Murder in Little Grimley and Little Grimley Saving the Planet

David Tristram as written some of the funniest one Act plays, that continue to be performed up and down the country by many amateur dramatic groups.  They poke fun gentle fun at the thing many of us hold dear, the local community theatre groups that form the lifeblood of the performing arts, while tackling topics that many of us can identify with such as putting on a show with little or no funds – or even an audience!

Sutton and Tennyson Amateur Repertory Society (STARS) have taken their production of these two shows and brought them out to the community on a tour of local areas and both plays were appreciated by the ample audience in Trusthorpe Village Hall.

Director Joanne Bowen, even had to do the thing many directors (myself included) have had to do which is to step in to a principal role at very short notice and I have to say she did it very well indeed.   Joanne has taken two David Tristram plays, featuring the hapless Little Grimley Amateur Dramatic Society, and decided to have different casts for each play.  This had the advantage of allowing us to see the same part played by different actors. 

The first play, ‘Murder in Little Grimley’, starts with a mysterious figure draped in a dust sheet.  An oblivious Joyce, played by Anne Baker approaches with obvious curiosity and lifts the dust sheet gingerly only to be shocked with the image of Chairperson Gordon, played here by Andy De Renzi, covered in blood with a knife sticking out of his chest.  Joyce’s screams summon Bernard (Chris Flanagan) and we quickly realise it has all been a cruel trick which results in poor startled Joyce having an unfortunate accident and returning from the bathroom with a small blue carrier bag!  She quickly recovers however, in her tirade against her colleagues, when they reveal their plan to play the same trick on Margaret.  I loved the way Ann used her facial expressions and external silent dialogue as she rehearsed her reaction to trick the unsuspecting Margaret. Unfortunately, Margaret sees through the pretence, and Joyce’s terrible acting, and ruthlessly puts them in their place.  So, the scene is set for Gordon to announce his next script – a murder mystery play - ‘The Joke Shop Murders.’  

I loved Chris as the banana munching Bernard, not hiding his obvious disdain for the snobby Margaret and their frequent spats were some of the highlights of the show.  I felt quite sorry for Bernard when he clumsily tried to compliment Margaret, leaving him hurt at her cutting response.  Joanne was very good as the upper-class diva as she manipulated her way to play the lead part in the show leaving Gordon defenceless to her demands.  A highlight of the show, was the actual dress rehearsal where poor Joyce tried to perform her few spoken lines of the show inadvertently calling the detective an ‘ingenious sloth’ resulting in an exasperated Margaret asking Gordon can she just ‘skip to the bit where I stab her?’

I also liked Gordon trying to convince a suspicious Bernard of his alibi, bathed in red light with ominous music in the background he blustered and hedged trying to explain his mysterious visit to the joke shop and the traces of blood on his hands.  Gordon also had a hilarious meltdown humiliating poor Joyce promoting her to take drastic action.   There was also a nice cameo role from Taya White as Detective Inspector Sam Pemberton, sporting a traditional long raincoat and realistic ID lanyard and asking probing questions about Gordon’s recent visit to the Joke Shop.  The scene where a stunned Gordon returns carrying a small green plastic bag noting ruefully, he had another pair of underpants for the bonfire was hilarious mirroring Joyce at the beginning of the play. 

The second play, Little Grimley Saving the Planet, is the most recent of David Tristram's scripts and brings the whole genre bang up to date with a hilarious dig at climate change.  This time Gordon, played by Tony Jacques, is hosting a committee meeting which is obviously going on a bit, as Margaret, played by Ann Knott, is absent-mindedly filing her nails and Bernard (Tony Sutcliffe) is snoring loudly and no wonder as Gordon is on item 93 of the Agenda!  Gordon informs them he has had a letter from the council informing them that they need to become carbon neutral and reduce their carbon footprint - by next Thursday!  Also, the ancient boiler has broken down and Joyce the Treasurer, played by Cathy Sutcliffe does not have sufficient funds in the kitty to fix it.  

Gordon has also purchased some new LED theatre lights, which when he asks Bernard to switch on results in a twilight lighting affect causing Margaret to note sarcastically, they would need an audience of bats to see the show.  Gordon has a solution however with his latest opus a green themed story which he aims to promote his cause called ‘Farmer Freddy Goes Green’ an informative story on climate change aimed at children.  This results in lots of opportunity for not-so-subtle digs at government policy and current trends, and the virtue signalling Gordon being put firmly in his place.  

Highlights were once again the interplay between Margaret the ‘weekend vegan’ and Bernard with Tony channelling his inner Compo from ‘Last of the Summer Wine’. A hilarious moment was where Margaret, cast as the ‘miserable old cow’ had to wear a rubber cow mask and Bernard’s obvious glee as he was challenged to milk her.  I also loved her patronising cow voice performed wearing her mask.  There was lots of talk about farting cows (including Margaret!) and opportunities for Joyce, played with an endearing confusion by Cathy Sutcliffe, to display her limited knowledge of wildlife again by claiming innocently that she only ate animals that ate vegetables.   Joyce fell victim to Margaret’s machinations believing her part was something heroic and Oscar winning only to be given the part of insect due to be eaten and the added humiliation of having to wear a child’s caterpillar backpack on her head.  

Some very strong performances from all, but a special mention to Tony Jacques playing sanctimonious, virtue signalling Gordon. His facial expressions, mannerisms and delivery all perfectly created the personality of the overbearing Gordon.  His dealings with Margaret’s inflated ego, Bernard’s incompetence and Joyce’s naivety were hilarious.  

Costumes were good reflecting the character such as Joanne’s more sophisticated Margaret wearing matching red designer accessories and both Bernards wearing overalls Tony’s being splattered with white paint.  Ann Knott’s, Margaret wore flashy gold jewellery to denote her middle-class status and both Joyce’s and Gordon’s, wore outfits to match their interpretation of the character. Lighting was used well and sound effects added to the storyline. Including the soundtracks, featuring a hilarious rendition of Old MacDonald from Joyce!

Well done Joanne and producer Chris Flanagan (who gave us a hilarious nod to Noda at the beginning of the show) for creating this very funny and well received piece of community theatre.  It was not perfect but given last minute cast changes and the need to be keep the set to a minimum, it was very well done and provided lots of laugh out moments of pure joy.  The audience (especially the Lady mayor sat next to me, loved it and so did I.  At the end, the audience were given the opportunity to pay what they thought it was worth - a vast difference to the sometimes over-flated prices of some theatre tickets, and a questionnaire to complete I hope you get lots of positive comments.  Thank you, once again, for the warm welcome and I look forward to your spooky production of ‘Frankenstein the Pantomime’ at Halloween.  

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