To get into the spirit, Cat tried to write some of her own 140 character (or less!) stories. They are hardly masterpieces but they are good fun to try!

She drew back the curtain, the seats were all filled. She gulped, but smiled and stepped on stage. She felt home here, in spite of nerves.
138 characters

The man woke up from the deepest sleep he’d ever had. Nothing woke him, the world was quiet – too quiet. He opened the window, more silence.
140 characters

The trees swayed with the wind, and the rain came hammering down. Everything was noise and chaos through the window, as she sipped her tea.
139 characters

And here’s an absolute classic, by Fredric Brown – ‘Knock’ aka the shortest horror story ever told.

The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock at the door…
65 characters

To get involved in writing your own 140 character (or less) stories for The Lost Hour, all you need to do is text SCR POR followed by your short story to 81333. Texts will be charged at standard network rates. You can send your text until March 20. A selection will be showcased on the big screen on March 24.

For the whole day, and into the evening, venues across the city open up, giving people the opportunity to enjoy tours, workshops, exhibitions and performances. Most of these events are family friendly, and they are all absolutely free!

We have got some great events lined up, including tours of our beautiful theatre, dance performances, a modern re-telling of a classic Shakespeare play, and much more!

As well as all the events taking place throughout the city, the Big Screen in Guildhall Square will display work written by the Portsmouth Writers Hub and Writers Squad.

What’s more, you can also create your own short story in just one text message of 140 characters to be shown on the screen! All you need to do is text SCR POR followed by your short story to 81333. Texts will be charged at standard network rates. You can send your text until March 20. A selection will be showcased on the big screen on March 24.

Stay tuned to the website for the full programme to be released, and follow @Losthourpompey on Twitter for updates!

To celebrate the day, two opera singers performed classic love songs from our beautiful balcony (as well as in our cafe and at Guildhall Square). We also had our own Cupid, the wonderful Ben Claybon, working alongside Heart FM angels, and our own staff, to encourage the masses to write love letters and post them into a Victorian Postbox to be compiled into a book which will be displayed at the Portsmouth City Museum.

We all had a wonderful time, and were very excited by the number of people writing love letters – we even wrote a few to the loves of our lives too!

We would like to thank John Bacon and Susanne Holmes of Co-Opera, the incredible opera singers who braved the cold to serenade us all, as well as our energetic Cupid, Ben Claybon. Thanks and congratulations are also due to Dani of Portsmouth City Council, and Will Robinson, who came up with the idea of the event, based on the film Letters To Juliet.

Click here to go to our Youtube channel and watch a clip of the balcony performance.

Prize 1 - The Charles Dickens Classics Collection

Won by Carter, Ticket No. B595

Prizes 2-12 - One of Dickens classics

Won by
Jeannie Dalglish, Ticket No. B605
Stella Pickford, Ticket No’s. O461, O465
Cecily Hughes, Ticket No. O476
Trend, Ticket No’s. W330, W327, W326
Liz Mitchell, Ticket No. B601
Tim Heyward, Ticket No. O485
C Bannister, Ticket No. W374
Graham, Ticket No. W335
Snowball, Ticket No. B603

Congratulations to all our winners! If you haven’t already, pop into the Box Office to pick up your prize!

The grand draw took place on the evening of Tuesday 7 February after Simon Callow’s excellent performance of his new book Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World.

Colin Bradley won the award for his support to the theatre, in recognition of the 33 years that he has volunteered with us.

The awards were held at Foundlings Museum, London, on Tuesday 21st January. Colin was accompanied by theatre director, Caroline Sharman who said:

“People like Colin make a huge difference to running the theatre. He has seen so much over the past 33 years, and has taken part in a manner of different tasks for the theatre. All our volunteers bring such a diverse set of skills that are incredibly valuable.”

Colin is now dedicating his time at the theatre to archiving the theatre’s rich history into a digital format with fellow Theatre Archivist Donna Dish.

Here at the theatre we truly appreciate all of our volunteers that dedicate their time to us. For more information about volunteering, visit our Volunteering page or call the Box Office on 0239 264 6477.

