CX wins in recent NODA awards

Sunday, July 12th, 2026

There was great excitement at the NODA London Region Annual Celebration Day last month, when Marilyn Leadbetter masqueraded as Chris Bertrand to accept The Charles Sumner Award for Best Male Character in a Play,

For those not familiar with the structure, the National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA) operates as local branches, known as Districts, which are part of a Region. We are in District 12 (Oxfordshire) of the London Region.

Chris won the District award for Best Male Character in a Play, for his portrayal of André in The Father, which meant he was nominated for the Regional award. Whilst we have had several District wins over the time we have been NODA members, this is the first time an SP has got over the line to win the Regional award. Huge congratulations to Chris, we are all very proud of you!

We had 2 other District wins, with Hansel and Gretel taking Best Panto, and Rebecca Cleverley for Best Female Character in a Play, again for The Father.

It was a huge honour for the whole society to bring home the District 12 NODA Flame Award for the second time. The award is now on display in the cabinet above the book case in the foyer. The award was given for “the breadth and depth of our programming” in 2025.  Congratulations go to the Artistic Team for their choices and to the directors and their teams who brought the individual productions to life so successfully. Hopefully, the certificate with the full citation will be on display somewhere soon. Thanks also to Andrew Walter, our NODA rep, for the nominations and for his diligent support for all our productions.

Successful set design workshop

Sunday, October 26th, 2025

On Saturday 25 October, around a dozen people attended the inaugural set design workshop given by five experienced CX set and lighting designers. The morning sessions covered:

Welcome and theatre tour – David Simmons
The role of the designer – Mike Simmons
The design process – Greg Ryder
Creating the concept – Jean White
Lighting design – Bruce Williams
Look and feel – Nicola Webb

Following lunch, the attendees paired up and each had a go at creating sketches and a box model for The Unfriend, a comedy that required a complicated box set, featuring a much-used staircase, several doors, a loo, a kitchen and living area. This presented quite a few challenges, which the groups had to overcome and report on, when they presented their final models.

The day was enjoyed by all, with good feedback received. Below are photos of some of the attendees with their box models.

If anyone is interested in attending a re-run of this course, please email chair@sinodunplayers.org.uk

CX a top 30 UK cinema

Saturday, October 4th, 2025

We recently were awarded a framed certificate by the national Exhibition on Screen distributors, as being in their top 30 nationwide for audience figures of all exhibition on screen titles. We were chuffed to get this honour, as their cinema roster covers all the multiplexes, the large independent chains, like PictureHouse and Everyman, and various arthouse venues.

So, thanks to our loyal audiences, our modest 179 seater-venue is one of the top 30 in the country! The next EoS showing is Caravaggio on 12 November at 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Tickets available here.

Here’s a photo of the certificate, which is hanging in the CX foyer.

Join our Workshop Team

Tuesday, May 27th, 2025

As many of you will know, set building for SP productions takes place largely on weekdays during the day, with a dedicated team of retired folk involved. We would dearly love to open this task to a wider group, and to this end, Mick Woodhouse, one of that senior group, has suggested a regular session at time when others might be able to take part.

We are therefore going to start regular Thursday evening sessions starting on June 5th at 7.00pm. If you are interested, come along and see what is happening. Come to the foyer and you will be directed to the workshop area.

David Simmons

Workshop Leader

Sound in the Cinema

Wednesday, February 25th, 2015

The standard level for film sound in an Auditorium is 7.0 on the calibrated Dolby™ Volume level control.

However, many cinemas including this one, have found that this setting can allow excessive sound levels on some film soundtracks.

However, as part of the experience, the sound in a cinema will always be louder than that of a television set playing in a family lounge.

We therefore run our sound level at Volume setting 5.5 which allows the quiet nuances and dialogue on the soundtrack to be easily heard as well as allowing the occasional high level sound such as that of a jet aircraft taking off.  This is done for dramatic effect.

The Auditorium sound level is always checked by the projectionist as soon as the main feature starts.