Wonderful Workshops!

Over the last six weeks, Team Joseph have created a sub-team: Team Workshop. This particular team of people, led by yours truly, have been visiting schools and community groups around the Island delivering free workshops to children to help them gain confidence, try out singing and dancing and have some fun with the story of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

And the feedback has been wonderful.

The workshops contained a mixture of games, vocal warm-up exercises, singing and dancing, with each group learning two songs from the show: Any Dream Will Do and Benjamin Calypso. 

Each group also took home our 'Design A Dreamcoat' worksheet, and all those returned by the deadline will be displayed at Medina Theatre during the run.

We thought it would be nice to share just some of the feedback with you, and give Team Workshop some recognition for all their hard work.

"It was wonderful of the cast members to give us a day of [their] time and provide the children with such a great experience...the children loved it and they all thought you guys were great."
- Carisbrooke C of E Primary School

"It was great to have you all in...it's really humbling to know there are folks out there prepared to give up their time for children and to share their talent and passion for the arts with them."
- Haylands Primary School

"Thank-you Team Joseph for a brilliant workshop...the children were really inspired. Your 'Fat Camel' galloping game has caught on with Year 6!"
- Brighstone C of E Primary School


Thank-you so much to each and every member of Team Workshop for all their help, and to all the schools and community groups we visited for being so warm and welcoming, and to all the children who participated - what a credit all of them were to themselves, their parents, their schools and groups.

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To see Team Workshop (and their dozens of fellow cast members!) in action, all you need to do is phone 01983 823884 or visit the Medina Theatre website to book your tickets  - we'll see you in July!

Closing In On Showtime...

Well now, what a couple of weeks we've had! As many of you, our wonderful supporters, will by now know, online booking at Medina Theatre has been unavailable for the last two weeks, due to a technical hitch beyond the theatre's control.

We are, however, pleased to report that the online booking website is now back up and running, so please do book your tickets!

We'd also like to thank Neil at The Pompey Chimes for his help in promoting the show throughout the diocese, especially whilst online booking was unavailable, and we'd like to give an equally big shout-out to every single person who and gave us support across our various social media platforms. Your support was absolutely invaluable.

Meanwhile, rehearsals have been going swimmingly and cast members are now working with our spectacular set to get used to it ahead of next week's dress rehearsals and performances.

Next week! We can hardly believe it's now so close!

With every single department in overdrive - from costumes to props to publicity - we're pushing harder than ever to reach the sell-out houses our cast deserves.

In a fundraising update, we raised a further £280 towards the cost of putting on Joseph with our quiz night on Sunday 27th June, which was attended by a whopping 89 people.

We recently made an appearance at Shorwell Midsummer Fair earlier this month, too - and not only were we flyering, we also pitted two of Joseph's brothers - Asher and Napthali - against each other on the Gladiator Pole.

There's never a dull moment on Team Joseph, that's for sure!

And, in some very exciting news, we have also chosen our charities and good causes to support with the proceeds from the show.

St Peter's Church will, of course, be receiving some of the proceeds towards getting running water, a kitchen and a toilet installed in the church, and we will also be supporting the Joe Ellis Trust, as well as putting some money towards a Public Access Defibrillator in the Shorwell area.

Now all that's left to do is sell the remaining tickets and introduce you to some more of our wonderful cast before curtain up!

There's loads to look forward to on the blog before showtime: you'll meet Joseph, Benjamin and the Narrator, among others, as well as hearing from some of the production team.

You'll also find out more about the workshops we've been offering to schools and community groups over the last six weeks; and you'll be getting some more sneak peeks of our set and costumes.



Don't leave it to chance - make sure you've got your tickets for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at Medina Theatre on July 9th and 10th, either by booking online or by phoning 01983 823884 - it's going to be phenomenal!

Stop. Rewind. Play. Repeat.

"The film's not finished, it's just paused!"