The project brings together countries to perform pieces in Duisberg, Germany in July. All towns that are taking part are twinned with Duisberg: Portsmouth, Calais, Vilnuis, Perm and Gaziantep.

The aim of the project is to celebrate the connection of the countries, demonstrating the idea of a common world.

The performance is to be devised by a group of 15-19 year olds under the supervision of Jamie and Claire of Jam Jar Dance. The group, first formed on Thursday, must use their performance strengths be it acting, dance or production design to create 20 minutes of material to show in Duisberg in the summer.

The group will stay out in Duisberg between 5-22 July at a camp shared with all the other participating countries, encouraging bonds to be built and friendships made. Each country will perform their piece, and then the group will be mixed to create a larger scale piece to perform.

For the first workshop, the group of 15 teens had the chance to get to know about the project, and more importantly about each other. A series of activities and games took place to introduce themselves to each other and to begin the early stages of devising the performance they want to take to Germany.

The first activity was a particularly fun one. The group sat in a circle, and passed around a toilet roll, tearing off as many sheets as they wished. This activity was met with some confusion and nervous laughter. It was then revealed that the group must share one fact about themselves for each sheet they tore. The one group member who tore almost half the roll soon regretted that decision! The ice was soon broken, and everyone knew enough about the others to begin some fun games and begin brainstorming.

The group will meet on a weekly basis at the New Theatre Royal to begin planning their performance all the way through to July.

Click here to watch the group say hello to their fellow international groups!

The first prize for a short story (of up to 5000 words) is £5,000, and the same amount can be won for the first prize in poetry (of up to 42 lines).

The Flash Fiction prize attracts £1,000 which is to be won for the best short story under 250 words.

Cash prizes aside, the Bridport Prize is a fantastic stepping stone for writers, with successes including Kate Atkinson, Tobias Hill, Carol Ann Duffy and Helen Dunmore.

Judges this year are Patrick Gale (www.galewarning.org) for short stories, and Gwyneth Lewis (www.gwynethlewis.com) for poetry.

Anyone can enter the competition, as long as the entry work is not previously published. It costs £8 per story, £7 per poem, or £6 per flash fiction. The new closing date for entries is Thursday 31 May.

To find out more and to enter online, visit www.bridportprize.org.uk or come and pick up an entry form from the Box Office.

It may be rough around the edges, but it was great fun to make and the perfect opportunity to show you all that even an absolute novice can create something out of a couple of cardboard boxes, some paper and felt pens!

Please feel free to visit the Box Office and pick up a leaflet stand to take home and work with. You will be required to leave your contact details.

If you haven’t already registered to take part in the event, then please email Cat at lm@newtheatreroyal.com before online registration closes on Monday 30 January. You may also register by calling 023 9277 8991 before Friday 3 February.

For more information about the exhibition, visit: http://www.newtheatreroyal.com/index.php/whats-on/theatres-exhibition

The leaflet stands in the Dress Circle bar would like a makeover, and what better way to give them a New Year new look than to get all of you lovely people, of all ages and artistic ability to get creative.

We would like you to create miniature scenes to fill one of the 44 leaflet stands, depicting the history of the theatre, or just why you love the theatre so much. You can even get into the Dickens spirit and create your favourite scene of a Dickens classic.

Your only limitations are the space, so here are the dimensions to work within:

Height: 18.5 cm
Width: 16cm
Depth: 3.5cm

Please feel free to visit the Box office to pick up a leaflet stand to take home to work with. You will be required to leave contact details.

You can design stage curtains for your piece, or other backdrops of roughly A5 sizing if you wish. All miniature scenes must be set up on Monday 6 February by popping into the theatre on the day with your scenes ready to place or with the leaflet stand you collected.

This exhibition is just one of the many events happening on Tuesday 7 February in celebration of Charles Dickens 200th birthday.

For more information and to register your interest, please email Cat as soon as possible at lm@newtheatreroyal.com.

All entrants must register their interest by email by 10pm on Monday 30 January. Or call 023 9277 8991 by Friday 3 February at the latest.

