Drinking Habits

Nuns seem to be a popular subject in comical theatre. Everyone has heard of Sister Act (first a film and now a hit musical) and recently, I’ve seen several groups perform a lesser known holy musical called Nunsense. But I hadn’t heard of Drinking Habits, which Blackmore Players’ programme declared was a “laugh-out-loud farce”.

The small cast of eight worked well together throughout the show. We first met George, who was the groundskeeper at a tiny nunnery called The Convent of the Sisters of Perpetual Sewing. Played by Adam Smith, at the start of the play some of his dialogue was a little rushed but this didn’t last for too long. We’re also introduced to Sister Philamena (Linda Cearns) and Sister Augusta (Jenny Harper), two of only three nuns who reside at the convent. We soon find out they are secretly making wine to sell in the local town to make enough money to keep the convent open… and things start to go wrong from here!

My favourite person to watch on the stage was Mother Superior, played by Paula Harris Brett. With a thick Irish accent and glasses perched precariously on the end of her nose, she had developed a fully rounded and very funny character. For me, she really stood out as one of the best in the show, with brilliant facial expressions and reactions. I also enjoyed the performance of James Hughes, who played one half of a journalistic duo aiming to find out about the scandalous wine making. His partner in crime was Sally, a ruthless reporter who wanted to catch her big break. The couple had previously been engaged, and James showed a good mix of character traits, ranging from longing and sadness at wanting Sally back and throwing himself fully into some of the more ridiculous physical humour in the play.

Becky Smith as Sally also did well. As she was trying to bring down the sweet and innocent nuns, she was hard to like a lot of the time but this was the point of the character. Andrew Raymond as Father Chenille was very good and was one of the strongest actors on stage. He was very easy to watch and I enjoyed what he did with the part. Sandra Trott, who played novice nun Sister Mary Catherine, had a sweet innocence about her which I enjoyed watching.

The set, constructed by members of the group, was superb, which I have come to expect from Blackmore Players. They seem to be able to make the tiny stage at Blackmore Village Hall look twice the size and the attention to detail is always wonderful. I particularly liked the beautiful stained glass window.

As with a lot of plays, I would say the action really got going right at the end of act one and act two was much more involved. I would question whether act one could really be described as a farce but during the second act, I was laughing and gasping along with the rest of the audience. The gasping mostly came at the climax of the show which I couldn’t have predicted in a million years. It was so outrageous, it really shouldn’t have worked, but it did! And the fact that there were actually some more serious storylines intertwined throughout the show it an extra dimension. Well done to director Hilary Martin for doing a grand job.

I must also mention a few other hilarious moments. Several parts of the show had a ring of Harry Potter about them as Mother Superior couldn’t bear to say the words “alcohol” or “wine”. Calling it “You Know What” reminded me very strongly of “He Who Must Not Be Named”! Sister Augusta was also extremely funny when she was following people around or hiding off stage whispering “Confess!”, trying to act like a hypnosis tape. And my favourite line in the whole show: “You look as nervous as a marshmallow at a BBQ.” One I’ll be using regularly from now on!

Not really knowing what to expect when I went along, by the end of the play I was pleasantly surprised with what I’d seen. Well done to Blackmore Players, and thank you for the warm welcome upon arrival.

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