The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomens Guild Dramatic Society Presents Murder at Checkmate Manor

A warm welcome awaited us as always at the Thwaites Empire Theatre for the first play in the new season for Blackburn Drama Club.

And what an excellent choice, the Farndale series are always hilarious, I’m sure we can all relate to the characters that appear in these parodies! In fact the laughter started even before entering the auditorium with an excellent programme, well done to Jeff Wheeler & Norma Spaul.

Of course, even before the first scene half the set had collapsed and very cleverly done it was too. I suppose the art of creating this kind of parody is to portray the ‘mistakes’ as though you don’t expect or anticipate them – not an easy task – but the players rose to this task admirably, adding to the humour considerably. Each of the players with the exception of Tony Woolmington, who played the bumbling Inspector O’Reilly with aplomb, took on several different characters slipping easily or not as the case may be in and out of character throughout the performance.

All four girls were excellent in their portrayal of the protagonists, with outstanding performances from Antonia Bates, Shirley Watson and Stephanie Shaw, but for me Jacqui Mooney’s interpretation of Pawn the butler was the performance of the night, excellent comic timing and flawless delivery, a real pleasure to watch. I really enjoyed all of the performances in fact, as manic as this piece is each of the main players held their own.

The set and lighting were up to the theatres usual high standard and a special mention for the stage manager Rob Trethewy and Production Manager Ann Garlick for making the whole thing work so well. Costumes were good and most appropriate for the Farndale ladies.

Director Hywell Williams has done a fine job with this production – I had absolutely no idea what was going on, which I guess is the whole point of the Farndale series! All in all a very entertaining evening at the Thwaites and I’m looking forward to my next visit, well done to all involved.

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