Entertaining Angels

The Octagon Theatre had been magically transformed into a vicarage garden and as it is such an intimate performing area we in the audience really felt a part of it. The people on the front row were sitting by the banks of a stream - lovely!

The lives of the characters in the play were however not so peaceful. Grace, the grieving widow of the local vicar, played magnificently by Penny Hart-Woods, was finding it hard to cope with the help and sympathy from her family.Her caustic remarks were very funny but revealed a very unhappy lady. Her sister Ruth (Beth Cuerden) had travelled from Uganda to be with her sister and also, we found out later, to reveal a thirty year old secret. Daughter Jo (Emma Shepherd) was recovering from a broken marriage and the loss of her loving father. Sarah (Sarah Vetch) as the new incoming vicar has great doubts about taking up her new role as she herself has a troubled past.

These four ladies worked brilliantly together. They had a great script to work with full of humour and pathos.

Grace still 'sees' her husband Bardy (Andrew Jackson) and she shares her thoughts and feelings with him. He too has secrets and heartaches which he has never revealed.

This was an amusing play but sad as well with so many things happening in the past that no-one has ever talked about until now. It was a well thought out production of an excellent play with good sound and lighting to add to the overall success of the evening.

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