NTPD Celebrates 25 years anniversary of our Studio Theatre

In November 2020 but for COVID there would have been our 25 years anniversary celebrations in our studio Theatre. In November 1995 after being given the go-ahead by the trustees we opened that intimate little Studio with an audience of 70 to watch Alan Bennett’s “Talking Heads” directed by the well loved and missed John Gibbon.

25 years later it continues to go from strength to strength, and we now proudly have a loyal dedicated audience for our 3 Productions each year, and for many of us it truly is our second home. John continued to direct most of the Productions until he passed away in 2010, and we, his protégés, proudly, but nervously took over his legacy.

2011 saw our first “signed production” for the hard of hearing, and in 2012 we had the studio first full house standing ovation on each of the 3 performances of Blood Brothers, and started to take our productions to other venues. In November 2012 we broke the mould from the usual staging and presented Death And The Maiden as a traverse show with audiences on both sides, which we repeated again the following year with Love Letters. Since then we’ve gone on to incorporate video screen into productions used with great effect in emotional shows like The Guys, and in our more recent fun productions of Take Five.

In 2018 NTPD invested over £15,000 in new staging and lighting to enhance the audience experience. It also had a lot to do with the fact that 25 years on we we’re getting a bit too old to lug around the heavy stages, but it has allowed us to be more experimental with new designs and layouts. We’ve also invested in new LED lights, (which are certainly cooler in that small space) and new technology to make our audience experience that much better, all under the guiding hand of our dedicated lighting and sound genius Curtis Knight.

Over 25 years on Stockwell Head we’ve electrocuted people, painted them green, vomited on stage, and scattered rose petals throughout the audience. We’ve been rude, lewd, manic, dramatic and romantic all in the name of that wonderful hobby of ours that we live and breathe for.
It saddens me that we won’t be performing on this special weekend, but I want to say a huge thanks to the countless directors, actors and actresses, some sadly no longer with us, who’ve been a part of this journey. Also to the people who turn up on a Friday afternoon or who linger a little longer on a Sunday evening to help set up or strip out. Finally heartfelt thanks to our audiences, we’ve laughed a lot, and shed many tears together in that beautiful intimate space.

We will be back when it’s safe to dust the cobwebs off the curtains, to see your smiling faces and share a theatrical hug.. which may just be a little longer and tighter than before.