Production Archive
16th – 18th August 2007
Carnival Revue
This year's show was a great success and we were sold out every night! It was different from the usual carnival production as Debbie is a very hard act to follow. Normally the younger members are mostly involved in dance routines. This time they showed their singing and acting skills and did a tremendous job. There were a number of guests among the younger members who made a big contribution to the show as a whole. It was quite an ambitious show and would not have been as successful without Christine's choreography, Steve's input and our three practice pianists. Many thanks to all of them. Many thanks to John Hughes who guided us through the last few rehearsals and of course the performances. The standard of singing and the choreography were very good and enhanced the show no end. I hope everyone enjoyed taking part in this year's show. I know from the feedback that the audiences thoroughly enjoyed their evening at the musicals.
17th – 18th May 2007
An Evening of Two Plays
Over two nights in Malmesbury Town Hall audiences were treated to two very different but equally enthralling and entertaining one act plays.
First up was our award winning All England Theatre Festival play entry ‘The Nightingale And Not The Lark’ by Jennifer Johnston. Set in a bedsit flat above a run down theatre somewhere in Ireland in the early 1980s it is a tale of Mamie, played by Megan Mills, a one time actress reduced to eking out a living as the theatre’s caretaker. Between and during bouts of drunkenness she spars with the ghost of her long dead actor husband Owen, played by Bob Charman, sharing and trading bitter memories of betrayal and love. On the edge of greatness, having run off with an English actress, Owen departs for London only to be blown to bits when one of Hitler’s bombs hits his theatre
A mesmerising piece of acting from Megan as she shuffled fumbled and drank her way across the stage. Bob, all dark and brooding in his high backed chair racked the tension and angst up.
Interrupting their sparring bounced Janet, played by Amanda Duffin, the Assistant Stage Manager, all youth and keenness and hopeless at holding on to keys. It is for keys she comes up to see Mamie but gets to hear her life story into the bargain. Dashing off back downstairs Janet promises to bring round her husband to be Tom, a brilliant up and coming actor, for a chat.
Blink and you’d miss him but Tom, all arrogance and indifference and played by James White, drags Janet away from one last visit to see Mamie and off to the pub instead. How long will she and Tom last? Is this history about to repeat itself?
Mamie meanwhile lies a crumpled wreck on the floor, gas pouring from the unlit ring, her life ebbing away.
As a handy tip don’t put ordinary matches into a Swan Vestas box. They won’t work as Megan and Amanda found out, hastily improvising some extra dialogue to cover not being able to light either the gas ring or Mamie’s cigarette.
‘Flying Saucers Have Landed’ saw Agnes and Beryl, two middle aged housewives played by Maureen Pike and Elizabeth Outlaw chatting over a recent extra terrestrial visit to Agnes’ back garden. Well that’s what Agnes was talking about but Beryl was clearly on another planet as their conversation got increasingly mixed up. Beryl seemed to think the alien was a washing powder salesman from just up the motorway and not from a distant galaxy, smooth and milky though it may have been. The audience roared. Waiting backstage for the next play the cast found it increasingly hard to stifle the giggles. Strong and vivid performances from both actresses.
To finish the evening ‘Curses Foiled Again’ by Evelyn Hood. A play within a play about a struggling amateur dramatic group struggling to put on a one act festival play. All very true to life in the ‘am dram’ world.
To make matters worse the group have chosen to do a Victorian melodrama written by, directed by and starred in by their leading actor Henry (James White). It all gets a bit fraught as the cast increasingly fall short of Henry’s exacting standards. Still he finds time to flirt with the lovely Stephanie (Jackie Peel) who plays Nell the heroine, squabble with his partner Sandra (Amanda Duffin) playing the old family Nurse and fall out with the rest of the cast.
The play staggers on following the evil Jasper Rotten (played by Henry played by James – are you keeping up with this!) as he attempts to rob his pretty little cousin Nell (played by Stephanie played by Jackie – try and keep up) of her inheritance from her late Uncle Silas (mercifully as he’s dead he does not make an appearance). The sudden reappearance, however, of the handsome young Victor Pureheart (played by Peter played by David Shelley – it gets more confusing) the true heir of Uncle Silas complicates matters further.
Putting the amateur back into amateur dramatics the acting gets rapidly out of hand. Sandra’s elongated death scene as the accidentally poisoned Nurse (played by Amanda) won a spontaneous round of applause on Friday night.
Tension mounts as Victor/Peter/David flirts with Sandra/Nurse/Amanda whilst Anna (Margaret Williams) playing the Lady Bracknellish Lady Flawless complains about the extra rehearsals and Kate (Pat Castle) playing Lucy the maid servant after whom Jasper/Henry/James lusts after (I said it gets more complicated) gets increasingly impatient.
Characters blur, the plot blurs until with his flirtations exposed Henry/Jasper/James calls a halt. “We should have gone for the Harold Pinter” he cries, a cry echoed around many an amateur dramatic group. But the day is saved, thankfully without any Pinter. Victor/David/Peter turns out to be the long lost son of Lady Flawless/Anna/Margaret and proposes to Nell/Stephanie/Jackie. Got that? Great fun to rehearse and hopefully the audience got most of the in jokes. We did.
So a great value evening of entertainment. If you came tell your friends all about it and get them to come next time.
Thanks of course to Christine Mace for directing both plays, David Shelley for the two sets, Roger Spencelayh for the sound, Mark Vincent for the lighting and Barry and Sheila Dent for their unstinting work backstage.
30th November – 2nd December 2006
Snow White
Well the audience booed the green tights clad villain Fred the Whip and wicked Queen Finefeatures, cheered Fleetfoot the talking horse, hollered at the ghosts, laughed at the talking tree, clapped to the seven dwarves singing 'Heigh ho,' heckled the Rob the King's Butler attempts to be taken seriously and ooohed and aaahed as the beautiful Snow White sang and skipped her way through every crisis. So just another panto then?
Well maybe but it was huge fun and every show a sell out. Adapted from an original script by Mike Scanlon and John Greenwood, our director, June Rose, marshalled an impressive cast aged from seven to seventy. I won't say who was in the latter age group!
Special mention and praise must go to Mary Nicholas, who was asked to step into Snow White's shoes with only three weeks to go when our original Snow White unfortunately had to drop out. Mary was every inch what a Snow White should be.
Musical direction and piano accompaniment was ably provided by Debbie Mckechnie who not only wrote several pieces of original music, King Addlepate’s moving rendition of ‘Think of me when you’re far away’ was a particular highlight, but also coaxed even the most reluctant of singers to sing. David Shelley meanwhile contributed the colourful sets with his usual flair.