A Bunch of Amateurs

Keen to boost his flagging career, fading Hollywood action hero, Jefferson Steele, arrives in England to play King Lear in Stratford only to find that this is not the birthplace of the Bard but a sleepy Suffolk village and the cast are a bunch of amateurs, in desperate need to save their Hall from destruction.

The central character ‘Jefferson’, is played with great strength by Tam Weir convincingly displaying a monstrous ego, insisting on all the perks he once enjoyed as a star. His agent is unable to extract him from his contract and given the national publicity that went with this, continues albeit at first struggling to learn his lines, demonstrating an underlying fragility.

He is not the only one with a dash of ego, as ‘Nigel’ one of the amateur cast clearly felt he should be playing King Lear, to fulfil a life time’s wish. John Birchley played the role for all it was worth. Some great comedy timing too from James Cowlishaw who played ‘Denis’ the local handyman and village ‘Fix it’ who takes a shining to Jefferson and fancied heading up his entourage of one. He had some ‘peachy’ lines and deserved the best laughs of the evening, including his scene extracting an eye with a fork – very funny.

Trying desperately to keep the cast together is Director ‘Dorothy’. Jane Huxley was excellent displaying a natural accommodating manner, but not without some determination.  Jenny Flannigan, as ‘Mary’ is completely struck by Jefferson, provides bed and breakfast for him, amusingly gets totally confused about his previous film roles and overestimates his affection for her. I really enjoyed her bright energetic personality.

Joy Williamson as ‘Lauren’ the wife of the play’s sponsor, whose former career as a physiotherapist almost gets her into trouble with Jefferson, provided another funny scene. Kate Powell, as ‘Jessica Steele’, Jefferson’s daughter, previously neglected by her father and seeking to catch up with him with vengeance on her mind, was very convincing with great stage presence.

The set was as usual well-constructed and the cast well dressed. The simple scene changes involving just a table and chairs moved by the cast worked well. This production was originally postponed at the dress rehearsal in March 2020, for reasons we will never forget and with the passage of time the original director Mike Matthews was supported by ‘Post Covid’ directors John Birchley and Anne Lane. They and all others involved in the production team should be very pleased with the result.

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