A Bunch of Amateurs

Many thanks to the Longton Players for inviting me their performance of ‘A Bunch of Amateurs’ at St Andrew’s Parish Hall, Longton, on Saturday 21st October 2023. This play, written by Ian Hislop & Nick Newman is of a comedy nature and tells the story of an amateur dramatic society from Statford-on-Dunsop, in rural Lancashire, who put on a production of King Lear to save their theatre space which is a community barn. We learn how excited they feel to start the rehearsals as they managed to secure a Hollywood actor to perform the leading. When he arrives, we learn of his misunderstanding as he assumed the play was to be performed in Stratford Upon Avon under the Royal Shakespeare Company. The drama and comedy are brought about through the heightened personalities of the actors & the conflicts which arise as they deliver their performance. 

The piece was directed by Chris Hill who did a great job at creating a witty & engaging piece of entertainment. He opened the evening with a scripted introduction, semi in character, stating the evening’s health & safety protocol & informing the audience of additional inter-scene material which had been scripted by Chris himself & to ensure continuation of energy whilst the set & costume changes were happening. For the most part the acting was naturalistic, within the bounds of the fourth wall. The interscene moments were a variance to this, which were addressed directly to the audience, which allowed for additional humour as these moments were cut out of the main action. The spacing was interesting although I did feel there could have been more creative use of the blocking, particularly when large numbers of the cast were onstage, to break up the repeated horizontal straight lines. I really liked the use of idiosyncratic off-script business some of the characters became involved in, such as phone scrolling, fiddling with toolkits, building sets etc, as they provided additional context & depth to the characterisations & kept the piece grounded.  

The set itself received an applause from the audience upon curtain raise, and it was a highly detailed representation of a barn, created from painted flats, which looked very naturalistic. There were trucks & furniture brought in to change the locations of the scenes where required. Lighting was basic flood mainly with spotlights added when the action broke the fourth wall, which was a great layer to the styling. There were good sound effects played which enabled further contextualisation of the locations, such as an airport soundscape. The costumes looked authentic to the characters & the setting & blended well to deliver the story. Lighting was simplistic with a basic flood full stage for the main, with some follow spots added to enable the moments out of naturalism. I loved the strobe effects created which simulated the cameras flashing. Sound was amplified by overhead microphones, which served well, and there were some great soundscapes added, such as the airport background noise, to help situate scenes further. 

Now to the cast the entire cast worked well together with varied amount of experience, which is always humbling to see. This was the first-time having dialogue in a production for 3 of the members of the cast, so I applaud Sarah Gaskell, Anne Green & Jim Lawson for stepping out of their comfort zones & contributing to the production in the way that they did. The cast blended well holistically and worked together to create a rounded evening of local theatre. 

Cliff Sale played Jefferson Steel, the Hollywood actor, capturing the celebrity finesse well but leaving enough room for relatability to enable the audience to commit to his narrative. Cliff carried a consistent American accent throughout the performance, which would have been tricky being responded to with local accents but did well at sustaining this throughout the performance. 

Jill Thompson played Dorothy Nettle, the director of the production, who was animated and relatable throughout. I was particularly impressed by Jill’s reactions which were always true to character & to me, carried the performance from end to end. 

Mike Stockley played Dennis Dobbins, a comical member of the cast & handyperson & he really shone with his performance. He was relatable & thorough in his characterisation & had impeccable comedic timing which shone through. 

Hayley Gaskell did well at portraying the daughter of Jefferson, Jessica, who arrive on at rehearsal unannounced. She did well at retaining a charming persona whilst portraying a dismissive character who is distanced emotionally from her father. 

Other featured characters were played by Peter Roger, Wendy Deighton & Briony Rimmer who all did well within their performances and brought great energy to their respective parts. I did feel they could have connected further to their characterisations & their character’s intent as at times their performances felt a little forced and their physical actions disconnected from their breath and words. This was only notable due to the highest of standards achieved from the other principal characters and is more a note for improvement than a criticism.  

The main cast were supported well by James Miley, Sarah Gaskell, Jim Lawson, Chris Hill & Cath Grilli who played ensemble roles well & supported the main cast to add ambience & atmosphere to the production. 

As interscene performance was performed by Chris Hill & Anne Green. Both were endearing in their performances & brought additional humour to the production. I did wonder whether additional comedy would have been gained if Anne overplayed the Shakespearean text further and added varying characterisations rather than the ethereal delivery received, but nevertheless, a great addition to the production. 

Many thanks again to the Longton Players for inviting me to this performance. My guest & I had a wonderful evening. 

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