Fate's Thread and Knock, Knock Who's There?

The November 1st performance was the final showing of this double bill and very appropriate for the time of year when the veil between this and the spiritual realm thins, as both plays possessed ghostly themes. This was the first performance following a change of name from ‘Highbury Players’ to ‘Wing It Theatrical Society’ and their first in a new venue.

Fate’s Thread, written by Stephen Bean, is a play involving three spirits stuck in the in-between as they had not met a natural end to their lives but had their mortality snatched from them by the murderous hands of another. Gill Harvey-Whitten played the character Harriet Cole very well, bringing to life a nervous, jittery woman of the 19th Century, constantly anxious and freezing cold. Beryl Buckle played a bawdy woman of medieval England who was accused of being a witch and brutally burnt at the stake. Beryl brought the laughs and chuckles with her foul language and insults. Modern day Susan Davies was played by Kate Peters, a young professional woman, born of money and married to lowly mechanic, Jack, of whom daddy never approved. Kate’s acting and sublime expressiveness was very convincing as she played a woman in utter denial of her situation. She could not accept the possibility that she had been murdered by her husband so that he could circumnavigate the prenup, be free of her and enjoy the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed - courtesy of Sarah.  Kate skillfully portrayed Sarah’s journey as she learned the circumstances of her death.

Skilfully played by Liam Peters, Jack is an arrogant, predatory but not very bright ladies’ man engaging  in an affair with the naive, misguided and love blind young Mags who was pressuring Jack to break away from Susan and spend his life with her.  Mags was very well depicted by Georgia Davies, who we would see again in the second of the two plays. Georgia’s attention to the pace of her crescendo of sheer frustration with Jack refusing to commit to her was wonderful to watch.  Cheryl Fletcher played a very convincing Detective Constable Jenny Bayes. She was suspicious about Jack early in the investigation and was determined to learn the truth about Susan’s death. Cheryl’s depiction of DC Jenny oozed authority and confidence from the start.

The stage was kept simple and set as two different environments, the cemetery on the apron and the home of Susan and Jack on the stage. The space was used very well and the action was seamless between the two environments.  I only noticed one slight hesitancy in line delivery and the actors were able to get back on track quickly. As this play is very wordy it demonstrated the high level of acting skill the cast possesses. I was very impressed by the gruesome make-up!

Knock Knock, Who’s There, written by Peter Harrison was another very wordy play, this one involving an elderly couple. Carol Smith, playing Yvonne and Roger Mitchell as Dennis, her husband. They live in a tower block which Yvonne despises and is desperate for a transfer to a maisonette where they could have a garden and gnomes. Their years of campaigning and canvassing the council to transfer them was to no avail until one day Yvonne noticed her ornaments had been moved and repositioned in a way she certainly would not have done. Convinced the flat is haunted she conjures up a new campaign to be transferred through the use of a television crew and a story of ‘polterghosts’ (sic) living with them and paranormal activity.

Carol and Dennis were very convincing in the roles as husband and wife of many years, bickering, both possessed of acerbic familiarity of years of living with each other and putting up with each other’s frustrations in a cramped council flat where it seems joy had moved out a long time ago. 

Television reporter Gail, played very proficiently by Georgia Davies who captured the cynicism and ambitious sensationalism of the tabloids extremely well and created a few laughs whilst doing so, proved her range and diverse skills in acting.  Oliver Throne played the beleaguered camera man Jimmy who tried to keep proceedings on a more rational track and was a very good foil for the reporter. The four protagonists carried this weighty play very ably and although there was the very occasional hesitancy with lines this did not detract from the flow of this difficult play. 

Again, the set was simple, just one small room with sideboard, table, chair and sofa all demonstrating the cramped nature of the small flat and enabled the audience to completely understand and sympathise with what living there must have been like for them, and therefore the desperate need to leave. 

The play ends with a twist in the tale which rounded off the proceedings nicely.

The lighting design was excellent, subtle usage for changes of environment and the use of the more dramatic red in the first play, during flashbacks showing how the deaths occurred.  With directors Graham Stouse and Roger Mitchell at the helm, this evening’s entertainment was one of high quality and fitting for a devilishly good night’s entertainment.

I wish you all the very best in your new home and under your new name of WITS.

Nadine Darnley De Salis

NODA SE District 10 Deputy Representative

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