Last week, I heard a child shout these seven words to his friend as they wandered past me during the interval of Mary Poppins at The Mayflower Theatre in Southampton...and they broke my heart.

When did technology become so ingrained in our lives that the next generation can't recognise the difference between actors on a stage and people on a cinema screen?

I suppose, in a way, it was a compliment to the show, which was practically perfect in every way; slick and polished, Mary Poppins was the highest class of entertainment. But alongside all the magic I carried away with me, I also carried that little boy's words, stuck in my head long after the final chord.

Since last week, I've had time to muse on it and, not for the first time, have come to the conclusion, that there is one way and one way only to ensure that live theatre is preserved in all its glory.

And that's by supporting it, and by encouraging your friends, your family, your children to support it, too.

You can't pause a live show, you can't rewind the bits you've missed, you can't screenshot it or find it on iPlayer - it's happening, right there in front of you. Characters are coming to life, a story is being told, and every single person doing the telling is doing it as you watch.

Anything could happen...and isn't that a thrill?

No two performances are the same, each audience will see an equally impressive but slightly different show. Each audience member will come away with a different experience, according to what caught their eye.

One may spot Joseph sat on the steps trying to decipher his dreams whilst the Brothers are scheming, another might see the shock of the Chorus as Benjamin is accused of theft, a third might see Joseph and the Narrator dancing together in the background of another number, a fourth could hear an instrumental riff from a different musical creeping into the score...

Hundreds of people watching the same show can see hundreds of tiny details, nuances and moves. Each person will have their own favourite song, favourite character, favourite moment; each of those moments has been delivered by a real person, in real time.

And only those hundreds in the audience will have shared in the experience. It can't be replayed, it can't be replicated. What an exclusive club to join, to be one of only a fraction of the population to have witnessed the magic of a particular show, with a particular cast in a particular place.

Don't underestimate the sticking power of such memories.

For a family of four to see Finding Dory in 3D would cost just 60p less than it would for the same family to see our production of Joseph at Medina Theatre this July (also in 3D, I hasten to add!) with a live band, a live cast of 57 and no DVD option for later!

It's a no-brainer.

We'll see you at the theatre!

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Please Note: Medina Theatre's online booking system is currently unavailable. To book your tickets in the meantime, please phone 01983 823884 or visit Medina Theatre Box Office in person - if the box office is unmanned, pop downstairs and buy your tickets from the Medina Leisure Centre reception.

Meet The Family...

We're officially less than a month away from the first performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in association with St. Peter's Church, Shorwell, and the cast couldn't be more excited!

And having made a further £178 at our Beetle Drive, and with a pub quiz coming up at the end of this month, we're well on our way to being able to make yet another sizeable donation to Island good causes following the production.

Rehearsals, of course, are hotting up, and what a few weeks we've had!


There's laughs a-plenty to be had in this production, with bananas, goats, pom-poms, berets and even a camel all making an appearance.

So what better time to introduce you to some of the cast, starting with these lovely lads: Jacob and Sons.

Jacob was, as the song goes, the founder of a whole new nation, and as such he had twelve sones: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Napthali, Isachaar, Asher, Dan, Zebulun, Gad, Judah, Benjamin and, of course, Joseph.

Joe's brothers aren't his biggest fans. In fact, his dreams irritate them no end; so when Joseph is given the titular dreamcoat, they decide to do away with him by throwing him in a pit.

But when a passing group of Ishmaelites happens upon their deed, their mercenary streak wins through and they haul Joseph out of the pit to sell him into slavery.

Brotherly love, indeed.

They're not all bad, though, and the talented bunch who portray them on stage are a delight, reducing the rest of the cast (and each other!) to fits of giggles on a regular basis.

The Brothers also get some of the production's most memorable numbers, including One More Angel In Heaven, Those Canaan Days and the Benjamin Calypso.

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Want to find out if The Brothers get their comeuppance for attempting fratricide? Make sure you book to see them in action this July - they're quite the team! - and keep an eye on the blog for all the latest Strollers news.