Ritorno al Pianeta Vietato

Italia

Dramatic Society on Tour

Naples, Latina and Rome

For the third consecutive year we were invited by the Associazione Culturale " Romeo Collalti " to take part in their annual youth drama festival in Rome.

This year we presented Bob Carlton's Return to the Forbidden Planet (Shakespeare's forgotten rock'n'roll masterpiece) at Rome's Teatro Quirino as well as at three other venues.

Once again board and lodging were provided by the Associazione at the Foro Italico youth hostel, where we also gave an evening performance of the show in the locker room (too wet to perform in the garden this year). Conditions were rather cramped but a lively international youth hostel audience dancing in the aisles made the show great fun.

Dr Massimo Collalti, the president of the Associazione, and about forty dignitaries from the Italian Youth Hostel Association and the Regional Tourist Board attended a special meal held at the hostel before the performance.

After the show he announced we were the winners of the festival and presented us with the certificate of victory.

We again visited the Convitto Nazionale School in the centre of Naples with the show. The students were a lively and appreciative audience and, as last year, the kindness we were shown by everyone we met during our two days in Naples was overwhelming.

Special thanks to Prof. Racioppi, Sandy, Pasquale and the other educatori and the school nurse (one of our stage managers had a little problem) for making our visit possible.

The final venue in the tour was the Teatro Ridotto di Latina. The audience here consisted of students from the Liceo Scientifico "G.B.Grassi" in Latina. They responded enthusiastically to the show and invaded the stage after the performance demanding autographs.

The students then invited us back to their school where they had prepared a delicious buffet lunch. This was followed by a tour of the school, volleyball and conversation. Both English and Italian students were eager to make friends and much exchanging of addresses (postal and e-mail) took place.

On the following day students and teachers from the school took us on a coach tour of the Latina region. We visited Sermoneta, Fossanova and San Felice Circeo. Lunch was again a highlight, this time at a restaurant owned by the parents of one of the students.

The visit was, we hope, one of the first of many exchanges between Latina and the Wirral now that the two regions are officially twinned. Special thanks to Rita Ippoliti and Patrizia Tufo for organising everything and greeting us so warmly, to the students for giving up so much of their time to make us welcome and to Nunzia Bertali, Italian Consul in Birkenhead for making all the arrangements for our visit.

Thanks must also go to Matthews Auto Body Repair Centre for their generosity in sponsoring our trip, to Paul Shepherd and other members of the cast for their fund-raising efforts and to Dan, Stewart and Martin of Off The Ground Productions who again transported all our props and musical instruments to Italy and stage managed the show while there.

The team . . .

Captain Tempest	Paul Shepherd
Science Officer	Verity Parker
Doctor Prospero	Paul Harrison
Miranda	Claire Harris
Cookie	Richard Kelsey
Ariel	Greg Colton
Navigation Officer	Daniel Price
Crew	Daniel Hughes
	Jon Culligan
	Laurence Matthews
	Craig Leyland
	David Williams
Musicians	Tim Ruddell
	Nick Roach
	Peter Ennion
	John Tysoe
	Chris Mainey
	Carl Billington
	Matthew Stanbury
Musical Director	Mary Chaffé
Stage Management	Dan Meigh
	Stewart Jones
	Martin Scorer
Sound	Ant Cliffe
	Dan Meigh
Lighting & Effects	Brian Thompson
	Stewart Jones
Scenery & Artwork	Roger McCoy
	Keith Hill
	Tim Sinnott
	Pam Yates
Costumes	Pat Eccleson
	Sandra Jones
Director	Randall Lewton