Sand Castles

I found Sand Castles to be a gentle and funny play, which is written by Bob Larbey.  Set at a seaside resort which could be anywhere in the country, but here probably the East Yorkshire Coast, it tells of two couples, posh William and Margaret Patterson and would-be posh Stan and Bernice Billet who are taking their annual holiday, as always using their beach hut around which, over the years, they have staked out their own territory and established their own rules of the beach.

This year, however, they are invaded by several interlopers lead by Doug and his young nieces who rent the middle hut of three and play havoc with the silly rules and boundaries which have be in place previously.

This was a very good performance from a cast of well and less experienced performers who blended extremely well to provide an almost full house with plenty of laughs, together with some quieter moments.

The Pattersons were nicely played with the right amount of snobbishness by Mark Bateman and Sarah Knights and they formed a good partnership with Dave Hawxwell, as a funny and rather eccentric Stan Billet, and his wife Bernice, who loves her sparkling white wine, portrayed with gusto by Helen Davison.

The Billet’s have taken Stan’s Mother and Bernice’s sister, Pauline, with them and, portraying the Mother, Rachel Lawson was excellent in her timing of her dialogue, much of which comprised of one liners.  Rachel Wilson, as Pauline, was also well cast.

I enjoyed Danny’s Barr’s portrayal of over the top Doug and there was good support from Shannon Fishburn and Matheea Ellerby as his nubile nieces along with Tori Stephenson, Sandra Davison and Gemma Burge as three of the interlopers.

The set was excellent and the good use of stage props gave the right impressions of the area in which the play is set.

The society are to be congratulated on another fine presentation and on being able to attract several new members to help swell their numbers.

A very enjoyable evening.

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