A Fete Worse Than Death

Richard James, author of the comedy murder mystery A Fete Worse Than Death, is new to me, but definitely a name to watch out for. He has brought together all the tensions and rivalries of a village fete very well and mixed in a lot of humour and red herrings, with a pleasing twist at the end.

The curtain opened to a superb set featuring the inside of the Home Produce tent at the local village fete. The front of the stage was set with very authentic looking entries in the various show classes – typical of the way this group always pays attention to the details. This extended to the cleverly designed programme and the front of house team wearing summery hats and outfits, and village show badges. A big hand to everyone involved in getting the look so right.

Director Belinda Hollingsworth has assembled a fine cast who each seemed to delight in bringing their easily identifiable characters to life in this pacey production.

Robert Haines struck exactly the right note as the pompous Malcolm, chairman of the fete committee and determined to win the biggest marrow competition, totally ignoring his wife Bunny, a nicely restrained and gentle performance by Anne MacCormack. Unknown to Malcolm, Bunny was having an affair with Nigel, played with great passion, in splendid Viking attire (and string vest!) by John MacCormack. Lucy Darby gave Trish, the fete organiser, a nice sparky character, and James Batchelor gave a very assured performance as the unctuous Father Mike, the local cleric, not averse to a bit of cheating to win the marrow competition. Rowenna Gordon was Miss Parmenter, a budding Miss Marple, and, although rather young for the part, she maintained the little old lady character extremely well throughout the play and really shone when leading the murder investigation. Richard Meeson was spot on as the money-grubbing TV celebrity very reluctantly being drawn in to helping with the investigation.

Cast costumes were all well considered, and makeup, sound and lighting were exactly right for the setting. I must compliment Jacqui Hand for making the splendid marrows - and presumably quite a number of them, as the large one gets destroyed in each performance! They looked very realistic!

Well done Hambledon Drama Group on another fine production that kept us laughing throughout the evening! Your performances are always very well supported, and I can fully understand why.

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