Category Archives: Saddleworth Players

A review of opening night by Martin Roche The great thing about a piece of theatre is when the subject matter brings an idea, a concept, a story to the stage which feels original and just works. I think we’re on safe ground in the originality stakes with a two-hander play encompassing foreign cycling trips, bereavement, Brexit, the Miner’s Strike and a burgeoning friendship! I guess it is the latter which is the glue which […]

By Carol Davies On Saturday, the 4th of June 2022 the play ‘Singers not Sinners’ premiered at Millgate Arts Centre, Delph and ran for a week. On the 30th August last it was reprised with the same cast at Oldham Parish Church, now Saint Mary’s with Saint Peter, on the site of the 1701 church. It was an extraordinary experience and a major place on the Journey. Because from Page to Stage IS a journey.. […]

Although it dominated our lives, Brexit has so far made surprisingly few appearances on stage, for obvious reasons. It is, however, a key topic – along with grief and cycling – in this humane, funny and perceptive two-hander written by John Godber. The play presents us with an odd couple brought together by loss and a love of bikes. Don, an ex-miner and now a porter at Pontefract hospital, is grieving over the death of […]

Putting a play on its feet is, of course, a director’s job but putting your own play on its feet has a slightly different feel to it. It has been a fascinating journey writing and rewriting it on the page and then taking it from page to stage firstly at Millgate Arts Centre and now at Oldham Parish Church. The company’s skills and enthusiasm has made the whole rehearsal experience a joy and Peter Wakefield’s […]