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  • 18 May 2022

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You are here: Home / Tale Valley Community Theatre

Tale Valley Community Theatre

tvct1TVCT creates unique theatre which grows from the stories, history, venues and uniqueness of Payhembury and surrounding areas. All of the productions are original and written by local people, supported by skilled theatre practitioners. Care is taken to ensure authenticity, with most productions taking around two years to develop. Lacking any form of theatre space, the performances take place in a variety of locations which are relevant to the storyline: for example, a marquee in a field close to where a dead German airman was discovered following the shooting down of a Junkers 88 1944 and a farm building for an Interactive Theatre performance about the struggle of small family farms. The ‘Verbatim Theatre’ project in June 2011, also performed on a farm, was based on over thirty interviews with people involved in agriculture.tvct2 The April 2012 production was a site-specific production in a 14th century house in Payhembury, with scenes in different spaces echoing the events in the house over seven centuries. In the 2013 production ‘The Music of Time’, thirteen writes created themed scenes from the childhood of the older participants – the 1940s – which were paired wih scenes from the projected old age of the younger participants – the 2080s. See details of our next production below.
We welcome new participants– whatever their levels of experience, or those with no experience – to help develop exciting, new work based on the unique experience and heritage of this area.

Contact Name: John Somers
Contact Phone: 01884 277390
Contact Email: J.W.Somers@ex.ac.uk
Website: www.tvctheatre.org

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TVCT Meeting – April 2017

April 30th, 2017

The Committee held a meeting on 24th April, at which John Somers made an important statement about its future. To read the minutes please click TVCT Meeting April 2017 and to read John’s statement please click TVCT – JS Statement April 2017.

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TVCT AGM 2016

December 1st, 2016

TVCT held its AGM last month and discussed possible future projects. Artistic Director, John Somers, briefly recalled the original work undertaken in a great variety of sites since he was invited to create a production to mark the arrival of the new millennium in 2000, resulting in the multi-site performance of ‘Parson Terry’s Dinner’. The most recent was ‘They Dream of Home’, a walking performance to commemorate the Parish’s involvement in WWI. The aim is to create new work of various kinds and to widen participants’ experience of different forms of community theatre. Details are being worked out and news […]

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TVCT 2016 AGM

November 7th, 2016

The AGM of Tale Valley Community Theatre will be held on Thursday, 17th November at 7.30pm in the small hall at Payhembury Parish Hall. Artistic Director John Somers will outline projects which are planned for the next year which will include an extension of the WW1 Promenade Theatre project which TVCT actors performed in Princesshay as part of the commemoration of the Battle of the Somme. There is also a plan to work on a new play written by John about farming. This will get its premier at The Walronds in Cullompton on 14th and 15th October. If you have […]

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A Success For Caius

April 30th, 2016

You may be interested to know that Caius (Cai) Nicholas, a member of Tale Valley Community Theatre and who played the lead role in They Dream of Home last September (pic attached) has, in the face of great national competition – around 5,000 people are auditioned each year, been accepted into the National Youth Theatre. He will work in London this summer and take part in a performance at the end of the summer-school. Well done Cai! John

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BBC Radio visits Tale Valley

November 30th, 2015

BBC Radio 4 programme Open Country is to broadcast an episode focusing on aspects of the Tale Valley. In addition to items on Hembury Fort and the Tale Valley Trust, there are interviews with people associated with the Tale Valley Community Theatre (TVCT) and the eyewitnesses who contributed to the research on the 1941 crash of a Junkers 88 German bomber in the Valley. This incident was the focus of Foresight, a 2007 play by Rose Watts, performed by  TVCT in a marquee at Tuckmill. The play sold out and the audience exited the marquee near the play’s end to […]

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They Dream of Home

November 1st, 2015

In a car-free village centre and on a battlefield-disguised school playing field, an inspired cast gave memorable performances in Tale Valley Community Theatre’s challenging and emotive outdoor autumn production of “They Dream of Home”, directed and written by John Somers, reflecting the lives of two young soldiers, killed during WW1, whose names are on Payhembury memorial. After reading the script, their relatives had given permission for use of the young men’s names in the play. The young actors who played the central characters – soldiers, Bertie (Caius Nicholas) and Tom (Mark Rose), and village girl Gwen (Catherine Davies) – were […]

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They Dream of Home – Payhembury Roads

August 30th, 2015

They Dream of Home is a promenade production which takes place at a number of village sites, thus requiring the audience to walk between scenes. I need to ask for people’s co-operation in parking elsewhere as the sight of modern cars will undermine our attempt to transport people’s imagination back to the early 1900s. Parked cars will make the scenes on the Green and at the Memorial impossible to stage. Also, if driving when the audience is transferring from the site of one scene to another, please tolerate a short wait whilst the audience moves on the road.   Parking […]

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Unique WW1 Theatre Production

August 30th, 2015

After taking a short summer break, the Tale Valley Community Theatre company will resume rehearsals this month for ‘They Dream of Home’. This unique performance will be staged at sites around Payhembury village on Sat 9th and Sun 20th Sept Starting at 7.00pm in the Parish Hall An original play, written and directed by John Somers, it captures the excitement amongst the young men of the parish as war is declared and their progression through recruitment, intense battles and the awful consequences of warfare. Two of the characters are based on real men whose relatives have given permission to include […]

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Unique WW1 Theatre Production

August 5th, 2015

Following Tale Valley Community Theatre’s recent and very successful ‘Here we are again – an evening of songs and poems from WW1’, the company will take a short summer break before resuming rehearsals for ‘They Dream of Home’. This unique performance will be staged at a number of sites around Payhembury village on September 19th and  20th. An original play written and directed by John Somers, it captures the excitement amongst the young men of  the parish at war’s declaration and the progression through recruitment, intense battles and the awful consequences of warfare. Two of the characters are based on […]

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Filed Under: Tale Valley Theatre

They Dream of Home – Use of Payhembury Roads

May 31st, 2015

They Dream of Home is a promenade production which takes place in a number of village sites, thus requiring the  audience to walk between scenes. Compared with, for example, when the roads were closed for the first TVCT  production in 2000, Parson Terry’s Dinner, the cost has multiplied and the procedure for achieving it hugely  complex. I need to ask for people’s co-operation in parking elsewhere (the sight of modern cars will undermine our attempt to transport people’s imagination back to the early 1900s) and, if driving, tolerate a short wait whilst the audience  moves from site to site. In […]

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Filed Under: Tale Valley Theatre

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