CHRISTMAS SHOW ON TOUR

Our family Christmas show for 2007 tells the story of the three wise men and their travels to see the new king. Melchior’s Magical Mystery Quest will be on tour in the Portsmouth area during December 2007. Click here for more details of where and when you can see us.

VIDEO OF YANCEY SHOW ON OFFER

Our 10th anniversary show, in March 2006, was a world premiere. Our adaptation of What’s So Amazing About Grace? the best-selling book by Philip Yancey was a sell-out. If you couldn’t see it, or if you’d like to re-live the experience, you can buy a two-hour video of the whole show for £12. Click here and give us your name and address.

10TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS

We celebrated 10 years of Top Cat Theatre Company in 2006. Those 10 years have included a huge variety of sketches and full-length plays, from the drama of Promise to the festive comedy of Scrub That Manger!, from the real-life experiences of asylum seekers in Exile to the hypothetic dilemmas posed in Unforgivable Sin. To mark the occasion, our final performance of What’s So Amazing About Grace? in April 2006 was preceded by a reception for past and present cast members and our most loyal supporters. Check out our full 10 year history here.

SKETCH BOOK SELLING WELL

Our artistic director Neil Pugmire launched his first book in autumn 2002 - and 1,700 copies have already been sold to date. 50 Seasonal Sketches includes sketches, serials and a one-act play for the whole church year - from Christmas to Remembrance Sunday. A second section of the book includes material for weddings, baptisms, family services and other special events. Published by Kingsway, it is available, priced at £8.99, in all good Christian bookshops. See here for details of Kingsway's books. See here for a sneak preview of some of the sketches.

J TEAM SCRIPTS MADE AVAILABLE

Some of you may remember Top Cat’s performance of The Adventures of the J Team in 1998, or may have seen schools groups performing the futuristic children’s serial in assemblies around Portsmouth and south-east Hampshire.  The Bible Reading Fellowship has published not just the scripts themselves, but activities, songs, craft ideas and games to go with each episode. The Adventures of the J Team should be an invaluable resource for schools, holiday clubs and children’s groups. It was published in April 2003 and can be bought directly from the BRF website here.

NEW CONCEPT FOR FAMILY SERVICES

Top Cat’s artistic director, Neil Pugmire, was commissioned by the Bible Reading Fellowship to write a book based on the Launchpad family services at St Jude’s Church, Southsea. The book has now been written jointly with Mark Rodel, who was also a member of the team that plans the services there each month. Each service includes ideas for drama, activities, songs, multi-media presentations and talks to hold the attention of the average five to 11-year-old. Among the services featured are God’s Heroes (Billy and Bertie’s adventures in time travel), Living Together (puppets Millicent, Rupert, Lambert and the Crocodile discover more about communal living) and Jester’s Tales. It was published in January 2004. To bring up the website devoted to Launchpad services, click here.