Keeping Up Appearances

I was so pleased to join you again for your annual theatre supper evening and as always, I was made to feel very welcome by Julie and the front of house team. I joined a very friendly table of Hyacinth’s dinner guests, and we spent a very enjoyable evening together

This original script, written by the show’s writer and creator, follows the escapades of Hyacinth Bucket (‘Bookay’) who on arrival at the village hall and determined to impress the local art festival with her painting, “Willows by Moonlight”, is horrified to find that it has been taken over by the drama group. Stage versions of TV shows are notoriously tricky to put on successfully due to the expectations that audiences have for the characters. HAODS, however managed this extremely well, keeping the core of the television characters, whilst allowing each actor to add their own interpretations. 

This production was expertly directed by Julie. All the characters were well cast and the talented group of actors had developed their characters and looked comfortable in their roles. The dialogue and action were well conducted and all the actors had clear diction meaning that we could hear every line and all the humour in the script. Hyacinth Bucket is a huge part and a daunting task, as the actress playing her must step into the rather large shoes of Patricia Routledge. The lead certainly did this and pulled out all the stops to give an excellent performance! From the onset I felt that her portrayal of the overbearing character was equally as annoying and irritating as her television counterpart and she was brilliantly supported by all of the cast. 

It is clear that this is a genre of theatre that HAODS does well, which combined with a delicious supper makes for a very enjoyable evening.

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