Theres no escaping the air of friendly grey-haired gentility when you move among the patrons of Sutton Coldfields Highbury Little Theatre. Most of them have been going for years. None of them can go without spotting friends in the intimate auditorium. But whats this? Members of the Highbury Players, the resident company, have shed their inhibitions and their clothes to appear in a bare-faced calendar. Suddenly, its Hi-de-Highbury! And its not only the actors and actresses. Players chairman Rob Phillips, says: To start with, we said nobody would take their clothes off. Then we found that everybody in the theatre, including the front-of-house ladies, was keen to strip off at a minutes notice. Weve got them in groups and as individuals, different people and different positions - but nothing too lewd, all very tasteful. The photographs - one per month for next year - are (loosely) based on bygone Highbury productions. Rob himself is Sherlock Holmes, representing The Hound of the Baskervilles. He is in October and the altogether, with a deerstalker. And as there is a magnifying glass involved, he says you can guess there have been more than enough comments about that. Arts director June Meller recalls her role as Miss Haversham in Great Expectations (November) with the help of a fan, a bit of curtain, a bit of lace and a bit of . . . er, cheek. One way and another, a great many people have been taking their clothes off. Photographer John Lynch has been documenting the doffing in various venues behind drawn curtains and locked doors, with the Players vice-chairman, Jane Aston, whose idea it all was, standing by to see fair play for the fair sex and a fair amount. It has been organised by Richard Tye, an acting member who plans to go into design and intends to use the calendar as his portfolio. The calendar was revealed to Highbury members - behind closed doors, naturally - at the weekend. Audiences will have their first chance to buy a copy during the run of Pack of Lies, from November 9-20. Profits will go to improving facilities, including parking. Ireally did put the cat among the pigeons last week. Well, among the coots, the herns and the terns. I expressed surprise at having heard two references to haunts of coot and hern at Hall Green Little Theatre, when I knew perfectly well that that the hern should have been a tern. I quoted chapter and verse - the poet Tennyson (via the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations) and the humorist Thurber - having made a point of looking it up (twice) before doing so. All of which confirms the theory that you read what you expect to read. That hern - and it really is a hern - has been a tern in my mind for more than half a century. I now realise that I misread the Thurber caption under a cartoon in The Thurber Carnival, in which I have inscribed the fly-leaf with the purchase date of June 7, 1951 - plus a note to the effect that the book was my second purchase with the book token that formed part of my present from colleagues at the end of my National Service. Mollie Martineau, whose late husband Denis had been Lord Mayor of Birmingham, rang me in sympathetic tones to quote from a gold-leafed edition of Tennyson that has been in her family for about 100 years. She pointed out that a hern was in fact a heron and Tennysons The Brook just happened to be the first poem she had learned by heart. And with unrestrained, if understandable, satisfaction - Oh, joy! she says - Margaret Hayes has informed readers (Post letters last week) that she doubts whether many tern - theyre sea birds - would be found beside brooks in the countryside. It is all of eight weeks since I last reported that our friends the gremlins had turned their attentions to me - and as it happens, Hall Green was where they got me last time as well. I really should watch that place like a hawk. (I do mean a hawk, dont I?) Permit a bird-brain to finish where he began, in the realms of rhyme: Fifty years have gone by and I learn, Though coot is a coot, terns a hern. (Alas, slightly late, Im discerning A hern is a bird not for terning). When Sharon Tozer appeared as Ado Annie three years ago at the Old Rep in the Crossed Keys Musical Theatre Companys production of Oklahoma!, she had no idea that she would be doing so a second time - at the Royal Shakespeare Companys Swan Theatre, But that is how things are working out. What is more, Will Parker, the character who plays opposite Ado Annie, is again being played by Tony Fitzgerald - who, like Sharon, is from Solihull. The Stratford Theatre Groups Oklahoma! will run from November 9-13. Both Sharon and Tony have extensive experience on the musical stage. Other shows in which they have appeared together are Carousel and 42nd Street. She has been a member of Birmingham Savoyards since 1982 Tonys other interest is rugby. He plays for Old Yardleians - and claims to have got his team-mates singing songs from the shows instead of the usual rugby ditties. Its good to see activity with Les Misérables, which is available only to youth groups and schools while the rightsholders quiver in their shoes at any thought of its being generally released for amateurs and probably exceeding the remarkable swamping that greeted Me and My Girl a few years back. West Bromwich OS Youth Section will launch its production at the Lichfield Garrick on November 10 and Coventry Youth Operetta Group mans the barricades in May. As part of its diamond jubilee celebrations, Sutton Arts Theatre is hurtling into the 21st Century on its newlycreated website - www.suttonartstheatre.co.uk It contains information about forthcoming events and its hire facilities, as well as advice on where it is - its in South Parade, Sutton Coldfield - and how to become a member. What's On My Fair Lady, Stratford-upon-Avon Operatic Society, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon (to Saturday).
Sweet Charity, The Arcadians, Crescent Theatre, Birmingham (to Saturday). Out of Order, Charlemont Drama Society, Charlemont School, West Bromwich (to Saturday). An Inspector Calls, Sutton Arts Theatre, Sutton Coldfield (Oct 28-Nov 6). Return to the Forbidden Planet, Spotlight Productions, Brownhills Community School (Oct 28-30). The Whole Truth, Billesley Players, Dove-house Theatre, Olton (Oct 29 & 30).
Double Trouble, The Nonentities, Rose Theatre, Kidderminster (Nov 1-6).
Oklahoma!, St Alphege Amateur Operatic Society, Solihull Library Theatre (Nov 2-6).
La Clemenza di Tito, Midland Music Makers, Crescent Theatre, Birmingham (Nov 2 & 3; 5 & 6). The Pirates of Penzance, Stratford-upon-Avon Gilbert & Sullivan Society, Royal Shakespeare Theatre (Nov 3-6).
Accrington Pals, Crescent Theatre, Birmingham (Nov 4-6; 11-13). Relatively Speaking, Oldbury Rep, Barlow Theatre, Langley (Nov 6-13). | 
