Fight Them for the Beeches

Thank you for inviting me to your production of Fight them for the Beeches and to your front of house team for making me feel welcome. Set in Beeches Manor Residential Home, the play was written by a member of the society. It was a tale of intrigue with twists and turns and an unexpected ending. Comedy was brought by the group of residents each with their own defined character and eccentricities. The cast worked well together and looked to be enjoying themselves and although they were a little hesitant with their lines on this first night performance, they stayed in character throughout.  

In the first act, the focus was on establishing the characters and the background to the storyline and in the second act to delivering all the twists and turns to keep the audience on their toes. The directors had created a comfortable environment ensuring that the actors could gel and work well together. The actors really felt like a team who knew each other well and were there for each other. There were some lovely caricatures of the types of old people you might find in a residential home which were played very well and not for laughs.

The box set design worked well for the play which was mostly set in the sitting room of The Beeches. Using front stage left for the cleaning cupboard and setting the Lady Cornwallis’ furniture centre for her scenes was a clever move as it avoided lengthy scene changes. The stage was well lit and the sound effects and music appropriate. There were some lovely touches with the properties with some very fine World War II Medals and many bottles of booze secretly stashed complete with appropriately coloured liquid!

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