The Two Of Us

In my travels around Staffordshire to report on NODA member productions, it never ceases to amaze me how innovative some companies are in the selection of performance material. As we theatre folk know, the catalogue of plays, musicals and pantomimes available to us is vast and we are often left spoilt for choice in what our next production should be. So I was particularly fascinated by Audley Theatre’s decision to take a series of short playlets and perform them in a festival of drama I had the pleasure of watching on Thursday evening.

Appropriately titled ‘The Two of Us’, the production cleverly explored the many faces of relationships - romantic, strained, unexpected and everything in between - in a collection of witty, poignant and heartfelt duets, each one cleverly reminding us that every relationship is a story worth telling.

As the house lights slowly dimmed, the Bill Withers classic ‘The Two Of Us’ played and as the main house tabs opened, we were greeted with the entire company, colourfully dressed and happily milling around the stage in an ingeniously designed and practical set which, as the evening went on and with some minor changes to the furniture and décor, would cleverly become the various locations for the five individual playlets. In fine voice, Martyn Kerr, opened the production with a superb rendition of the Robbie Williams hit, ‘Go Gentle‘, before the stage lights faded and the cast left the stage.

Duet 1 - ‘The Cushion’ by Alexander Lee-Rekers

After a short blackout, the first duet began with the alarming sound of someone tumbling down the stairs and as the stage lights brightened, Jeffrey, the subject of this misfortune, lay curled up and motionless at the front of the stage with Jude (Julie McManus) kneeling on a cushion by his side looking very nervous. As their friend Aubrey (Toni-Leigh Hopkins) entered, the shock of seeing Jeffrey lying there caused her to drop the biscuit tin she was carrying. Curious to know what had happened, Jude explained that Jeffrey had been going through his daily routine of standing on their upstairs veranda, bizarrely feeding the magpies in the garden with watermelon, some of which had dropped on the floor. In Jude’s hurry to clean it up, there had been a heated altercation and the magpies had taken flight. As Jeffrey stormed off, he must have slipped on some bits of watermelon stuck under his slippers and tumbled.

Slightly suspicious and obviously thinking that Jude might have deliberately pushed him down the stairs, Aubrey asked how she had foreseen the fall and got a cushion ready to kneel on by Jeffrey’s side as he took his last breaths. Having convinced her friend that it was a complete accident, they hatched a plan to empty the tin of biscuits at the bottom of the stairs and make out that they had dropped them in the shock of seeing Jeffrey lying there. After a few deep breaths to summon up courage, they went off to call the emergency services.

In some respects this initial playlet was a little far-fetched. Notwithstanding this, both Julie and Toni gave exceptionally credible performances which made the perfect start to the evening’s entertainment.

Appropriately Paul McCartney’s ‘Blackbird’ was used for the playoff.

Duet 2 – ‘The Holiday’ by Peter Quilter

With a clever choice of ‘Something Stupid’ to open the scene, the set had been cleverly given a Spanish flavour with the pictures on the walls changed to holiday posters, a colourful ‘throw’ on the sofa and a bar with selection of bottles added to the left-hand side of the stage.

Despite their impending divorce, Shelley and Bobby had decided to proceed with a pre-booked holiday together in the Spanish coastal resort of Torremolinos and whilst their intentions were to keep things civilised, it soon became clear that this wasn’t going to happen. Much to our amusement, Shelley, played with great skill by Emma Knight, became increasingly flirtatious as she continually downed the cocktails being handed to her from the party next door. Paul Ratcliffe gave another fine performance as Bobby who initially remained quite calm and considerate but as the shenanigans continued and clearly frustrated by his wife’s behaviour, he decided to take an early flight home. Having packed his case, things calmed down and after taken the throw off the sofa and arranged it on the floor, they picnicked with a packet of crisps and a bottle of water. The recollection of happier days and nostalgia crept in and they finally agreed to end the holiday together and divorce amicably. But whether or not they decided to have an early night, we will never know!

Duet 3 – ‘Blind Date’ by Peter Quilter

Unlike the British dating game show first produced by London Weekend Television, hosted by the legendary Cilla Black, which originally ran for an astonishing 18 years, the curtains opened on Jonathan answering the door to a bespectacled Wendy who entered the room rather nervously.

