A Bunch of Amateurs

A Bunch of Amateurs is one of my favourite plays, so I was eager to see All Saints Elton Theatre Company`s production of it. We entered the auditorium to an open set - space is at a premium, but All Saints Elton Theatre Company make the most of what they do have. The stage was split into two very separate looking areas – a barn and the bed and breakfast dining room. The barn is where the majority of the action and dialogue takes place so that performance space was largest. The b&b had a welsh dresser type at the rear, a table and chairs, a filled fruit bowl on the table, mugs on the dresser and a painting on the wall. The barn had various theatre looking props hanging about, a random wagon wheel, some grain sacks, a few chairs, a “ props” box, a barrel, a beautifully painted backdrop of a cottage doorway covered the rear of the stage with black tabs done in a drape curtain effect.  All very fitting to the play.

The lighting throughout was sympathetic to the scenes, the sound effects dropped in at the correct moments but there were times when it was very difficult to hear exactly what was being said in the recording. Costumes by Jean Abbott were very fitting to the characters being portrayed. I did feel personally that at times this play lacked pace because of lines dropped due to a momentary memory lapse, but that is me being picky. Ewan Arthur as the pompous Nigel Dewsbury gave us a strong performance. Personally I think he could have pushed it a little bit further, but I do acknowledge that it is a fine line between pushing it and scene stealing and Ewan stayed the right side of that line under Rebecca Foster`s direction. Teri Edwards as the star struck Mary Plunkett gave us another strong performance. I particularly enjoyed her fire when she was cross. Chris White as Denis Dobbins showed some real comedy timing when he appeared on the mobility scooter, he also did well to uphold his character accent throughout. Laura Thompson as Dorothy Nettle was another strong characterisation. Personally I would have liked to see more light and shade in her performance throughout the play – we didn`t really see her thawing towards Jefferson Steel and so missed out seeing all facets of her character. Helen Shaw as Lauren Bell  managed to hold her own with all these other larger than life characters, she had some very good diction and a natural connection with the audience. Andrew Davis as Jefferson Steel and Charlotte Crowley as Jessica Steel had the unenviable job of playing their characters with an American accent all the way through. They both handled this pretty well. They showed some nice chemistry on stage and both knew just how long to hold a pause without it looking like you`ve forgotten your next line.

Thank you for inviting me. Both my guest and I enjoyed your production and I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

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