The Sculpture

Right from the start, this play lived up to the high standards that we have come to expect from The Dilys Guite Players. Written by Jack Hewitt, the play tells the real-life story of Molly O’Day, a young American girl striving to become a movie star in the silent era of the 1920’s. She appeared in many movies and became very well known. However, life was not easy for her with failing auditions, the press reports, and film directors constantly reminding her about her gains in weight. Being slim was very important in those days, and even under contract, her film roles were few and far between. She tried all sorts of ways to lose weight, all of which were unsuccessful. As a last resort, Molly decided on the surgeons’ knife to reduce the fat, but this was also unsuccessful and left her both physically and mental scarred.

Jack Hewitt’s writing was brilliant, and it was obvious that a lot of research had been done to ensure that the play followed this poignant story to perfection and highlighted the pressures put onto movie stars 100 years ago by directors, the press, and fans. Bullying in various guises in the movie business is common even now, particularly about how someone should look, their hair or weight. Today we have social media to hound the stars while in the 1920’s it was the press. All this came through very strongly with a talented cast and dialogue that flowed with ease, with clear American accents from everyone.

The skilful direction of Matt Hutchinson ensured a good pace throughout and a marvellous blend of silent movie action and live stage performances on several occasions during the play. It was a lovely surprise to see not only acting, but also singing and dancing to complete the storyline. Loved the “West End” standard of the tap dance routine.

The production opened with a silent movie of Molly in action, then suddenly we were watching the same action on the stage with the actors. Clearly the result of hours of hard work and rehearsals, a first-class cast of eleven carried the storyline throughout the production.

The talented Lucy Bytheway was amazing and gave a very professional performance as Molly O’Day. With copious amounts of dialogue, an excellent American accent, emotions and a beautiful singing voice, Lucy’s acting skills brought Molly O’Day to life.  

To complete this first-class production an outstanding cast of ten members took on numerous roles. With quick costume changes they speedily moved in and out of different characters with ease. Since the cast took on so many roles, the writer has kept it simple by not naming every character and instead referring to the” Ensemble”. This takes nothing away from their acting skills and their names are: Tim Baron, Rachel Gray, Dale Raven, Scarlett Rowley, Ben Sanderson, Michael Staples, Charlotte Taylor, Missy Van Schaick, Isabel Wedgewood and Bethany Whitaker.

Any production of this standard can only be achieved with an outstanding production team and cast, supported by the expertise of the technical team, set builders, backstage crew, film makers, choreographers, and wardrobe. The applause and cheering at the end said it all.

Thank you for your hospitality and a most enjoyable evening out to the theatre.

Sue Cox

NODA NE Drama Rep Region 14

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