Prize 1: 14 night cruise to Portugal and the Canaries’, courtesy of Fred Olsen Cruise – Mr Barry Price, Ticket No.01723
Prize 2: 2 day Whale Watching voyage donated by Brittany Ferries – Holly Porter, Ticket No.11549
Prize 3: Canon Powershot Digital Camera and printer from Condor Office Solutions – Mrs Robinson, Ticket No.02717
Prize 4: Golf Fourball donated by Goodwood – Mr Baker, Ticket No.10572
Prize 5: Case of fine wines offered by armit – Mrs L. Carter, Ticket No.10003
Prize 6: Family ticket to visit Portsmouth Historic Dockyard – Karen, Ticket No.02620

Congratulations to all our winners!

The grand draw took place on Saturday 17th December at the New Theatre Royal Portsmouth at 7pm.

Please note terms and conditions apply and can be found below.

Terms and conditions
01. By entering the Big Christmas Raffle, entrants agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.
02. Participation in the Big Christmas Raffle costs £1 per ticket.
03. The Big Christmas Raffle is open to residents of mainland UK (excludes Northern Ireland, Channel Islands and Isle of Man)
04. No raffle tickets can be sold to, or on behalf of, or for a person under the age of 16 years.
05. If a raffle ticket is unknowingly sold to, or on behalf of, or for a person under the age of 16 years, they will be exempt from the raffle and forfeit their prize.
06. Monies raised will support the work of The Mary Rose Trust Registered Charity no 277503 and New Theatre Royal Registered Charity No 271976
07. Raffle tickets will be entered into the draw when the whole payment is received.
08. No responsibility is taken for raffle tickets and payments lost, delayed, damaged in the post, or illegible or from which the prize-winner cannot be identified. Proof of posting is not proof of entry.
09. The closing date for ticket counterfoils and all payments for the Big Christmas Raffle must be received by Wednesday 14th December 4pm. Any tickets received after this date will not be entered into the draw and ticket payments will be considered donations to The Mary Rose Appeal and/or New Theatre Royal Portsmouth.
10. No raffle tickets to be sold to or by any person in the streets.
11. The Big Christmas Raffle will take place on Saturday 17th December 7pm The New Theatre Royal Portsmouth, Guildhall Walk, Portsmouth PO1 2DD
12. Raffle tickets will be drawn randomly.
13. The 1st ticket drawn will win the Fred Olsen 14 nights Portugal and Canaries’ cruise for two people.
14. Prize winners will be notified by telephone, and or post/email no later than Thursday 5th January 2012. A list of prize winners will be published on www.maryrose500.org and www.newtheatreroyal.com Please keep raffle ticket as proof of purchase. *Individual Prize terms and conditions may apply.
15. The results of the draw are final and no correspondence will be entered into.
16. It is the responsibility of the winners to arrange collection of their prizes. Any prize not claimed after Saturday 17th March 2012 will result in The Mary Rose Trust and New Theatre Royal applying the prize as they see fit including re-offering the prize in the future.
17. Mary Rose Trust/New Theatre Royal staff and volunteers are eligible to take part in the raffle UNLESS they are the named promoters, or fundraising and finance staff.
18. If you have any queries about this raffle please contact Fiona Harvey 023 92 750 521 or Fiona Wilson 023 92 778 996. The Mary Rose Trust/New Theatre Royal will not pass on any personal data to a third party.
19. The Mary Rose Trust/New Theatre Royal reserves the right to withhold or cancel the prize in the event of non compliance with these rules.
20. This raffle is a form of gambling. Entrants are encouraged to gamble sensibly. Gamcare provides support to those who are experiencing problems with gambling. Telephone advice line is 0845 6000 133
21. Under the Gambling Act 2005, The Mary Rose Trust and New Theatre Royal are registered to promote small society lotteries with Portsmouth City Council. Official promoters are The Mary Rose Trust and the New Theatre Royal Portsmouth. The raffle is managed by Fiona Harvey an employee of The Mary Rose Trust College Road, HM Naval Base, Portsmouth PO1 3LX and Fiona Wilson an employee of The New Theatre Royal Portsmouth, 20- 24 Guildhall Walk, Portsmouth, PO1 2DD