Crushing Grapes

This was a new venue for the Deben Players and we were warmly welcomed and shown to own seats.  Much thought had gone into making the audience feel as though we had just walked into a French bistro, sitting at tables decorated with grape vines and hors d’oeuvres.  Even the programme resembled a wine list, with all the characters  described as fine wines, (well rounded,  spicy flavours with hints of cherry).  We felt very much part of the entertainment.                                                                                                                                                    

Sarah had had the idea of writing this comedy for several years drawing on her knowledge from when she lived on a vineyard in the South West of France and all the colourful characters she met there.  The owners of La Petite Chapelle were Maggie and Jim  (Catherine Cook & Neill Pearce) who were desperately trying to think up new ideas of how to make a little extra money to make the vineyard more profitable.  They had converted a couple of their buildings into self catering apartments, and the story tells of their first visitors, or the ‘squatters’  as Jim affectionately called them.  They came across as a very believable couple and captured their characters perfectly, desperately trying to be warm and welcoming to their guests, whilst at the same time rather exasperated when those guests criticized their accommodations.  The first guests to arrive were Tess and Martin (Sarah Atkins and Andy Kimber) along with Sally (Rachel Keveren).  Again these three had been very well cast and Sarah had obviously been very busy with tweaking the script as rehearsals went along, directing and playing one of the main characters; but she  achieved this brilliantly.  Sally, who was trying to get over her husband leaving her after 25 years had  got  very drunk on her arrival before trying to work out her future prospects. She certainly excelled in this part especially her drunk performance which was totally believable and very funny, even if somewhat poignant.  I’m sure she enjoyed the challenge of portraying this character.  The other couple, Rob & Ellie (Ben Coupe & Melissa Holmes), were on their honeymoon and enjoying marital bliss, or not!! They had very different agendas for their holiday and their future lives together, capturing their characters sympathetically. All these experienced actors transported us to their own individual reality excellently.

Honorable mention must also go to Madame Dubois played by Jan Whittaker. An excellent cameo of a very old and contorted  lady with a bad back as she shuffled around clearing the tables  and constantly talking to herself or dare I say cursing in fluent French! A part she upheld brilliantly throughout her performance. Indeed she was in effect only, did I say only, a stage hand clearing the props between each scene, but constantly acting and in character thus ensuring the pace was upheld; thus making the  scene changes very cleverly worked.   Claude the odd job man, loved his moustache by the way,  played by Bruce Alcorn was also very believable with his French conversation and his total inability to understand these ‘English’ people!  All these characters along with several other amusing cameo roles and supporting actors made quite a large cast and, although they were on a relatively small improvised staging area, the scenes flowed well.  The backdrops used were life sized photos of a typical French farmhouse and the whole set looked and worked effectively. The lighting and sound along with the numerous props all added to the atmosphere, as did the costumes.

This was a very well written script with all seven main characters taking  equal part in telling their story as the play progressed. A colourful and well rounded narrative with  warmth and understanding of all these characters and with a good mix ofcomedy throughout. This was Sarah’s first time at script writing, let’s hope it won’t be her last.  Many congratulations go to her, along with all her cast and crew producing an excellent evening’s entertainment to their sell out audiences.

Catherine Dixey,  NODA  East Representative for District 12

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