The opening conversation was simply hilarious in its own right as clearly quite a few white porkies had been exchanged in the days leading up to this first meeting and we were already in fits of laughter! …

Jonathan: “Are you Wendy, fifty-three, brunette, medium build and glasses?" …  Wendy: “I am. Are you Jonathan, tall, slim, olive skinned and thirty-seven?”

This really was going to be a blind date with a difference!

Both middle-aged, Jonathan and Wendy were meeting up for the first time to establish whether or not they liked each other. Smartly dressed, he in a pink shirt, beige slacks and sporting a bulky gold necklace and she, in a very smart red outfit with matching shoes, things were clearly a little bit awkward from the start, but slowly and gently their conversations warmed into a kind-hearted and, at times, hugely comical performance by Geoff Mackey and Melanie Madew. They even found common ground in ballroom dancing and at one stage, Jonathan clapped his hands to activate the music system which, quite appropriately, played ‘Dance In The Old Fashioned Way’.

In this exceptionally well directed piece, it was clear that neither Jonathan nor Wendy had enjoyed much success with romantic experiences in the past which made the wide range of topics they chatted about and emotions they displayed even more believable. Having finally managed to be totally honest with each other – no more porkies -  it wasn’t long before they were able to look forward to a future and not such a blind date, but a dinner date, as Wendy exited through the front door politely followed by Jonathan as ‘A Fine Romance’ played to close the scene.

Duet 4 – ‘The Wedding Speech’ by Chelsea Taylor

For this fourth playlet, the main composite set had been hidden by a yellow curtain with four white covered chairs side-by-side in front of it and the wedding cake on a small table on the right-hand side of the stage. Seated in the middle were the bride and groom with Rose (Leah Alice Fossick), the maid of honour standing on the right and the groom’s youngest sister Ava (Nicole Hassall) sitting on the left.

In complete contrast to the other playlets and apart from Rose and Ava standing to deliver their individual speeches, there was no movement on stage. Rose spoke warmly of her best friend with the customary tales and jokes about how she had first met the man she had now married. Ava was also very sincere in her words, recalling her happy childhood growing up with the love of an older brother before making the official toast. “To my new sister and my older brother, I wish you a world of happiness”.

And what could be more fitting than a quick burst of ‘Dream a Little Dream of Me’ to play the scene out.

Duet 5 – “The Last Dance” by Chelsea Taylor

In the last duet and the second cleverly penned work by Audley Theatre’s very own Chelsea Taylor, we met Geoff Mackey again, this time as Henry with his wife Margaret, portrayed by Lynne Williamson.

This was a very heart-warming playlet made even more poignant with ‘Around The World In Eighty Days’ playing softly in the background. Henry and Margaret had been looking back on thirty-two years of marriage and total love and devotion to each other. Clearly Margaret was deep into the onset of dementia and was finding it difficult to recall even some of the simplest things they had done and achieved together. Sadly, she couldn’t even remember who Henry was or his name but did faintly recognise the music that was playing and after asking if he danced, she reached for his hand and they began to gently sway together. In a magical ending to this sensitively portrayed scene, Margaret asked “If I forget you tomorrow, will you still love me? “I’ll love you every day, enough for the both of us”, Henry gently replied before singing the first verse of the song made even more sentimental as the glitter ball rained little sparkles of pure white light on them.

Now nearing the end of what had been a brilliant evening’s entertainment, Martyn and Paul comically entered with old fashioned cameras to the ragtime sounds of Scott Joplin’s ‘Entertainer’ and took up positions left and right as the rest of the company entered for a rousing chorus of ‘Flash Bang Wallop’. Having played Kipps in ‘Half A Sixpence’ myself and used the song several times before in my Stone Little Theatre pantomimes, as a finale number, it was also a very clear winner with the Audley Theatre audience as they rewarded it with rapturous applause and cheers.

Everything about this festival of drama had been cleverly planned and directed by a small team which included Rachel Hopkins, Martyn Kerr, Chelsea Taylor and Lynne Williamson. The stage lighting was operated by Harry Nixon and Martin Thomas with sound by Fergus Morley Smith and stage management by James Hire and Isla Williams.

A huge well done and many congratulations to everybody involved in this new and exciting theatrical adventure and thank you for your warm welcome and hospitality! I’m greatly enjoying my recent appointment as NODA West Midlands Regional Representative for Staffordshire and already looking forward to a return visit to Audley later in the year.

Chris C Bell
Regional Representative
NODA West Midlands District 3

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.