A Night in Little Grimley

Thank you so much to the Windmill Players for inviting my guest and I along to Thornton Little Theatre to watch An Evening in Little Grimley on Friday 10th June 2022. The show presented two one act shows by the same playwright, David Tristram, namely ‘Lockdown in Little Grimley’ and ‘Murder in Little Grimley.’ What was interesting, and brave of the company to take on, was the two plays were directed by different directors, and the cast, which were mainly the same characters, were different for both shows. It was also called out that the actors were not allowed to compare notes on their characterisation throughout the rehearsal process. So, what was delivered, was two entirely different takes on a similar set of characters. 

Both directors achieved very funny and punchy performances. I would say that ‘Lockdown in Little Grimley’, directed by Jack Evans, was a more a caricatured performance whereas ‘Murder in Little Grimley’ was character driven, with interjected stylised sections. Both styles of performance worked for this show, and it would not be fair to compare the two pieces against each other, both achieved great humour and had the audience laughing throughout.

My biggest critique on both sets of direction would be one of consistency. In ‘Lockdown’ the big joke at the beginning of the show was all about the 2-meter rule and the characters reactions to being around each other a year of isolation. To me, it seemed like this notion was forgotten after the first section, for the most part, at least. There were potential moments this could have been highlighted, and played to more, which were missed, and the actors were stepping into each other's 2 meters nonchalantly within the opening section, with no reaction from the other actors, which just did not feel cohesive for me. ‘Murder’ directed by Di Timmins, used a stylised, physical theatre style interjection for the scene change between scene 1 and 2. This would have been nice, but did not happen again for the second scene change, and so am not sure what Di was trying to achieve during this moment relative to the entirety of the play. 

The stage design throughout both plays was the same, which was a whitewashed boxed in set, with a doorway either side of the stage. The décor was minimal, but fitting to the community hall setting both plays were positioned in. I really enjoyed the nice touch of having a topical photo of Queen Elizebth on display. Lighting was a basic white flood of the stage, which dipped between scenes, and was stylised at the aforementioned scene-transition. There were a few SFX which were consistent across both plays, such as outdoor noises and off set doors closing. These were a nice touch and unified the two plays. Wardrobe was provided by Angela Hudson, Denise Flynn which were very fitting to the style of both plays and the characters within. I thought the ‘Cats’ t-shirt Joyce’s character in Lockdown was a very nice touch and the elaborate head-dress for Margaret in ‘Murder’ was magnificent. 

The ‘Lockdown’ cast was played by Malcolm Holroyd as Gordon, Mark Bowman as Bernard, Judi Adams as Margaret, and Louise Evans as Joyce. All cast members had great diction and energy throughout their performances. Malcom gave us a strong characterisation for the head of the society and playwright to the shows. Judi captured the pomposity of Margaret with finesse, this was a really impressive performance. I felt Mark could have internalised some of Bernards emotions more in order to blend with the stylings of the other performers but delivered some very funny moments throughout the play. Louise delivered Joyce with great charisma, charm, and some very funny moments indeed. The dyslexia in one eye translated to the audience very well. 

The ‘Murder’ cast was played by Steve Cook as Gordon, Mark Edmonds as Bernard, Anne George as Margaret, Denise Flynn as Joyce and Majorie Brown as Sam. Again, great diction and energy throughout the actors. Steve has a good, strong presence as Gordon. Mark’s Bernard was pleasant and akin to Kirk Sutherland in Coronation Street. Anne was outstanding during this show and provided some real depth to Margaret's character, she was utterly grounded and provided some nice sour resonance to text delivered by herself and others, which was hilarious to watch, also the overacting was delivered really well in comparison to the characterisations achieved for the role. Denise’s Joyce was a nice and airy character, I did feel a little more character journey could have been explored in this role, really owning the moments after she set Gordon up. Majorie delivered Sam’s character really well. Was totally convincing as a Policeperson and held this strong characterisation well. She provided a nice contrasting character as Sam, the librarian.  

Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable evening of theatre was achieved and I look forwards to seeing more from Windmill Players in the near future. 

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