• HomeHome
• Current PlayCurrent Play
• Reviews
• Past EventsPast Events
• Poetry GroupPoetry Group
• Past ProductionsPast Productions
• Join usJoin us

Reviews of Past Productions

Rumours
November 2011

Our Autumn 2011 Production was an enormous success and enjoyed by full houses on nearly all five nights

It seemed that everyone involved in this production enjoyed themselves - not minding coming out on cold, dark nights for rehearsals, even the director, Penny Taylor was on time, and her amazing assistant Kerry Scripps didn't miss a single rehearsal! Rehearsals began slowly with much...

                            confusion....                                                                            bewilderment....

and frustration .......

not to mentnion getting a little hot under the collar........

however, there was a lot of laughter,

and cheers towards the end......

and the director loved them all dearly!!! 

She eventually got them all dancing and scrabbling around on the floor,

and didn't they look lovely?

The set looked brilliant in the end (see  below) most designed by Penny T and decorated by her stalwart decorators Jane Goldstraw and Penny W.  The stage crew were headed up by the invaluable Nick Scully who also took on the mantle of Stage Manager (what would we do without him!).  Lighting as usual was by Bill Fish and sound by Bill Pryke.  

                 

Neil Simon’s play Rumours was a success on Broadway in the 1980s and shows his skill as a crowd pleaser.   A mildly satirical farce, mocking the efforts of the privileged to protect themselves from scandal, while gleefully spreading rumours of others’ wrongdoing.

Charlie and Vivien invite their friends to a party to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary, but when Ken and Chris arrive they find that Charlie has apparently tried to kill himself and his wife has disappeared.   When the next guests arrive, Ken, who is a lawyer, tries bluffing, without much success, to hide this newsworthy scandal.   Frantic cover-ups, lies, misunderstandings and, of course, rumours, cause chaos as everyone tries to help with “the story”.

The characters are caricatures in a situation without logic or even an eventual credible explanation. The whole thing is just a riotous romp. 

The cast had worked hard to make these caricatures believable and the well timed, fast dialogue was clear, so that you got the jokes.   The cast interacted well and supported one another throughout.   They stayed involved even when they were not taking part in the dialogue. 

Jim Nicolson steadily plays Ken, an overbearing and arrogant lawyer, and Chris, his put upon wife, is Penny Wheadon.   Chris elegantly attempts to keep everyone calm and relaxed while hankering for her recently given up cigarettes.   They have the very difficult task of conveying panic when the curtain first rises.   Perhaps they did not quite manage this, but they were not helped very much by the script and rapidly got into their stride as the next guests arrive.

Helen Church confidently plays Claire, practical but somewhat disillusioned, whose love for her husband is strangely revived.  This husband is Len, an Irish tax adviser, played by Keith Reville.   Keith really demonstrates the spirit of farce.  Eventually, he is forced to impersonate the injured Charlie and explain in Charlie’s posh voice the events of the evening.  This scene, as Keith switches from Irish brogue to rapid upper class English, was a show stopper.

 
Jane Goldstraw enjoyed bringing us Cookie, an eccentric TV cook with a bad back, who believes food is the solution to everything.  She wades in with occasional screeches of pain and broken dishes.   Her husband Ernest, a psychiatrist, comments that  there are enough patients in the room to enable him to give up any other work.   Phil Nicholson shows him as a little apart from, and amused by, the situation.

 

Liz Pickup was good as Cassie, who feels neglected by husband Glenn.   At first, angry and bitchy, then revengefully flirtatious.   David Goldstraw nicely showed Glenn as a mild man, bewildered by his strange neurotic wife and helpless in the general chaos.   Elaine Miller as WPC Collins suddenly brought the almost real world into the play.  World weary and accompanied by stolid PC Carter, played by Matt Rosser, these assured performances  showed small roles can have great impact.

             

The set made excellent use of the available space.  The pale colours and simple lighting were a good background to the well chosen party clothes. The numerous sound effects added greatly to the production.  PC Carter’s serious replies to his unintelligible radio were very funny.

 Penny Taylor, who directed this marathon, did so really well.  The cast were moved around smoothly and unobtrusively – not  easy on a small stage.   She kept the attention where it was needed  and did not allow the play to flag.   The tableau opening the second act (see below) was wonderful, exhaustion and despair having momentarily overcome the party.   The final bow interrupted by whistle blowing PCs was a nice touch.

 

If Penny had sleepless nights before the show, I do feel they were worth it.  A good evening’s fun.  As WPC Collins said of the improbable story recounted to her by the guests, “I didn’t believe a word of it, but I liked it.”

 Claire Bell

There Goes The Bride
November 2010

Our Autumn 2010 Production was a great success and enjoyed by full houses on all four nights

It was a very happy production, directed by Maggie Smith (2nd from right) with a brilliant set (see  below) designed by Jenny Giles (far right).  The stage crew were headed up by Cheryl Scudamore with the invaluable help of stalwart, Nick Scully (far left).  Lighting as usual was by Bill Fish (back right) and Joan Burr (2nd left) sneaked a preview by attending the Dress Rehearsal.

The following Review appeared

in the Hertfordshire Mercury dated 9th December 2010

At the heart of every farce there is an unbelievable situation.  In Ray Cooney & John Chapman's  There Goes the  Bride it is more unbelievable than most, when the bride's father unfortunatley receives a blow on the head as the family are due to set out for the church where his daughter is to be married.

Timothy, played by Jim Nicolson, has been dreaming up an advertising campaign for one of his clients using a 1920's flapper as its symbol and now she suddenly appears - to him, if to nobody else. 

His subsesequent antics as he dances, sings and flirts Pygmalion-like with his creation, causes mayhem and consternation in the family, who only see his unacountable conduct, but helpless and continuous laughter in the audience, who are privileged to see both sides.

This was a great team effort with no weak links.  Polly, the flapper (Liz Pickup), looked as if she had stepped, expressionless, straight out of a 1920's poster, maintaining her difficult sem-detachment beatifully.  

Jim Nicolson was indefatigable as the deluded father trying to persuade the others to accept his new (invisible) companion.


Penny Taylor as Ursula, the  bride's mother, did an excellent job of trying to keep some sort of control of events, aided admirably by Phil Nicholson as Tim's jocular business partner, Bill Shorter. Gerald, the bride's grandfather, was a disaster area every time he stepped on stage - Gerald Dale did a marvellous job of creating this scatty gentleman. 






And his character was complemented by that of his sharp-tongued wife Daphney (Penny Wheadon).

Judy, the unfortunate bride, who spends much of her time locking herself tearfully in her room (Rebecca Walters), and the justifiably incandescent father  of the groom,            Mr Babcock (Carl Westmoreland) completed this talented cast.


The direction was outstanding with its complex movement, the dancing of the Charlestons, etc. and the rapid pace of much of the dialogue.  The director shares a theatrical name, Maggie Smith, and her marshalliang of the forces in this farce was worthy of it! 

This was a wonderufl night out, and worth braving the snow and ice for.   Richard Henderson