Flare Path
Information
- Date
- 4th December 2014
- Society
- Newick Amateur Dramatic Society
- Venue
- Newick Village Hall
- Type of Production
- Play
- Director
- Marie Palmer
This evening it seems was deemed to be one of many firsts, my first region 1 invite since moving from region 8 and taking over from the inimitable Phillip Hall on his retirement and also my first visit to Newick Amateur Dramatic Society [NADS]. However these were not destined to be my only firsts of the evening.
So to the play, where we find ourselves transported to the lounge of the Falcon Hotel, Milchester, Lincolnshire for the duration of the play. This was a wonderfully realistic and detailed set created by a veritable army of NADS members and utterly reminiscent of and accurate to the war time period setting.
Ahead of the curtain we heard from our front of house manager Terry Bone, who also played the radio announcer in the play, that the part of the Countess was to be played with just three weeks notice by his wife Barbara, who according to the programme incidentally seems to be a stalwart of the company as the producer as well as taking key roles with properties, costumes, publicity and ticket sales. While, certainly due to the relatively short notice, she did require the book in hand, Barbara delivered an overall convincing and heartfelt character opposite a fabulous Nick Parnell as her Polish count and whose accent was so utterly credible that I was shocked he was actually English on meeting him after the show.
The premise of the piece is the late night mission of three WW2 Wellington bomber airmen. Along with the Count we are introduced to tail gunner Sergeant Miller, played with confidence belying his sixteen years by Tom Pinkney and supported by a wonderful cockney wife in Mrs. Miller [Cathryn Pedersen]. The airmen are lead from the ground by Squadron Leader Swanson [John Philpott] who delivered with presence and great projection befitting his rank, only being slightly out-commanded by Jenny Walton whose Mrs Oakes, the head of house at the Falcon Hotel, was fabulously of the time in her controlled but stern authoritative character. Certainly she was in charge of the hotel and its seemly sole staff member, Percy the butler, who was played with conviction and a dab of comedy at times by the oldest member of cast, at ninety and company regular, George Chandler, who delivered the only touch of unintentional comedy of the evening with his handling of a prompt required with beautiful timing and pin sharp aside to the audience.
David Read delivered a gentle but dapper Peter Kyle the film star who carries the sub plot of being secretly but madly in love with the wife of our last airman Mrs. Patricia Graham [Sarah McKinney-Green]. The part seemed to have been somewhat immersive for Sarah as it was delivered with nice depth and conviction at all times but came over best in the dramatic scenes with her husband Flight-Lieutenant Graham [Andrew Elkins].
Nowhere was the drama more poignant than during the second act nervous breakdown of pilot Graham as at the crescendo of this emotional outpouring I experienced my final first of the evening. A female member of the audience took a rapid and potentially serious turn for the worst necessitating the temporary halt of the play and the house lights being brought up. To my surprise our leading man Andrew Elkins turned out to be one of no less than three doctors on stage and a fourth backstage and he leapt off stage, in a real life act of heroism, to assist and ensure the welfare of the collapsed patron and deal with her and the emergency services on the phone, until she was thankfully able to walk to the ambulance that had been called.
The play was skilfully restarted, after a brief curtain, by our leading couple who coped incredibly well with the interruption and ensured that we were quickly back into the drama on stage.
NADS are a thoroughly great example of the friendly family atmosphere synonymous with small regional community theatre and also with the war time spirit indicative of this particular play by Terrence Rattigan. I think he would have been impressed with their spirit and for me it was a delight to enjoy my first evening back in NODA region 1 with them.
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