The English Game

This is a play set in the present day and outlines the trials and tribulations of an amateur Sunday cricket team as they prepare for, then play a game of cricket.  The writer, Richard Bean of One Man Two Guvners fame has tried here to capture the spirit of modern England using this traditional setting; it’s a far cry from the village green of the 1950’s however with characters from all walks of life, ethnicity and sexual persuasion, reflecting what it’s actually like living in the UK post Millennium.

The challenging set, layout and dynamic of the piece was captured very well by the drama club with much action moving around the auditorium as the ‘game’ progressed.  The action was pretty much continuous and the play flowed very well from section to section.  The cast consisted of the first 11 of the Nightwatchmen cricket team, led by long suffering manager Will, his father played by John Orgill, watching from the boundary and throwing in pearls of wisdom from his ‘day’ and the manger of the opposing team, the annoying Bernard, nicely delivered by Robert Talbot.

This play was very well cast with each of the characters adding their own different slant to the day’s proceedings.  Clive Stack made an interesting and colourful Will, and John Orgill as his father had nice line delivery and some killer deadpan lines.  Steven Derbyshire had great charactisation as aging rocker Thiz and Darren Allcocks delivery of the obsessive compulsive Paul was also well interpreted.  Ayub Patel played an interesting Nick and Matt Jolley was great in the part of Sean.  Martyn Pugh was excellent in the part of well spoken Clive and Keith Walmsley played well as Alan.  Dave Batterby was great as the newcomer Reg and the part of the doctor Theo was very well played by Joe Conner.  The final two team members Olly and Reuben were played exceptionally well by youngsters Prince Dube and Andrew O’Brien, both of these young men delivered very mature performances and were a pleasure to watch, it’s nice to see some young talent coming through in drama, we don’t seem to have enough of it!

This play was very well cast and each of the characters brought something to the table which made the whole very entertaining to watch.  Director Jenny Hodkinson had done a fine job with the cast and I had a very enjoyable evening.

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