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CHECKMATE
A Brand New Zoom Play in One Act
Written and Directed by Chris Raven
To be released on the Beckenham Theatre Company website soon!
Cast:
Victoria……………………………..Nikki Packham
Sally…………………………………..Alsion Driscoll
Sally’s Husband…………………Rene Meissner
Izzy……………………………………Debbie Griffiths
Francis………………………………Michael Azzopardi
Edward……………………………..Paul Green
Ted……………………………………Phil Cohen
Georgie…………………………….Shauna Fletcher
Sebastian………………………….James Riley
Candice…………………………….Cathy Diver
Checkmate is a play about Victoria, a proud lady in her later years, her family………and her warring suitors! Who will Victoria choose to be her partner and what will they have to do to woo her!? Checkmate is a light-hearted look at love in later life and how the eternal triangle can get a bit complicated when you are in your 70s.
Chris Raven wrote his play during the first lockdown and BTC’s regular panto team sadly missed out on their 2020 fix of festive fun so most of the characters – with one or two notable exceptions – are played by some of our familiar panto actors from recent years.
This new and totally original production was filmed on Zoom (and mobile phones when and where allowed) during 2021. It is currently in editing and is now planned for release this summer to coincide with a planned update and revamp of the website to reflect the new Beckenham Theatre Company now based at the Beckenham Methodist Church. More details and some trailers for the production will start appearing on the current website soon in the build-up to the production’s release.
Chris Raven is probably best known as Beckenham’s pantomime dame in Mother Goose in 2018 and Aladdin in 2019 though he is an active and enthusiastic actor with other local drama groups whether he is wearing a dress or trousers – he’s perfectly at home in both!
The production is a great initiative from a group of the theatre’s performers and backstage team who are often taken for granted as they give up every Christmas and New Year to keep us entertained in the winter months. So, when Checkmate hits your computer screen this summer, do give them your support and, in return, they’ll keep you entertained and together we’ll keep the limelights burning for BTC in what has been the bleakest of years for theatres and the performing arts everywhere.
