Last Tango in Little Grimley and Joining the Club

I was delighted to attend the opening night of Fellowship Players’ performances of two one act plays by David Tristram set in the present day. The first play of this double bill being, ‘Last Tango In Little Grimley.’  The set was simple, with four chairs around a table; the scene, a church hall. The opening for this play focussed on the committee meeting of a local failing acting group of four members. The self-appointed Chairman of the committee, Gordon (Alan Lowe) is talking to the set designer and builder, Bernard (Andrew PJ Canham) about the meagre set for the last show. The enthusiastic but talentless Joyce (Jill Simkin) arrives and is just about to join the conversation when bossy Margaret (Claire Parker] arrives, immediately demanding an election and presenting an atmosphere. Her characterisation strong at the outset.

Perennial chairman Gordon addresses the issues that many societies face of dwindling audience numbers and the need to put bums on seats. Their last production made a massive loss. They need rent money soon or they will be thrown out of their premises. As the four members ponder a grim future and consider their next choice of play, likely to be their last, Gordon decides on a drastic do or die solution.

“There is only one thing that sells tickets these days-sex.” He informs them he intends to write a play about the sex lives of the villagers, requiring Margaret (Claire) to be the main sex symbol. Margaret’s response to this initially was to reject such a proposal but it was clear from her tone and expressions she saw herself as somewhat above the rest of the society in terms of her thespian abilities and probably above everything else. No matter what the production was, she demanded to be the star. Alan was brilliant as the company chair, Gordon, trying in vain to keep order, keep to the topic in hand, deal with the bickering and histrionics alongside writing the script and directing it. The tensions between Gordon and Margaret were believable and the two seemed to enjoy sniping at each other. Alan adopted this role as a dry, matter of fact man who runs the society with quick wit and comic timing which had everyone laughing. Claire portrayed Margaret’s dismay and snobbish behaviour towards the character of Bernard (Andrew)using comic facial expressions and this was entertaining, but Claire’s real comedy talent came out when they moved onto rehearsals and she dealt with a mistyped script with perfect timing; very funny. Andrew was well cast as Bernard who made it very clear from the outset that he did not want to play roles that were on stage and preferred no lines. He presented his character appropriately as a gruff down to earth bloke, happy to call a spade a spade; his body language and gestures demonstrated well his feelings. Joyce [played by Jill Simkin] struggled hilariously with taking the minutes of the meeting and Joyce found script reading a bit of a challenge, not just the words but her acting, in role as Joyce, was convincingly wooden and laboured. Her longing to take part in a musical endearing, and her song from Seven brides for Seven brothers delivered with conviction, if a little off key; it was a lovely performance Jill gave.

With wonderful direction by Dave Brown every laugh was teased out of the clever and true to life script. The cast had a good bond and chemistry.

After the interval, the audience viewed an impressive set of a living room, the setting for the home of a young couple, Jenny and Tom. This play commenced with Jenny arriving home and in silence, the audience was captivated entirely by her movements and facial expressions solely, as they observed her unwrap a pregnancy test kit, read the instructions, visit the bathroom wearing rubber gloves, and then return to the sofa to wait for results. When she read the results, she went to great efforts to hide such evidence as her husband, Tom, returned from work, this was humorous. Her expressions did not reveal her inner most response to the results of the test but what Rebecca Holmes-Mears, who played the role of Jenny did, was demonstrate great nervousness in anticipation of her husband’s imminent arrival. Up to this point there had been no dialogue, and this was powerful staging.

This home test confirmed that Jenny, a successful career woman, was unexpectedly pregnant. Biting the bullet, she decided to reveal this fact to her husband Tom. Unfortunately, it seemed that Tom had some startling news of his own. He had been passed over for promotion and was convinced it was because he was not a member of the baby club. He had resigned from his job and roundly insulted his boss. He wrestled visibly with his sense of disappointment by reaching for a drink to calm himself down and by getting cross. When he heard Jenny’s news, he attempted to phone his boss to get his job back, but Jenny heard him grovel, snatched the phone from him and reiterated Tom’s original insult, calling his boss a twat. This generated chuckles from the audience, effectively lightening up the seriousness of the situation.

This was a play where both characters got caught up in an emotional turbulence. Dave Brown characterised his role of Tom with just the right amount of agitation and irritability as he tried to come to terms with life changes presented to him that he hadn’t expected, if appearing a little conceited and arrogant towards his wife. Rebecca portrayed Jenny confidently not only as a driven and successful woman, but a person with passion and strong feeling as well as a sense of commitment. The play ended with both sitting harmoniously and united on the sofa, facing impending parenthood together. Again, no words but expressions conveyed their contentment in those last moments. Excellent staging and fast pace sustained throughout the act due to both actors but also credited to the director, Dave Brown.

Lighting and sound were appropriate. The set design for, ‘Joining the Club,’ was fitting and well considered for the play with furnishing suitably modern with light colours.

This double bill of one Act plays by David Tristram was a good choice and ensured the evening was light hearted.

Well done to all the cast and crew. Thank you for inviting me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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