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A Brief History
WMP was formed in 2010 when the long term director and producer of the predecessor group, Walton Methodist Operatic Society, retired. The previous group had focussed primarily on Gilbert and Sullivan operettas with the occasional foray into more recent musicals. WMP endeavours to maximise the differing talents of the enthusiast members in the most appropriate way, mixing drama and music accordingly.
Walton Methodist Players
Why not Join Us?
The group meets on Wednesday evenings at Walton Methodist Church from 7.45-10.00pm. There is no joining fee but attendees are encouraged to put £1 in the pot at weekly rehearsals (which includes refreshments).
New members are always welcome and there is no requirement to audition. There are opportunities to help with costume, props, scenery, lighting, makeup and front of house if you would rather not appear on stage.
Contact
For more information contact Linda Weedon on 07808 632170, speak to any group member or pop along on a Wednesday evening.
Repertoire
In 2017, we provided another medley of dramaand music, this time based around the theatre, in an evening called, 'Curtains Up!'.
In 2016 we once again repeated the format which had worked so well to showcase the talents of our loyal members. The production was entitled ‘A Night on the Red Carpet’ and included a hilarious farce, a short comedy which and a selection of music from stage and film.
‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ so we didn’t! The 2015 production continued the mixed format with ‘In Days of Yore’. This encouraged audience participation in a good old sing song of music hall numbers and included a Victorian melodrama, ‘Curses, Foiled again’ and an amusing, but thought provoking comedy, ‘Blue Suede Blues’. The group played to three full houses who all enjoyed a fabulous high tea as part of the ticket price.
In March 2014 we continued the successful formula of 2013 with a show entitled ‘In the Mood’. Once again we had an eclectic mix of music and recitation, with audience participation, and included a one act play, 'The Plot Thickens’ about six women who were most defiantly in several moods! Once again the audience enjoyed a wonderful high tea during the interval.
In Spring 2013 we tweaked the format we had trialled so successfully in 2012 with ‘Time for T’ but we introduced some monologues as well; we were lucky to be able to show case the talents of some of our teenage members who performed in a one act play ‘Beef stew without Dumplings’. We also included a wonderful ‘high tea’ as part of the evening which proved another popular move. The unexpected success of the evening was ‘The teddy bears picnic’. We never expected so much enthusiasm for the distribution of teddy bears around the audience!
We found by experience that mixing music and drama suits the capabilities of the membership and the tastes of our loyal followers so we moved on to a mixed program to celebrate the jubilee year of 2012, ‘A Jubilee Jamboree’. For the first time we introduced an ‘audience participation’ option in the music which proved to be very popular. We also presented a short comedy written by one of our members.
Being very ambitious in 2011 we presented two shows in the same year. In September 2011 we performed a three act comedy, ‘I’ll get my Man’ by Philip King. This is farce at its best and included the characters of an absent minded vicar, his famous ‘heart throb’ of a nephew, a battle axe of a sister and a wannabee pop star among others. This was a stretch of our acting abilities but we pulled it off and our loyal audiences laughed all the way through (they were meant to!).
The first production in March 2011 ‘An evening of Elegant Entertainment’ featured a performance of ‘Trial by Jury’ plus a second half medley of music from other shows. It also showcased previously hidden dramatic talents in a one act drama ‘The Bathroom Door’.