After September

“After September” is the perfect play for amateur theatre because the cast has ten excellent roles for mostly older actresses and one man.  Jimmie Chinn takes us back to schooling before league tables and OFSTED.

The curtains open on a good set showing the staff room of The Gwendolen Kyte School for Girls which is about to start its new school year in September of the early sixties. As the staff gather for their pre-term meeting for the usual lists, classroom changes etc. things are not as it should be. A strange man (the man from the Ministry of Education!) is wandering the grounds, a roof has collapsed and the head’s dog is missing. The world around this group of ‘social misfits and eccentrics’ is changing and they too must change before everything around them collapses.

Bringing these characters to life was Yvonne Hegarty as the Headmistress, Miss Kyte, who has taken over the running of the school after the death of her mother. Judy Burrows as Miss Bickerstaff, secretary, deputy head and general factotem. Miss D’Vere and her friend Miss Duke, beautifully portrayed by Jan Mackney and Ashlie Assiter. Margaret Bown is Miss McBain and her close colleague Miss Fisher played by Jacky Richardson. Gill Bacon is an energetic Miss Kershaw, with Jean Bentley as Miss Pink and Di Fenton as Miss Cross. A gem of a performance came from Carol Arman-Addey as Mrs. Godfrey, the irrepressible cook. Trying to stay sane amongst the mayhem is Martin Arman-Addey as our education inspector Mr. Smith.

This was a warm and touching depiction of female relationships with some amusing dialogue but for me some of it was lost when voice projection levels dropped. All in all, an excellent production by director Nick Noakes and his team.

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