A Bunch of Amateurs

Cheltenham Operatic and Dramatic Society

A Bunch of Amateurs             Cheltenham Playhouse                February 6th 2019

Director: Paul Avery             Assisted by: Nick Tobias

This play by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman, centres on fading Hollywood star

Jefferson Steel, who mistakenly believes he has been invited to play the role of King Lear at Stratford-Upon-Avon, only to find it is Stratford-St-John a village in Suffolk. The local amateur dramatic group, faced with the closure of their theatre, has decided that the only chance they have to save it, is to cast a celebrity in their production of King Lear, and are delighted when Jefferson accepts their offer, but this rapidly changes when he starts making unrealistic demands of them.

The stage had a box set and had been designed to accommodate the various scene changes required.  There were some excellent special storm effects, with ‘real’ rain on stage.  The lighting had been well designed to give good atmosphere to the production, with the last part spotlighting areas for a rapid change of action.  The props had been carefully selected, particularly the hilarious ‘Limo’ substitute.  The costumes, hair and makeup were all appropriate.

In places this play is cleverly written, with parallels between King Lear and the story, which unfolds.  It has some very funny lines and situations, with laugh out loud moments, but I felt there was something lacking in the script, which meant the director had a difficult job making it gel.  It is a challenging play as the actors have to portray people acting poorly to start and then improving, and have the added challenge of delivering Shakespeare to a standard that you can believe they would be invited to perform at Stratford-Upon-Avon. 

There were some good character portrayals but the two outstanding performances for me were Joy-Amy Wigman and Nick Guy. Joy-Amy played the role of bed and breakfast owner, Mary, to perfection; she is totally star struck and desperately trying to get Jefferson to notice her.  Nick Guy gave a lovely performance as the efficient but slightly scary handyman, Dennis.

Director Paul Avery had gathered together a talented ‘bunch of amateurs’ for this very funny play.  He had helped them bring to life a varied set of characters.  The play had the audience laughing and thoroughly enjoying themselves, and gave good entertainment.  Well done

 

 

 

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