What The Women Did

For the Autumn production, Director Michele Arkle has based the content on What the Women Did during the First World War, while the men were away fighting. A lot of thought has gone into the evening, including two one act plays, ‘Handmaidens of Death’ by Herbert Tremaine and ‘The Old Lady Shows Her Medals’ by JM Barrie, and songs and poetry of the time. As it’s a centenary since the war ended it was a fitting theme, with the focus on the ladies' contributions. Emily Pankhurst of the Suffragette movement helped with getting women to take on the jobs normally done by the men, and Lena Ashwell worked for months to take a concert party to the front. All this put together made for a good evening’s entertainment.  

The set was simple, sound and lighting just right. The costumes were good. Michele has an excellent cast and team wth Marian Young as the Musical Director and the Choreography by Tricia Beckett.

I liked the concert party sections with songs and poems, the audience joined in with the sing-a-long section. The plays were good - the first ‘Handmaidens’ involved a large cast, the ladies are all very talented and played their parts well, five of the men played the soldiers, and left a shocking image at the end of the play.

The second play in Act 2 ‘The Old Lady’ had a smaller cast but was equally good, with two men playing the Reverend and the soldier. The ending got me, with the placing of the black ribbon over the photo frame and the Scottish bagpipes sounding out. The play was well acted and moving.

The poems were read by some of the men, again this was a nice touch.  

The evening went down very well with the audience. Well done to you all. 

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