• Patience
  • Silas Marner
  • The Government Inspector
  • The Merry Widow
  • Patience
  • Silas Marner
  • The Beggar's Opera
  • Murder on the Nile
  • Little Grimley presents Strictly Sex Factor (on Ice)
  • Thespis by Gilbert & Sullivan
  • The Matchgirls
  • The Government Inspector
  • The Mikado

Welcome

This is the website of Betchworth Operatic and Dramatic Society, commonly known as 'BODS'. We are a friendly society with a long tradition of high-quality music and drama productions at Betchworth Memorial Hall (between Reigate and Dorking) as well as varied social events. Feel free to explore information here about our history, past productions and future plans. Then come and join us !

Captain Noah and his floating zoo

A Cantata by Michael Flanders and Joseph Horowitz

Performance: 31 August 2024, Betchworth Village Hall

Director: Alison Cooper

Musical Director: Vicki Hodges

Accompanist: Ian Stone

A 'come and sing' fundraising event consisting of a rehearsal, tea & cakes, and a performance, with additional monologues by Sarah Esser-Haswell and Stephen Tickell. Soloists were rehearsed in advance !

Noah Peter Telford
Narrator Jane Khan
God Peter Thomas
Mrs Noah Jane Flanders
Mrs Shem Eleanor Hubbard
Mrs Ham Jane Johnson
Mrs Japhet Emoke Soproni
Shem David Brown
Ham Stephen Tickell
Japhet Neil Williams

 

 

Salad Days

Performances 13-16 November 2024, Betchworth Village Hall

Director: Lynda Barrett-Mercer

Musical Director: Ian Stone

Written in the 1950s by Julian Slade and Dorothy Reynolds, Salad Days is a light-hearted and zany musical, combining memorable tunes such as ‘We Said we Wouldn’t Look Back’, ‘Look at Me I’m Dancing’ and ‘We’re Looking for a Piano’ with fast-moving comedy, drawing on panto and music hall traditions.

Just out of university, Jane and Timothy agree to look after a piano for a mysterious tramp, while Timothy’s family try to find him a suitable job, and Jane’s a suitable husband. The piano turns out to have magical powers, causing anyone who hears it to dance. A series of unexpected events follow, involving numerous eccentric characters, the disappearance of the magic piano and the appearance of a flying saucer

Tickets £15/£12 (concessions). Weds-Fri performances 7.30pm (doors open 7pm), Saturday matinee 2.30pm. An amateur production, presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd

Cast

The Tramp Kelly Cross
Jane Jane Khan
Timothy Dee Coutts
Timothy's Mother Jane Straker
Timothy's Father Roger Nelson
Lady Raeburn Jane Seymour
Nigel Peter Telford
Heloise Eleanor Hubbard
PC Boot Stephen Tickell
Rowena Joanne Packham
The Nun Margaret Longes
Troppo Emoke Soproni
Fosdyke Stephen Tickell
Sir Clamsby Williams  Peter Telford
Inspector David Longes
Manager David Longes
Asphynxia Emoke Soproni
Uncle Zed Roger Nelson
Fiona Christina Usher
Augustine WIlliams Julie Bickerdike
Electrode Margaret Longes
Anthea Eleanor Hubbard
Aunt Prue Julie Bickerdike
Ambrose David Longes

Production Team

Director Lynda Barrett-Mercer
Musical Director Ian Stone
Musicians Ian Stone, Tessa Lawn, Helen Greaves
Choreographer Gail Lowe
Stage Manager Diane Mayall
Sound/Lighting David Ames
Set construction  Diane Mayall, Neil Mayall, Stephen Tickell, Neil Williams & the Company
Costume Lynda Barrett-Mercer, Julie Bickerdike
Props/Furniture Jane Flanders, Darryl Cross, Emoke Soproni
Poster design Lynda Barrett-Mercer, Josh Packham
Front of House Linda Slater, Trish 
Photography Geoff Martin

The Enchanted April

Performances: 15-18 May 2024, Betchworth Village Hall

Director: Jane Hogg

Four ladies who have only just met make a bold decision to escape the dire winter weather of 1920's London and rent a villa in Italy for the month of April. All have very different characters and backgrounds, but each has a deep dissatisfaction with their everyday lives.

Will their time together at beautiful San Salvatore help bring them the friendship, resolution, peace and most of all, love, they crave ? Join Lotty, Rose, Caroline, Mrs Fisher and assorted husbands on their Italian idyll to find out, in this gentle play adapted by Bonnie Roberts from the novel by Elizabeth von Arnim

Presented by arrangement with The Dramatic Publishing Company, Woodstock, Illinois

Cast

Lotty Wilkins Diane Mayall
Rose Arbuthnot Jane Khan
Mrs Fisher Jane Seymour
Lady Caroline Dester  Dee Coutts
Mellersh Wilkins Neil Mayall
Frederick Arbuthnot Kevin Hogg
Mr Briggs Stephen Tickell
Francesca Linda Slater
Domenico David Ames

Crew

Sound & Lighting  David Ames, Julie Bickerdike, Roger Nelson
Sound design Kevin Hogg
Set design Jane Hogg
Set construction Kevin Hogg, Gerald Hulf, Tracey Hulf,
Stephen Tickell, Neil Williams & the Company 
Stage management    Kevin Hogg, Stephen Tickell
Costume Jane Hogg and the Company
Prompt Trish Finch
Front of house Joanne Packham 
Poster and programme design  Josh Packham
Photography Geoff Martin

 

Next event

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