Next show

 From the creators of Proposals – a new musical to make spines tingle and hearts race! CADS are proud to announce our next show will be HIGHWAYWOMAN – the almost true adventures of the Wicked Lady of Hertfordshire by our members Lou Treleaven and Fred Thomas. 

When a young lady is married to an older man against her will in seventeenth century Hertfordshire, she finds he is in huge debt to friends who are cheating him out of his fortune. In an attempt to expose them, Katherine loses her only treasure and ‘escape fund’, a precious gold locket left to her by her mother. Posing as The Spectre, a local lawbreaking legend, she holds up the couple’s coach and retrieves the locket. Katherine is hooked and begins taking lessons from The Spectre himself. As feelings develop between them, can she continue her thrilling double life or will the law, her husband or the cunning Lady Mountjoy finally catch up with her? Prepare yourself for melodrama, excitement and new original songs with live accompaniment. To quote one of them, 'It's going to be a memorable night!'

CHARACTERS – 6 F, 8 M plus Chorus
Katherine Fanshawe nee Ferrars (F) – courageous but frustrated young woman
Lord Thomas Fanshawe (M) - wastrel aristocrat and gambler
Sukie (F) - Katherine’s faithful maid, a big fan of The Spectre
Spectre (M) – arrogant but dashing highwayman, real name Ralph Chaplin
Marcus (M) – assistant gardener in love with Sukie
Dotty (F) - the cook, mother figure to Katherine
Lady Alice Mountjoy (F) -  Lord Mountjoy’s wife and the brains behind the couple’s schemes
Dowager Countess (F) – Thomas’s mother, blind to her son’s faults
Staggers (M) - the Fanshawes’ decrepit butler
Mr Ferrers (M) - Katherine’s father, a widower who just wants an easy life abroad
Dean of St Albans (M) – debauched clergyman friend of Lord Fanshawe
Lord Harpenden (M) – hypochondriacal friend of Lord Fanshawe
Lady Harpenden (F) - wife of the above
Lord Cecil Mountjoy (M) - Fanshawe’s ‘friend’, a lazy cheat controlled by his wife
Wilkinson (M) – coach driver (may double as Lord Harpenden or the Dean of St Albans)
Ferguson (M) – coach driver (may double as Lord Harpenden or the Dean of St Albans)
Chorus of villagers/guests

Proposed performance dates are 3-5 December plus previous two Sundays for run throughs. Rehearsals are on Tuesdays as usual with additional Thursdays nearer the time. Auditions on Tue 5 May at 7:30 pm and Sunday 10 May at 5:30 pm at Heathfield Centre. We hope to see you there!