Entertaining Angels

Last autumn I was in the audience for Heath Players excellent production of “Proof” and now I was back, this time at their invitation, to review their first show since becoming members of NODA.  Based on their previous production I was expecting good things and I wasn’t disappointed.

The action takes place in a quintessentially English vicarage garden in summer.

Grace’s husband has recently passed away releasing her from forty years of duty as the wife of a country vicar. She now feels she has a new found freedom to do and say as she pleases and begins to question her previous life where, according to her, she poured two thousand cups of tea, made four thousand, six hundred medium sized quiches... and, as she puts it, “for what?”  To assist her in moving on, Grace talks to her dead husband, Bardolph, the ghost of whom is visible only to Grace and the audience.  The return of her rather eccentric missionary sister from Uganda forces Grace to face some disturbing facts about her marriage.  Meanwhile daughter Jo is trying to cope with her own marital problems and the incoming vicar is struggling to come to terms with her past indiscretions and questioning her readiness for the ministry.

A very good performance from Simone Perry as Grace. The role covers a whole range of emotions, from grief at the loss of her beloved Bardy, to something bordering on elation at being released from a life of duty. Thrown into the mix is her sister’s confession, which Grace has trouble coming to terms with. I felt at times the character could have been a little more animated. That said, praise must be given for this portrayal of a grieving woman, trying to move on and having to deal with life’s blows.

Good performances also from Vanessa Wood as incoming vicar Sarah and Chrissie Waites as Grace’s counsellor daughter Jo.  There was good interaction between these two characters as they drew on their professional training to glean each other’s innermost thoughts and confessions, before swearing each other to secrecy.

Ruth was well played by Jaki Newman. In contrast to her more sensitive sister, here was a quite matter of fact character whose confession of a dalliance with her sister’s husband thirty years previously devastated poor Grace and did nothing to strengthen the already fragile relationship between the two women.

The ghost of Bardolph, played by Steve Foster, appeared suitably bemused as he tried to offer words of encouragement to Grace, followed later as the story unfolds, by explanations and apologies.  

The scenery was good, the stage well dressed to resemble a vicarage garden, beyond which could be seen the church in the distance.  The stream, an integral part of the storyline was suggested, rather than visible.  At one point I think I caught sight of lighting effects suggesting moving water.  I could be wrong about this as it wasn’t really clear from where I was sitting.  However, the sound effects were lovely and as well as a running stream, the birdsong and humming of a lawn mower, so evocative of an English summer, almost made us forget about the snow and ice outside.

I thoroughly enjoyed this production. My congratulations to everyone involved.

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