Acting, It's Not Plumbing (A) & Gosforth's Fete (B)

As their Summer Production this year EADS decided to put on two one act comedies which allowed two of the younger members of the society to direct and both did a very good job.

Acting, It’s Not Plumbing

The setting for this play is a morning Drama Workshop run by leader Jilly, played by Janice Hyndman, where a group of six disparate people come together. Fay (Bronte Cooke) is a shy young Veterinary nurse looking to boost her confidence in interacting with people; Amy (Naomi Bunyan) is a confident young women into taking lots of different classes; Sandra (Natalie Munro) is a young mother and housewife looking to do something only for herself rather than others; Chelsea (Katy Rodway-Swanson) is a young,”look-at-me” type used to getting everything she wants handed to her; Paul (Tiernann Clarke) is a young “glass-half-full” kind of guy not afraid to say what he thinks and Bob (Andrew Sutherland) is a confident young man – the plumber reference in the title and a former child actor – keen to rekindle his interest in acting. All of the actors played their roles convincingly but their acting ranges really shone through when acting out the vignettes tasked to them by Jilly but particularly in playing the characters in their two versions of “Little Red Riding Hood” from Paul’s camp Wolf to Sandra’s rebellious Red to Amy’s Posh Wolf on trial for his misdemeanours. The set was very simple with a semi-circle of chairs, a couple of tables and a few simple props all of which were used well. This play elicited lots of laughter from the audience (many of them fellow thespians) who obviously recognised someone they knew - or even themselves - in the characters.

Gosforth’s Fete

The setting for this play is the opening of a village fete somewhere in England when as one would expect everything starts to go wrong. The curtains opened to reveal the Tea Tent where Milly (strongly played by Jenna Shea) is bustling about setting up when she is joined by Councillor Mrs Pearce (grandly played to much comic effect by Janice Anderson) who is there to open the fete. Gosforth the larger-than-life landlord of the village pub (played by Milky Milkinson in his acting debut) is trying to organising things including the PA system which he doesn’t realise is still switched on when Milly tells him that she is carrying his child (after a one night fling) even although she is engaged to the local Scout Master. The announcement is heard by everyone at the fete including the Scout Master Stewart (shorts wearing Aidan Hyndman) who bursts onto the stage intent in fighting Gosforth. Milly and Gosforth try to placate the normally tea-total Stewart by plying him with sherry and his antics as he descended into drunkenness had the audience hooting with laughter. Adding to the humour was Lindsay Knight’s portrayal of the bumbling Vicar. This was a hugely enjoyable play - bordering on farce - with strong acting from all concerned. Congratulations to Dom on his directorial debut.

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