A Bunch of Amateurs

It’s a shame that there is no longer a suitable performance space in Swaffham, although the Conservative Club provides a large room, it doesn’t really have a stage and sound and light has to be brought in and set up. However, for this production Swaffham Players used imagination and performed this play in the round, which did actually work reasonably well as it gave the cast space to perform and provided an interesting production.

Lighting was simple and effective, furniture and props, although simple worked well with the use of one truck to provide scenery. This revolved to reveal the guest house that was the venue for some scenes, with the reverse being the hall/theatre setting for the majority of the play. Costuming was appropriate for the cast, also for the characters displayed as their different roles and situations were revealed. Being a small space, use was made of entrances both at the rear of the room and adjacent to the small stage platform, although this gave more versatility one or two entrances were slow. Another advantage was that sound was good throughout although there were a few prompts which slowed the pace which is essential for the flow of a comedy.

This play has a relatively small cast so naturally the main principals have quite a bit of dialogue to learn. Sue Baxter gave a good portrayal of Dorothy Nettle, both as a driving force and director of this amateur group striving to save their theatre and as performer showing good characteristics. She was matched by Stuart Travis as Jefferson Steel; this was a role that showed the lack of acting ability of a film star and then transforming into a Shakespearean actor able to bring to life a stage actor. This role was well carried out bringing in the added emotions of having a daughter he had ignored but now is coming to know. This role of Jessica Steel was acted by Emma Fitzsimmonds who showed a good range of emotions and character in her performance whilst getting to know her father. Rodger Bilverstone gave a good portrayal of the pompous Nigel Dewbury, this role suited him well and his dialogued was really clear throughout. Hayley Annakin gave a good portrayal of a starry-eyed fan who then became disillusioned following a mis-interpretation of events. Philip Wagner gave an amusing portrayal of ‘best buddy’ Denis Dobbins, his role brought humour with him in whatever he did, from riding the disability scooter to plucking his eyes out. Selina Bhantoo brought a bit of class as the smart and elegant Lauren Bell; this was a nicely performed role whether being a masseuse or providing bottles of the sponsors beer.

The cast coped well with the Shakespearean language as the comedy centered around their attempts to portray and perform King Lear. They were supported by back ground sounds and voices.

I do hope that this production will help to raise the fortunes of The Swaffham Players. 

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