How Does Your Garden Grow?

The baffling title, How Does Your Garden Grow? was, according to the author, merely a phrase that he liked the sound of and as such, thought it would make an amusing title. However, judging by the small audiences, passers by in the villages of Whitwell and Niton, on seeing these bold words on an otherwise plain poster and not stopping to read the details, must have assumed it referred to the annual Agricultural Show! Certainly the numbers at Whitwell Village Hall were well below usual - fourteen on the Friday and twenty on the Saturday - which was disappointing for those on stage. However, there was plenty of encouragement from the audiences who chuckled throughout at the antics of the performers in this comedy of mistaken identities. Five of the ten cast were newcomers to the Pepperpot Players and proved to be great assets. The youngest new recruit, Abi Harris, as the Latvian trainee receptionist was delightful and well cast. I waited in vain for seasoned actress Pamela Cranefield in mac and beret, playing the assistant bank manager, to utter those famous words " I will say this once and once only". Denise Farrow, making her debut as a petite police woman, mistakenly taken for a strippergram, proved that she richly deserved her up-grading from the mini part she had originally.   Faye and Peter Farrin, a husband and wife team were the sparring manageress and manager of the failing hotel, along with George Webster, the bank manager, hoping for a naughty weekend with his assistant Ruth Bleach; Mike Santer as the ageing rock legend, sporting a dishevelled wig in yet another of his outre roles; Glenys Williams, his glamorous agent, obviously on the look out for someone more interesting to spend the weekend with; Pete Harris, another actor new to the Pepperpots but obviously not new to acting, played a junior bank colleague.and that mysterious mini part of Dapne Flannel, gave newcomer Becky Deri - the bank manager`s wife, disguised as a stalker - a fleeting glimpse of better things to come! Thus, I feel Cowes AODS deserve a special mention for providing the Pepperpot Players with three of the cast of ten. Hopefully, they will join in future productions, as have four others who are also members of the Apollo Players too and who are now loyal Pepperpots, appearing regularly in their productions.   The director of this flamboyantly costumed, zany comedy, was Martin Woolven.

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