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Wrington Drama
Club
ARCHIVE Comedy Festival Review by Richard Thorn - 6 pages of photos |
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| From the guffaws and belly-laughs rolling through the open windows of the Memorial Hall during the first of a three-night run 18th – 20th May, passers by could have understandably imagined Billy Connolly was inside wowing the audience. In fact, if they’d picked up on some of the language too, it could have confirmed their suspicions. All of which illustrates just how far our local thesps have come during their first 25 years. What thoroughly engaged the audience of 2006 as the cast rattled through some fairly spicy lines, would have raised more than a few eyebrows in 1981. The menu of one act plays consisted of two by Alan Ayckbourn – Gosforth’s Fete and A Cut in the Rates – and David Tristram’s Last Tango in Little Grimley. In fact, being the first night, the cast of the first of them weren’t quite rattling along in the early stages. Nevertheless, with the sure-fire opening ploy of a declaration of illicit pregnancy unwittingly transmitted over the fete’s PA system, the seeds of hilarity were sprouting from the start. By the time Councillor Mrs Pearce, aka Echo Irving (and didn’t that name crop up elsewhere during the evening ?), fell back into the tea tent having been led astray by the Scouts, the laughter quotient was already climbing rapidly. Jenni Grene made her welcome debut as put-upon Millie; Simon Medd drew on his considerable reserves of blind panic in the face of equally wilful AV equipment and younger generation; Peter Langley assumed such a perfect Robertson Hare of a vicar that cries of “Oh, calamity!” hovered in the air, and John Dunstone wrung every last shred of pathos – and sherry – from the role of Stuart. Director Fred Cowgill then added a sliver of shiver to the mix for the trials of Lorraine Perry’s council official Miss Pickhart in her frustrated attempt to fathom the mystery of the missing council tax chez the great Illusionist Ratchet (encore Peter Langley) and his gorgeous, if somewhat scarily wounded Assistant, Jess Baker’s Rosalinda. Ayckbourn only knows what would have enticed the gullible Miss P into the big, red box in which she was bound to be sawn in half. However, her survival meant Lorraine was free to move on after the interval to fill the role of Margaret (well, overflow it, actually) and be persuaded by the ever reliable Peter Jones’ Producer Gordon to invest her considerable assets in a juicy role which turned into a life-saver for Little Grimley’s drama club. As the Jane Horrocks-like club treasurer Joyce, Jane Godbehere continued to expand her range. Richard Bourton’s refugee from the awkward squad, Bernard, completed the ensemble playing of the nonsense episode of misplaced script pages, one of Mark Bullen’s directorial flourishes which kept the whole thing bowling along nicely. From what I gathered from remarks made by members of the audience across all three nights, the variety and pace afforded by 3 one-acters was much appreciated, and made for a light-hearted and enjoyable opportunity to celebrate that, after 25 years, drama in Wrington is assuredly more secure than in Little Grimley. RT 22.5.06 |
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