Goodnight Mister Tom

The first play of Sutton Arts new season, and what a play to open with to this full theatre.  Paul F Villes and Toby Gretton as Tom Oakley and William Beach lead the company from the front and where hardly off stage during the whole production.

The casting worked so well, Rosemary Maujunath should be so pleased with her production.  I must also compliment the set builders at the theatre, as it worked and looked so good. 

As we all know the play is set in 1939 and Britain stands on the brink of war.  Many young children are evacuated to the countryside to escape the german bombs.  William is sent to the village of Little Weirwold and Tom is his new guardian.  They get on so well that Will now calls Mr. Oakley Mister Tom.  The bond is threatened by Will's mother who wants the child back in London so back he goes.  Tom and Will's friends write to him but get no reply so Tom goes to London to find him, which he does, tied up in a cupboard, so he takes him back to the village.

News reaches the village that Williams mother has died and officals arrive at the village to take him to a children's home which both William and Tom object to.  In the end Tom decided to adopt Will and the play ends when Will calls Mr. Tom 'Dad'.

The cast in this play are too many to mention but I congratulate them all for their hard hard.

Special mention must go to Dan Holyhead who operated the dog 'Sammy'. That dog is a star in the making.

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