A Bunch of Amateurs

This play is a homage to community theatre, to all those enthusiastic stalwarts who rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, coming out in all weathers, and finally delight us with their marvellous productions in village halls, in public parks, in small theatres across the land. We are a very lucky nation, not all are so blessed. You can see I’m a fan!

Into this eclectic mix of characters from the Stratford Players stumbles, through his agent’s mistake, Jefferson Steele, huge Hollywood star, albeit a somewhat faded one. Under the impression he’d been engaged to perform Lear in Stratford, he was dumbfounded to find himself in the tiny village of Stratford in Suffolk, not that of the Bard. The folk of the Stratford Players being desperate to save their theatre for the community, had come up with the idea of attracting a ‘major name’ to attract publicity and thus fill up the coffers. Chaos ensues, of course!

The beautiful Voysey-designed Prior’s Field School in Godalming has a good theatre, and a super black bar area (which I guess is their drama studio), which is very atmospheric. GTG always provide a very warm and friendly welcome.

The well-designed programme contained an interesting Director’s note, a page on the playwrights, good cast and production team profiles, rehearsal photos, and a piece on GTG’s youth theatre group (GYTG).

The background photos on each page were delightful – photos of the stage, the barn, and the village streets of this old Suffolk village. Lovely!

The stage was divided in two. The bulk of it was the rehearsal space, to the right was Mary’s homely Bed and Breakfast, first the breakfast room, later Steele’s bedroom. The rehearsal room had some bookshelves with room for notices of future productions and a ‘fundraising thermometer’ showing a perilously low sum raised thus far. Tables and chairs and a huge prop box were there, and the cast all clutched a copy of the text.

For the performance scenes, gold backdrop curtains descended, which totally transformed the whole atmosphere. Splendid!

Lighting and sound were very effective throughout, especially in the final ‘production’ scenes. A version of Shakespeare’s Fool’s song from King Lear accompanied the start of each scene, which was charming.

Costumes for rehearsals were of course casual gear, except for Nigel, who sported a range of natty jackets – a solicitor he, of course.  Lauren at times wore her physiotherapist’s uniform. The whole cast was transformed totally when they appeared in costume for the production scenes and looked marvellous.

We first met the glum group of thespians lamenting the fact that despite all their fundraising attempts, the thermometer on the wall was hardly rising at all, and that their theatre was about to be closed, sadly nowadays all too current a situation.  Somebody came up with the idea of finding someone famous to act Lear in their production. This of course put Nigel’s nose out of joint, as he had coveted that role. Many celebrities turned down their request, they eventually landed on the faded hero of so many Hollywood action movies, Jefferson Steele.

This poor fellow, arriving at the airport to be met by a few reporters, but no limousine, is horrified to be delivered unto the Stratford (Suffolk) rehearsal room. It takes a while for the penny to drop, frantic phone calls to his agent in the US follow, but to no avail. Andrew Culley as Steele was excellent as this perplexed yet arrogant star, who gradually realised what his agent had got him into. He demanded a limousine to get to rehearsals; fresh flowers every day; a home cinema; a full mini bar, and so on, in a five-star hotel. Mary’s B and B was obviously not what he was expecting, and he petulantly made this plain to poor adoring Mary, sweetly played by Emma Culley. Her disappointment was obvious, but she was feisty enough to put him in his place.

Director Dorothy skilfully manoeuvred Steele through his scorn, and the fact that he knew nothing of the play and hadn’t even read it, let alone begun to study his lines. (Nigel was unable to disguise his disgust). This was a masterful performance by Mary Logan, we felt for her, we loved her. At one stage she really lost her temper. But gradually she won through.

However, she also had to deal with Nigel, who having envisaged himself playing Lear, could not stomach the feeble lacklustre efforts of Steele. This was the perfect part for Andrew Blagden, whose attitude and expressions as the frustrated passed-over one, who just KNEW he was the ideal Lear, were a joy, very funny indeed.

Also amusing were the efforts of Denis, handyman in paint splattered overalls, and a long-standing member of the Players, to befriend the totally disinterested and dismissive Steele, and his offer to be Steele’s ‘entourage’ to keep the lurking hoards of fans and reporters at bay. Steve Alais played this role very well, and was marvellous in the Lear performance scenes later, a great actor he.

The Stratford Players had managed to find a sponsor, in the shape of the local craft brewery. Lauren, the perky wife of the owner, kept showing up with beer samples, all cleverly named to reflect the show. The one I remember was called King Beer, I believe, but all the names were funny and clever. Lauren was also a physiotherapist, and after Steele had hurt his back, visited him in his room to try to sort his back out with some thorough pummelling and massage. Stephanie Mottershead was ideal for this role, cheery, breezy, kind, and also far too attractive as far as poor star-struck Mary was concerned. Coming upon Lauren massaging Steele’s thigh, Mary totally misread the situation. This resulted In steamy headlines in in the gutter press, the removal of the sponsorship, disaster all round, they feared.

Jefferson’s daughter Jessica appeared, clutching a suitcase, having been packed off to England to be with Steele while her mother was away. This was the touching aspect of the play, neglected daughter resents her shallow ‘non-parent’, and treats him with the disdain we all feel he deserves. A good performance from Anna Bradburne, and of course, she knew the play inside out, and had great acting skills, which put her father to shame. Over the weeks of the rehearsals, Steele mellowed, learnt his lines, was carefully coached by Dorothy. Nigel, who seems to have leaked the steamy story to the press, was humbled (sort of), - we enjoyed that, very funny – and the publicity had enabled the cast to acquire real costumes, and of course put the Stratford Players on the map. Sell-out audiences ensued for the performances, which were really good, Steele included. Father and daughter were reconciled, and we had a happy ending.

There were so many humorous touches to add to the jollity. At one stage Steele’s lines appeared on Denis’s back. There were gags about US versus British pronunciation. Denis kept having bright ideas concerning eyeballs being gouged out. Steele removed his trousers to let Lauren access his thigh muscles to reveal some fetching Stars and Stripes boxer shorts. The antagonism between Nigel and Steele culminated in a sword fight, using an umbrella and a sword from the prop box. So many jolly moments.

David Dray had put together a super cast for this fun production. A nice touch was to include Shakespearian quotes at the end of each scene, spoken by the various cast members in turn, as a kind of summing up, as well as the evocative song ‘He that has and a little tiny wit’ to introduce the scenes. A great choice of play, well done team!

Photos by TicaPhotography.

 

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