Clara's On The Curtains
Another show has come and gone, and what a good show it was too. Directed by Peter Davies, it was a great success. The ladies who starred in the show all thoroughly enjoyed themsleves. Jo Claydon, who played the hapless Clara Simpson who strove to get the curtains open bang on cue was a joy to watch. she played the part with gusto and you could feel for her every step of the way, if only she had been allowed to recite her poem! Sue Humphris breathed life into Mabel Claythorpe and with a booming voice she certainly ruled the roost and no mistake, a very believable character.
The Prima Donna of the show was played with verve and panache by Sam Veitch, her character, Iris Nicholson brought the whole show a touch of class not to mention fun. While Mandy Stone's alter ego Sonia Carter was superbly portrayed with such a huge plum in her mouth that one felt she would not be out of place in The Clifton Ladies Guild. Meanwhile Jeanne McGregor, was capably played by Marlene Cockell, although struck with a fit of the giggles in the evening she did a good job of bringing her character to life.
Then there was the young Mavis Moffat, played very nicely by Sammi Flook who was most upset that her friend Amanda Price had lost her voice and would be unable to sing in their 'Little Show'. Sammi is a new member and has shown that she will be a valuable member of the club.
Pauline Hillberg, who was the envy of most of the ladies in the show played the part of Amanda Price with great elan even though she had lost her voice and therefore had only a couple of lines to learn, she had to act most of the way through the play without utterance, not easy, but she made it look so. The ladies thought their 'little show' was in a spot of bother but not as big a spot as it was soon to appear when Merle Willmott, who played the daunting figure of Annie Craddock, hove into view and began to put her foot down flat.
A very believable performance by Merle Willmott, very well done, and also her daughter Shirley was a welcome relief to the other characters, She was played very capably by Alison Wade, another newcomer to the Stagelights and again very welcome indeed..
Shelley O'Callaghan took the role of Celia Lupton, the erstwhile Akela, head Girl Guide with great flair and was very believable and with her troop of 'girls' soon had the costumes, programmes and sausage rolls sorted out in no time at all. Armed with only her whistle and Joyce Grenfell-esque character she certainly lost no time in sorting the 'little show' out. "To me girls, to me!"
The show was performed twice on the Saturday and it has to be said that the afternoon performance was exceedingly good, with very few prompts and was enjoyed immensely by the audience, which can also be said for the evening performance even though (so the cast felt) they were watching a completely different show to the afternoons audience. Little will be said about the booming voice coming from behind the scenes with prompts to keep them on track and then the giggles and guffaws which ran throughout the entire cast at one stage. But it has to be said the audience loved it and laughed along with the cast. It was felt though that had the poorly miss placed hoots of derision from members of the audience not happened all would have been well. But on the whole, the club can be very pleased with their efforts once again.
Ali The Barber
Ali The Barber was a potted version of the family pantomime of similar name. Enacted by the junior section of the Stagelights. It was directed by Pauling Hillberg and Sam Balch. It was Sam's first forray into the directing world and a very good job he did of it too. I can safely say that it was very obvious to the audience that the players were enjoying themsleves very much which is in no small part due to the directors and their hard work. So very well done to Pauline and Sam in equal measure.
The show was opened by new member, Keiron Ball, who played 'The Narrator', He spoke his lines with total clarity and had the audience in the palm of his hand right from the off. He was kept cool by his slave, Laura Dunning who was a very good fan operator. Ali was very capapbly played by a 'rising star', Archie Flook, He made a very good Ali and obviously enjoyed the part very much. His very comical Camel, 'Mustapha-spit' was played by kim Veitch, Charlotte Dent and Fraser Dent at various times and was a very good comedy part in the play and the camel dance was hilarious.
Al. Baloni, the baddy was portrayed by the incomparable Findlay Claydon. A very nasty character, who robbed and plundered the deserts accompanied by his erstwhile Robbers played by Grace Veich, Tyler Dent, Billy Slade, Tommy Slade, Poppy Claydon, Ashleigh Weise, Jordan Weise, Annie Flook, Daniel Balch & Fraser Dent, a very bad lot indeed.........
Half way through the show one could well be mistaken for thinking they had suddenly been transported to another world as a Dalek came drifting down the aisles to exterminate all the robbers. The Dalek was made by Angus Claydon and was brilliant, Young Billy Slade was the mover and motivator of the dalek and had the audience in fits. Other charatcers in the play were Cassim, very capably portrayed by George Simpson. Bethany Tiley played Ali's wife and was a proper 'little Mrs'. Hassan was more than well payed by Lorelie Stone, especcially when she shaved off half of Fraser's beard.She gave a very believable performance, and what a nice singing voice she has. Kim Veitch played the part of Mary Anna the house keeper and gave a good all round performance and is another one with a beautiful singing voice.
The Belly dancers were Laura Dunning, Kim Veitch, Ashleigh Weise, Jordan Weise, Grace Veitch, Poppy Claydon Annie Flook, Bethany Tiley and Sam Balch!!!!!!
The backstage folk were Brian Holder on the sound and effects, Alex Simpson on the lighting, John Hicks and Neil Rodrigues behind the scenes on stage. Rachel Williams played the piano and kept them all on time and in tune.......... the choreograpers were Kim & Laura. Brenda Harris was the wardrobe Mistress.
The Stage lights are very pleased to say that this was another very successful production and I think it was generally accepted that the children knocked the Adults into a cocked hat again when it came to who's was the best performance. Well done Kids.
(There are one or two peoples pictures missing from this page so if you have any other photos to put on this site please let John have them in digital form only)
Look out for our next productions
Dracula: the Musical? ~ October 2nd, 3rd, & 4th
Mincepies & Monologues ~ December 12th
Mother Goose. Our Annual Pantomime ~ January 28th, 29th & 30th 2010 ~
And another double bill in May 2010 (yet to be annouunced)