Comedy at The Playhouse

An interesting and hilarious evening with Sleaford Little Theatre. 3 one act plays, 3 directors, three casts, three sets and one huge evening of laughs.

Easy Stages, directed by Craig Pakes, tells of the woes of a stage manager. Written by Nick Warburton it featured Andy Canadine playing Gerry the stage manager who is anxious to get his backstage team trained up for the big performance in two days’ time. All the characters are familiar to anyone who has worked with amateur dramatic societies. Martin (Nigel Guilliatt) the over eager, excitable one, Alice (Joanne Moules) the cynical laid back but hard working one, Patsy, (Charlotte Shearsby), fun loving, phone owning, ditsy one. Sid (Garry Goodge) the grumpy, load noise generating, set builder, Kate (Amanda Grant) the demanding director, and Gill (Kayleigh Hellard) is the one who really wants to be an actor and is overdramatic all the time.  From that list, you can tell how well they managed to strike a set consisting of props, chaise, table, a rug, stool, false walls with hanging shields, and lots of chairs, with a little help from a big chart. Great pace throughout, excellent characterisation, believable relationships, and very well constructed story line.  Craig's direction was fabulous, keeping everything moving along, filling the whole theatre with laughs aplenty.  In the final moments, Alice ends up with a bloody nose, the set is balanced in piles at the edges of the stage, Gill is tied up in Sellotape, the chart is ruined, the set is wet, and the rehearsal has been a disaster.  Final side-splitting chaos ensues, as the set falls down on top of them.  Brilliant.

Lockdown In Little Grimley – directed by Terry Hayes.  This play is superbly written by David Tristram, capturing the pandemic anxiety and how small theatre groups solved the problems of getting back on the stage after lockdown. A four hander, consisting of Anita Yorke the bossy, Margaret, Tony Gordon the irrepressible Bernard, Joyce with her dyslexic eye and anxiety, played by Nancy Warnes and their warm-hearted leader and keen director/writer Gordon played by Andy Canadine.  I laughed so much I cried.  Nancy Warnes look, movements and facial expressions were exactly right for her character and her reactions to Bernard's character were hilarious.  I chuckled all the way home thinking about Nancy, very well done, what a fabulous character to play.  This poignant reminder of how friendships are made through the creative process of bringing a production to fruition was marvellous.

Pride at Southanger Park – Directed by Linda Mallett. This gem is written by Rupert Bean, a supposed adaption of a long-lost novel by Jane Austen.  But the disaster strewn result is anything but authentic. When the opening music failed to end before the dialogue starts, we see a strange mix of wrong era costumes, and large sideburns on all the men, all of which certainly told us what to expect. I loved the Rev. Giles (Nigel Guilliatt) who has not learned his lines and relies on cheat sheets stuck in his oversized bible, which sadly gets used to prop up the broken set with hilarious results.  A toy dog who is mistreated terribly, the actor who can’t act, (Richard Bridgen), the over-preening leading man, (Oliver Guilliatt) who thinks he’s the bee’s knees and reveals he is using this production as an audition to get into the BBC. Charlotte Shearsby stole the show playing Gladys the maid.  Costume fails enhanced the action as Gladys really wanted a bigger part yet can’t manage to get on stage at the right time or is blindly stumbling about trying to get off. New girl, Sara McMurray, gave a superb portrayal of the simpering Cecily, with fabulous comic timing.  Joanne Moules gave a skilled performance, perfectly managing the role of Lady Fanny, excellent characterisation which was very believable. A lovely little cameo from Tracey Inkpin playing a over eager front of house manager who was wonderfully officious.

Your program was interesting and as well as details of the three plays, your society, and the playhouse theatre, also including other events happening at the venue.  Well done.  I could not however offer to put it forward into the NODA programme competition due to not reaching the criteria including having a NODA logo on the front cover.  If you wish to be included in the future, please visit the NODA website for full instructions. https://www.noda.org.uk/download/181/2022-2024-competition-details

Overall, a wonderful evening of entertaining theatrics.  Thanks to a backstage crew led by Helen Hill, tech crew led by Alec Hill, and costumes by Jan Clugston, I feel you have a huge success on your hands.  Thank you for your warm welcome at The Sleaford Playhouse, it was lovely to meet you all again and talk to you about the production. It was interesting to hear your thoughts on managing a one-act play evening.  I feel this is an opportunity to get more people involved with a society, perhaps offering new members an opportunity to direct or produce before taking on a full-sized production.  Something I hope to encourage other societies to consider. 

Jules Jones

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.