Tales From Little Grimley

Enville Street Dramatic Society presented 3 one act plays tonight. Yes. You read that right. 3 plays. They were all great choices from local writer David Tristram and his Little Grimley series.

Billed as “Tales From Little Grimley” the evening started with “Last Tango in Little Grimley” followed by “The Fat Lady Sings in Little Grimley” and then the evening concluded with “Murder in Little Grimley”.

The characters, Gordon, Bernard, Margaret and Joyce feature in all of the plays. An extra cameo character was introduced in “Murder in Little Grimley”. This character was a Detective who put Gordon through his paces. 

The series remains very popular for many reasons. The characters are beautifully written with behaviours which are fun and quirky and they are quickly established and relatable. The plays have also been designed to allow some extra fun by adding some personal local touches or references. These plays are perfect for smaller venues because of the minimal set and props and there are plenty of opportunities for the director and actors to approach the text with their exploration of comedy timing and sense of humour. 

The plays were directed by Simon Cooper with Phil Johnson as Stage Manager. George Deeley managed the Lighting with Sound by Martin Francis. Jess Skidmore provided props, publicity and photography. Wendy Hemming also assisted with publicity and alongside Sue Matthews also provided a very warm welcome working front of house. Thank you also to new member Steve Brain, who did a great job helping the audience settle into their seats.

The first play, “Last Tango” introduces the only 4 members of Little Grimley’s Drama company struggling to pay the rent. The company is in serious danger of disbanding. So, Gordon (Chairman/Person) comes up with an idea. He writes his own play and bases his characters on people who live in the village. Gordon advertises it as a Sex Comedy, because he believes Sex sells tickets. The play of course sells out but doesn’t quite go according to plan. Margaret saves the day with some quick thinking which resulted in 17 offers of marriage and 1 offer of something quite disgusting.

“The Fat Lady Sings” brings the characters together again to fight a rival Am Dram company who are performing an award-winning musical. More importantly however, this company know their lines. The plan to sabotage the musical ends with spectacular injuries,  involving a trombone.

Finally, my favourite of the evening, “Murder in Little Grimley” had some nice fun touches with the direction. Gordon writes a murder mystery but soon finds himself a suspect in a real murder. There were a few genuine surprises and some good use of the stage as the cast found some extra flow. The extra dynamic with the introduction of The Detective played by Steve Taylor was nicely done with his good diction and presence. 

Gordon was played by David Lavender. David played the character with some surprising interpretation, he played his frustration and his passion well in parts and showed some moments of good physical comedy when he relaxed, or in most cases when he blew his fuse and stormed off to the pub.

Bernard was played by James Luckins. James played Bernard with a cheeky streak and remained the most confident on stage with his lines and character development. James delivered his character in a fun way which set up and provoked some much-needed reaction and pace. 

Margaret was played by Vicki Pritchard. Vicki was very supportive on stage with her interactions and played the character of Margaret in a light hearted way. Vicki made me laugh with her physical comedy when she entered “carrying a limp”. Vicki had good presence on stage and appeared confident in her role.

Joyce was played by Carey Esthop. Carey appeared to enjoy this character very much, playing hints of Joyce’s naivety well. Joyce’s love for musicals was apparent and Carey did well to show this throughout. Carey delivered the brilliant line “Are you calling me fat?” in “Fat Lady Sings” with wonderful timing and achieved the desired audience result.

Congratulations to all tonight who worked hard to put this evening together, including the incredibly coordinated backstage crew. 

I was also pleased to learn that Enville Street are planning to perform the play Gaslight by Patrick Hamilton on 21st-25th November 2023. Another one of my favourites and it will be a brilliant contrast to some of their comedies I have seen from the company in the last couple of years. Check out envillestreetdramatic.org.uk/tickets for more details.

Thank you so much for your kind invitation and your lovely welcome tonight and over the years. I wish you all the best for the future.

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