Knit and Natter

Opening SADS’ Diamond Anniversary year was Chrissy Evans’ comedy “Knit and Natter”, making, I was told, its European debut. A group of women (and one man) gather in the Little Lager church hall, to form a Knit and Natter group. Biscuits, tea and salacious gossip are exchanged under the guise of encouraging fellow members to knit. Friendships are formed and enemies made. Everyone seems to have something to hide. New resident Gayle Walsh winkles out their secrets and blackmails the other members with threats of publishing them on her blog. When Gayle is murdered, everyone appears to have a motive, the means and the opportunity, but the villagers all stick together and prevent the police from finding the culprit.

This was a really good choice for the opening play in SADS’ anniversary season. It is a well-written, laugh-out-loud comedy, with plenty of characters that we can all relate to. It is not so much a “whodunit”, as a “who-didn’t-do-it” with a clever twist at the end revealing that everyone had a hand in the murder.

As I have come to expect from SADS, the box set was magnificent. It depicted a typical village hall and, while simple, it was most appropriately furnished and great attention had been paid to the details that make the scene all the more realistic. Props, lighting and sound effects were most effective too, and the attention to detail continued with the costumes. There were many changes, to indicate the passage of time, and all were most appropriate to the characters.

Director Carol Sealey has assembled a strong cast and directed them well to make the most of a very funny script. Mike Clay really nailed the character of the “Rev Kev”, trying to be so modern and “down wiv da kids” that we never suspected he was easing his older parishioners’ passage into the next life. Priyani Patel and Nicki Cresswell gave good portrayals of the two newcomers to the village, Susan and Gayle. Susan, who formed the group, was all eager to please and keen to integrate, and Gayle, the abrasive blogger, trying to find out the secrets she could exploit, constantly taking notes. Nicki made it easy to take an instant dislike to this character and we were not surprised when she ended up dead.

Of the established villagers, Lesley Preedy, as the much married Mary Coombes, and Brenda Lambert as the light-fingered Elsie Warburton were both outstanding, creating hilarious but utterly believable characters. Danny Jeffs gave a good portrayal of the damaged ex-soldier that Jonathan Bradley purported to be, quickly falling for recently out of rehab, Joanne Jones, the vicar’s sister – a good performance by Gail Norris. Karen Garside was delightfully outrageous as Claire Smith, proud of her “care in the community” work! Roy Phillips was solid as DI Carter (though a little less striding around would have been good) and he was ably supported by Liam Grey as Sergeant Berry.

First night nerves got the better of some of the actors from time to time, keeping the prompt on her toes and slowing the pace a little, but I’m sure this will improve as they get into their stride. Overall, this was an excellent performance of a refreshingly different comedy and was thoroughly enjoyed by the good-sized audience. A great start to your anniversary year – well done!

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