playing Thelma in Macbeth and the aerobics instructor in Cheshire Cats. This is the second time being directed by Susan Moore, the first playing the role of Annette in God of Carnage. Other roles include Laura in The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband, Bonnie in Bonnie & Clyde (both at Bonkers Theatrical in Kettering), Barbara in Seasons Greetings, Chris in Dancing at Lughnasa and Jackie in Hayfever (at the Castle Theatre).

Production Team

Director – Susan Moore
After working with Sharnbrook Mill Theatre for several years (prior to the Mill itself opening!), Susan moved to the USA in 1971 where she eventually took theatre up professionally as an actress. She returned to England permanently in 1989 and re-joined Sharnbrook, now performing at The Mill Theatre. She has taken on many roles as an actress and director. Her roles have included: Eleanor (Lion in Winter), Carlotta (Follies) and, her favourite, Mrs Lovett (Sweeney Todd). Her favourite shows she has directed include The Diary of Anne Frank, The Fix and The Dresser. “Duets has been a delight to work on and being able to get back into the theatre and work with such a great cast, especially so. This time, because of COVID constraints, I was able to invite all of the cast whom I felt were particularly suited to these roles and I thank them for proving me right. It has been ‘such fun’!”

Dialect Coach and Set Choreographer – Jacqueline Knighton

Set building – The Monday Night Crew – Kevin Beirne, Gerry Stafford & Brian Wood
Costumes – Virginia Pope & her team
Set painting – Susan Moore
Stage manager – Gerry Stafford
Props – Zandra Saxby
Sound – Mark Luckin
Lighting – Ricky Johnson
Front of House – Andrew Knight & our volunteers

Production Photographs – Terry Sykes
Artwork & programme – Michael Horne

About the Playwright

Peter Quilter’s work has been seen both in the West End and on Broadway and has been translated into more than 20 languages. His most famous plays are End of the Rainbow (which was adapted into the Oscar-winning film Judy (2019)) and Glorious, about the opera singer Florence Foster Jenkins. His career started on BBC television as a presenter for the children’s programme Playdays and he also appeared in several other series including London’s Burning. His first play was an all-female comedy called Respecting Your Piers and his most recent was called The Nightingales. He currently resides in the Canary Islands.