Humble Beginnings

Near-ta Theatre began all those years ago in late 2003, when Dan approached Ciaran with an idea for a play. After a couple of months of writing and finding themselves hilarious, their first play was written. They persuaded several of their friends to act in the piece, not all of whom ended up in the final show, and work began on 'Puss Puss'. Of course, how could they stage a show without having a company? A meeting was called for the cast and possible names were suggested. Though 'Big Brown Door' will always be treasured, none seemed right until someone asked, "What rhymes with 'theatre'?" Ewen Farr triumphantly stated, "Near-ta" and the company was born.

We had a cast and a script, but were still lacking one thing... Money. Though we're notoriously good at begging, borrowing and stealing, this was the first time that we had to make cash. Fortunately, Keri Jessiman came to our rescue and suggested we hold a fundraising evening at The Hut. The date was set for Monday 9th February 2004, the tickets were extortionately priced, and the £80 that we raised made 'Puss Puss' possible.

Months passed with only very occasional rehearsals, Harolds came and went, and GCSEs were on the horizon. 'Puss Puss' seemed to be on hold for a few months while we studied hard. It was after the GCSEs that Near-ta Theatre had a bit more drive and determination, the show was booked for Friday 10th December 2004 (thanks to Dominic Knutton, without whom the company could never have started), we had what we thought was a stable cast and had the Drill Hall to rehearse in. But our optimism about the cast was soon crushed as we lost yet another Harold. We weren't deterred and kept rehearsing regardless. However, it did mean Harriet had to act with an empty space for several weeks.

The summer passed, and with twelve weeks to go, we decided to hold auditions, and it was at these that we met Peter Twose, the greatest (and only) Harold there ever was. And after ten weeks of hard rehearsal with our fantastic cast, we got the show together and performed at Falmouth Arts Centre. Though the day itself was very stressful, the show went very well, and was received fantastically, giving us the money needed to put on another show. After such a promising beginning we felt we couldn't stop there, and within two months we were back into rehearsal with 'Keep It All In', and pencilled in the date with Falmouth Arts Centre.

A long rehearsal period followed with our cast of six, and Paul's plight was drilled into our actors. Towards the end, after running it so often, we weren't sure if it made sense any more. You could easily argue that it didn't make any, but we enjoyed getting it together as a group and creating our second piece of original theatre.

The months of rehearsal paid off and we also managed to enlist the talents of the wonderful Sophie Canale for costume and set design. The show was another success, both financially and critically, and we moved on to 'A Christmas Carol'...