It’s normal that I leave the writing of this column until almost the last moment, when some sort of miracle usually occurs and I manage to find something fairly interesting to write about. At least, it’s interesting to me; the rest of you can argue over whether it is or not – and of course you do.
This time though, I’ve been racking my brains, what’s left of them, to find something remotely suitable. This is mainly, if not exclusively, because I’m up to my ears in theatre activities. Although I wasn’t in the cast of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, the latest offering from the Copenhagen Theatre Circle (CTC), I always find myself involved in various aspects of productions. Then of course, I’m also the current chair of the society with all that entails in keeping things on course. We have our AGM in a month, so there’s plenty of preparatory work in that connection. Not only that, but we have a lot of other things going on, not least our entry in the annual FEATS festival for English-language amateur groups in Europe − this year in The Hague at Whitsun.
So then it occurred to me that the very thing that I’m eminently interested in is what’s keeping me from writing an article about what I’m interested in! What’s more, so far I’ve somehow managed to resist the temptation to use this column as a propaganda tool for the CTC or its magnificently professional stage productions. Perhaps it’s time to redress that situation.
The CTC is 45 years old this year, so in five years there will be real cause for celebration. But that’s not to say there isn’t real cause even now, because never in its history has the society been more talented, more adventurous or more ambitious than it is now. While some other English-language groups in Europe are in decline, or are stuck in a groove that they dug for themselves in the 1960s or 70s, we are not only doing more and more, but are still looking for ways to expand our horizons artistically. We now have a paid-up membership of over 100, over 400 members of our Meetup group, and there’s also those who follow us with thumbs raised on Facebook.
I joined the CTC in 1979 when it was just over ten years old. In those days, things were very small and understated, yet one had the impression that there was a certain ethos hanging over the society: an ethos of sincerity I suppose. I got the impression that the CTC was about sincere theatre, and I wasn’t wrong. They hadn’t put on a stage production for two years, but that was because the small membership wasn’t about to compromise on quality just for the sake of doing something. As soon as I and a few others joined, we put on a show straightaway.
Many of our current members hadn’t yet been born in 1979. They would probably be amused to know that we had such things as ‘stuffing parties’ to fill envelopes with PR material and send them out by post. Yet I’m proud that the same ethos of sincerity in what we do still pervades our activities. In those days we never dreamed of the possibilities for artistic expression that are open to us now. Nor did we have the rich seams of talent to mine that we have today − talent that reflects an increasingly cosmopolitan Copenhagen. As an example, the cast of nine in ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ represented no fewer than seven nationalities. Yet the CTC’s staging of this quintessentially English classic has been hailed by some as the best production of the play they have ever seen. Quite an achievement!
To quote Hughie Green (look him up), I mean this most sincerely, folks. If you’re looking for a meaningful way of enjoying yourselves – one that brings great satisfaction in creating and presenting theatre – get in touch and get involved. No need to be an actor – there are plenty of other ‘roles’ in a society like ours. Go to www.ctcircle.dk and take it from there.
