Why did

YOU

join

CRUDE

APACHE ?

Once upon a time a group of like-minded individuals found they were spending a lot of time together getting drunk and waxing lyrical about theatre. Eventually they decided to put their egos where their mouths were and formed Crude Apache.

I had the pleasure of being involved in CA's first pub show, Biggy Smalls Takes On The Forces Of Oppression. The brain-child of Jo Edye, it charted the battle between Alex landlord Tiny Little and the big breweries trying to put him out of business. We did 4 performances, Tiny won the battle and I got to kiss Tom Carver on-stage. I was in this show for one simple reason, Jo Edye. I had spent an evening in the pub while he talked about Crude Apache, about performing in pubs, for free, about Tiny taking on the big breweries, and about theatre. I was hooked, I auditioned and I'm still here.

There is a reason for this brief trip down memory lane. In those days, Crude Apache existed in a hand-to-mouth manner. One of us would get drunk, talk up an idea and when enough of the rest of us were on board, we would make it happen. We were passionate, we were inspired, we were driven.

It seems to me that we are not, anymore. Not in the same way. Don't get me wrong, those early days weren't perfect, some of the stuff we did was crap. But it didn't matter – we learned from the mistakes; we developed as actors, writers, directors; we were a team; we were excited.

We have become victims of our own success. We now think in terms of show slots. We have four slots a year, what are we going to fill them with. We don't consider interesting spaces, just “When can The Garage fit us in”. We get obsessed with complicated costume and set, forgetting how much you can do with two people and an empty space.

Well it stops here.

Jo made an excellent suggestion at the last meeting to which I urge you give serious consideration. It's really simple. Come and join us for a drink. At the next committee meeting. We'll get all the tedious bollocks over with in the first twenty minutes. Then come and join us. Sit, drink and talk about theatre. Any theatre. Ours, yours, what you saw recently at the Playhouse. Any theatre. Or just come and help me work out my ideas. I've got lots but I need to bounce them off people. I need a loose collective of like-minded individuals and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Duncan is writing Caradoc. Tim and Russ are thinking about one act plays. Jo has a new film project in mind. So I'll see you there. At The Alex. Next Tuesday. 5^th December. At 8pm.

Panda

P.S. The Cabaret Cupboard made £112 and was a success despite the noise. Well done Russ and his team and thanks to all who came along to support.