Pint Sized Plays

Pint Sized Plays – Something For Everyone is what Bilton Amateur Dramatic Society said in its programme and I’d say that was correct.  We were treated to ten plays lasting 10 to 15 minutes each, Driving Mr Diddy being the first one.  Crook with stocking over his head after a robbery gets into a car with two ordinary people in it and orders them to drive.  A very amusing short play.

The Weatherman, reminding me of a Monty Python Sketch, was next with two old men in a pub chatting to each other about various things including the weather.

Then came The Golden Years, an ironic sketch set in America about an old married man who had been having an affair for some time.  His wife had packed his bags for him to go.

Chilled Wine followed with three girlfriends chatting in a pub. It starts with two then the third turns up.  What a turn up!

Sorry was the non-comic piece of the evening and it was a good opportunity to change the mood and show how complicated modern life can be.  The thief confronted by his victim.  Mum!

After the interval came The Hereafter – meaning exactly that.  Two plumbers chatting in a local pub not realizing the accident they had been in had left them the wrong side of the turf.  Under it and not on top of it.

Auto Incorrect was another clever play about an app for your phone where the programmer had virtually become the app, unable to stop himself auto correcting himself, just like the app.

Attack of the Banana Spider was again a change in so far as it gave us some action with the two students jumping from the floor to the sofa after discovering a deadly spider in with their bananas.

The Carol Police followed and reminded me Christmas was round the corner and also showed the application of political correctness gone insane!  It was a well written piece with some lovely observations of how our words can be taken and used against us.

The final play, Two Woofs for Yes, was about a woman who visits a physic medium to contact her dead pets.  Another sketch that put me in mind of Monty Python.

It would be wrong to pick out any one individual actor as I thought all were excellent in each role they played and all played more than one.  The sets needed little in the way of scenery and were all the better for that.  I particularly liked the idea of moving the seats and sofa to a different area of the stage which without doubt gave each set a different feel for example being set fairly left for the first play, centre for the second play, right for the third play, and in front of curtains using spotlights to highlight the actors faces for the fourth.

The plays were well chosen and the direction from Sarah Knights, in her directorial debut, was well thought out, giving the plays action when it was needed and calmness where necessary.  I enjoyed my evening - the plays were modern, comical and all were well acted. 

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