Saturday 24 November 2012

Opening night was great - there were the usual little hitches like a faulty battery meaning no sound effects on one sketch and one song accidentally being missed out, but that's what makes Dicker Cabaret special! We carry on regardless and have a jolly good laugh.
If you are coming to the performance on Sat 24th remember to bring your own food and drinks plus plates, glasses and cutlery. For those coming on Sat 1st Dec, make sure your food orders (and payment) for the 3 course meal are with Josie by Thursday 29th. email

Shows start at 8pm, you can arrive from 7.30. Polegate school, Oakleaf Drive, Polegate.

Wednesday 21 November 2012

The stage is set, the lines and music scores are learned, the lighting is in place and the sound effects are all recorded - here's just hoping our poorly member of the cast is up and out of her sick bed in time for the Opening Night! Get well soon, Christine!

There are still a few tickets available for Friday 23rd and Sat 24th - if you want to book tickets for Sat 1st Dec with the 3 course meal, please book by Thursday 29th Nov.

Saturday 17 November 2012

Sadly, due to unforeseen circumstances, we have had to cancel the performance on 30th Nov 2012, but there are still tickets available for the 23rd Nov, 24th Nov (£8 each) and on 1st Dec (£17.50 to include meal - meal must be booked at least 2 days in advance).
Seriously, it's funny - you'll love it. There's just a teensy weensy bit of swearing but it's all essential to the plot, and the usual not too subtle innuendos!

Thursday 15 November 2012


Without wishing to give too many surprises away, the group's current show, Cabaret 2012! features just 8 cast members in a diverse range of comic roles including nurse, pilots, librarian, opticians, milkman, newspaper editor, passengers on a cruise, magician, squash players, puppeteers and a French lover, to name but a few. And we are exhausted! We would love to have just a few new members in the group to help share out the roles for future Cabarets and Plays. Yes, we do plays too. In fact, we are an award winning group, scooping a past prize in Eastbourne Festival for the performance of Blue Remembered Hills by Dennis Potter. 
Past plays include An Evening with Gary Linekar, Comic Potential, Look no Hans and Radio Daze.

So if you have anything from an iota to a bucket load of talent, can sing (or not), play an instrument (or not) and are keen to tread the boards and be in the limelight, come and see what we get up to at the performances (23/24 Nov, 1st Dec) and talk to the cast at the end of the show. Tickets are £8 for the first 2 nights, and £17.50 for the final night on 1st December which includes a 3 course meal. It has been a long standing tradition of the Dicker Players that they swap roles from actors to waiting staff during the interval to serve the audience their meals, usually with a touch of Dicker Players comic attitude.

Monday 12 November 2012

14/11/12 - just over a week to go before opening night and we have just finished another fantastic rehearsal. The songs are all coming together well and we all know the majority of the words now, which is handy. There's always that little nagging worry that if you get too good in rehearsal that you'll have 'peaked too soon' and the shows will be an anti climax, but I don't think that'll be a problem - we're simply getting more and more polished every day! I can't wait!!
NB: If you are planning to book tickets for Friday 30th Nov, please call first to check availability.
In the Dicker Players we tread, and stick to, that fine line between being disappointingly tame for existing audiences and overtly shocking for new audiences. Although we call the Cabaret 'Adult Humour', if we were a film we'd probably be rated 15. In fact, this year the majority of our sketches don't even contain any swearing and there is, I am sorry to report, no full frontal nudity - well there hasn't been in rehearsals, but with Cabaret who knows what will happen on the night?
We are still finding it all very funny even after nearly 3 months of rehearsals so we are sure the audiences will love it - tickets still available for most nights



Sunday 4 November 2012

Rehearsals are going well and we're all desperately looking forward to the performances! I'll take a few 'behind the scenes' shots and upload them after tomorrow's rehearsal.

Just to give you an idea of what to expect from the Dicker Cabaret... imagine the Two Ronnies, Katherine Tate and Armstrong and Miller at a party given by Fry and Laurie, with the teams from Smack the Pony, Live at the Electric, Monty Python and others.  Now imagine they've all had a bit too much to drink. It is the best of sketches, it is the worst of sketches. Much of it is home made, some unintentionally so. Most of it is hilarious, some unintentionally so. There is music, singing and something vaguely resembling choreography.

Audiences have, for some reason totally beyond our comprehension, been coming back to the annual Cabaret for years. It is an acquired taste. Some 'virgin' cabaret audience members have been known to swoon at the strength of the language, those without a strong stomach have even been seen to beat a hasty retreat in the interval - be warned, Dicker Cabaret is 'adult humour'. That is not to say it is unadulterated filth throughout with gratuitous swearing, sex or violence. Any swearing, sex or violence is essential to the plot of the sketch. Don't get me wrong - the cast's friends and family, including parents and grandparents, come along year after year, not because we buy them tickets and sulk if they don't come, but because they enjoy it and perhaps because there's an element of supporting their loved ones through those difficult and embarrassing times in their life.

There really is only one way to find out what it's like, well 2 ways if you count asking someone who's already been, or 3 ways if you count finding a VHS tape of an old performance, but the BEST way to find out is to come along. In addition to the usual performances which include a break for a 3 course meal half way (for just £17.50 all in) we are offering a BUDGET ticket for those wishing to sample the experience for the first time without making the full financial commitment - a special £8 ticket with the very special chance to eat your own food and drink your own drinks in the interval. (See TICKETS page)

Go on - suck it and see. At the best you'll have a fantastic evening of food and hilarity that will remain etched into your memory for all eternity- at the worst you'll burst your stitches laughing or your blood will boil in disgust and the memory of the evening will be etched into your memory for all eternity. Either way, it'll be a night to remember  - give it a whirl!











We're missing Steve in these photos as he was otherwise engaged at the time - will try to snap some of him in action on Sunday's rehearsal. We're gradually loosening up and getting more animated!


Tuesday 10 July 2012

Cabaret 2012 - dates set

It's official!! The dates of Cabaret 2012 are.....


23rd/24th/30th Nov /1st Dec

The 23rd and 24th Nov performances will be self-catering nights (bring your own candelabras, glasses, food and drink to enjoy in the interval) for £8 a ticket.

The 30th Nov and 1st Dec performances will include a 3 course meal in the interval for £17.50 a ticket. bring your own drinks (we'll provide the glasses).


All performances are at Polegate School and start at 8pm.


Reserve your tickets NOW on the TICKETS page or buy a ticket in person from your local Dicker Players representative:

Clive Hale, Christine Armitage Hinks, Stephen Edwards, Josie Tipler, Jim Tipler, Marilyn Chandler, Sonia De Sousa, Doug Dalziel (read more about the cast HERE)

Menu:
Starter
A  Lightly curried parsnip soup
B  Farmhouse Pate served with an onion relish
C  Duo of melon slices with tropical fruits
Main
A  Chicken breast with a wild mushroom sauce
B  Roasted pork loin with an oriental sauce
C  Spinach and feta tart
Dessert
A  Homemade bread pudding with custard
B  Chocolate gateau with whipped cream
C  Cheese and biscuits