Say It With Floers

Wombwell Thespians are very fortunate in having this beautiful theatre in which to perform their wonderful productions and the latest, “Say It With Flowers”, was no exception. It was well directed, and a fine cast who gave good performances and  worked very well together to understand their characters and make them believable

Robert Wilson played the tremendous role of Stan, who, after being made redundant, finds solace around his garden and with model-boat making. His wife, Mavis, played by Fiona Goulty, is involved with a local amateur musical group and never appears to be at home (how true…). Stan doesn’t like to be on his own and this causes several arguments which, in time, intensify into an almighty and very palpable row. Great acting from these two and this continued throughout the play.

Life doesn’t get any easier when the amateur musical group is forced to abandon rehearsals for their forthcoming production. Mavis and her fellow thespians, Vera and Richard, decide to do something entirely different and using their artistic flair enter Mavis and Stans’ garden for the local “Village in Bloom” competition. They hoped to rely on Stan’s expertise, but he was not having anything to do with it and this causes more disagreements and falling-out between everyone. In one scene, it looks as if the garden has been vandalised, but it turns out that Stan was the culprit so causing even more friction between him and Mavis. Even a bunch of flowers couldn’t make up for the separation between them.

However, it wasn’t always like this and there were some hilarious moments and touching scenes from all the characters.

Mark Stone’s characterisation of the flamboyant Richard was spot-on, as were the heart-rending and very touching scenes. I loved the colourful shirts, which matched the character to a “T”. Vera, who wasn’t always on the same wavelength as everyone else, was splendidly played by Jill Connell and she had some of the funniest lines in the play.

Along with all this mayhem in Mavis and Stans’ garden, their neighbour, Rio, whose lifestyle is totally gothic, invites herself into the garden to look for her rabbit. Her very laid-back character keeps Stan on an even keel and Andrea Eustis handled this characterisation with ease.

The storyline took us through numerous scenes, from morning to evening, covering a period of six weeks and with the set slowly being filled with baskets and tubs of flowers. When the day of the judging came, Stan was quietly working on a model boat complete with flowers to enhance the garden. However, dopey Vera had filled in the entry form incorrectly so making all their hard work unacceptable in the eyes of the judge. Vicky, played by Andrea Savage, had all the correct mannerisms to suit a “high and mighty” and snobbish adjudicator.

Everyone involved with this production, the director, cast, back-stage, and technical crew all worked extremely hard to make this a great production.

Thank you for the invite and hospitality and we thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

 

 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.