The Greatest Strawberry Jam Mystery, I never Thought and Costa del Packet

For their Spring production Wilburton Theatre Group decided to promote their ever growing Youth group, to stage two youth plays supported by one adult play.

This fast growing youth section certainly has a wealth of talent and in choosing their two plays enabled these young people to stretch their talents. The first play “The Great Strawberry Jam Mystery” was an ideal choice of play for young people, particularly those making their first appearance in front of an audience. There were about twelve young members in this play, with some people doubling up. A special mention must be made of Ellie Tattam and Thomas Bebbington as Mr and Mrs Scumble around who the story of the missing jam was set, no pun intended! We were treated to some very strong performances of their children and in particular Bethany Wright as Paddington, Grace Kubeca as Crewe and Spencer Morris as Sidings. Great diction from all three and with the arrival of Francesca Morris as Pincher the Gardener and Francesa Axton doubling as Mrs Broth the cook and Lady Scumble-Glaze, this company staged a very enjoyable piece of entertainment, with the support of Alice Flack, Florence Axton, Anna Goddard, Mollie Lavelle and Hannah Ridley making a very confident cast.

What a great choice of play for the older girls “I never thought”. This was a very strong and at times controversial play dealing with teenage pregnancy and subsequent motherhood. However these very talented group of girls dealt with the subject matter in a very sensitive and thought provoking way. All five girls gave very strong performances, their characters dealing with the situation that their friend Carol now found herself in and showed a very contrasting set of views. Well done to Carol played by Jenny Weldon, a very difficult role to put across, but one must not forget the support she received from Rachel Blunt, Sarah Bebbington and India Barton as Jill, Cheryl and Gerri with some great comedy one liners from Laura played by Abigail Weldon. I wish this talented group all the best for their festival entry - it certainly deserves an award!! Well done.

The final play of the evening was yet another all female cast performing the farce “Costa del Packet”. The play reminded me in some aspects of a TV comedy “Duty Free” with some element of “Hi de Hi”. This poor group of ladies who had all been looking forward to the holiday abroad in a luxury hotel only to find the hotel had not yet been built. Their courier “Hump” superbly characterised by Barbara Gray attempts to deal with the situation by offering the ladies accommodation in a builder hut and provides lilos for beds and a camping gas ring that has run out of gas to enable them to make a cup of tea. Add to this a kettle with a hole in it and we were all blessed with a totally unbelievable luxury holiday. What a wonderfully diverse set of characters arrived at this “hotel”! Why did such a mismatched group decide to go on holiday together. One can only imagine how the week would progress. and how they would be able to conceal their predicament from their husbands! Superbly cast with Becky Everitt as Sally, Maureen Hutter as Alice and Ann Sherwood and Angela Starr playing Lesley and Vera. What a great team! A lot of thought had gone into the costumes of this play which was complicated by the dust enveloping furniture, totally believable.

Once again three great plays that had the audience totally engrossed. Thank you for inviting me and your hospitality.

Regards

Wallace Wareham

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