Who Killed the Director
This was a short murder Mystery that was a great success with our audience, with many of them filling in the answer sheets with whom they thought had done the killing and attempted killing of Ralph Williams the director.
The play took place in the sleepy village of Ambleton on a rainy evening in June. Ralph Williams a rich, retired business man, played with good reality by Alex Simpson, was trying his utmost to get the best from his actors, but the more he cajoled and harried them the more they became irate and angry. So much so that eventually the delicious Kathy Metcalf, played by Mandy Stone with panache and verve, with whom Ralph was having an affair, stormed out in high dudgeon and locked herself away in the kitchen. Her secret admirer, Russel DuMaurier soon gave chase to console her. Russel, played by Rod Cresswell, ably and with the right amount of feeling soon learned that he was the love child of Ralph Williams. It transpired that Ralph and his mother Prudence had had an affair many years before. Pauline Hillberg's portrayal of the talented Prudence DuMaurier was believable and fun. The unending list of plays in which she had starred over the years was of no consequence to Ralph, who, whilst riled, not so calmly informed the very proud Prudence that she was now much too old to take younger leading roles. This of course enraged Pru, who immediately went off for an insulin injection and a lie down in a cold dark room..
Meanwhile, the unassuming Alfred Pickles, also known once as Stephen Holmes was searching the Ambleton Village hall for something that had been stashed away there many years ago. Yes! £57,000 in a tatty old hold-all. Mark Veitch played Alfred Pickles very convincingly, and left the audience in no doubt that he was indeed a person who could not really be trusted to polish your family silver. He was soon disturbed in his hunting by a very business like Marjorie Watson who was hell bent on buying the old run down village hall for her own company so she could turn it into a smart new glistening bingo hall and so make herself a fortune. Shelly O Callaghan played this character to a tee. She made it very obvious that no one would stand in her way when she had decided that she wanted something, so of course Ralph was soon propositioned to help her to wreck any prospects that Ralph Williams and his Ambleton Players might have had to put on another successful show called 'A Stab In The Dark', thus bring forward the eventual demise of the little theatre company.
Very soon Ralph was stabbed in the chest by Russel, who did not realize that the false stage prop knife had been swapped by the murderous Kathy. She knew that if she swapped the knife, and then got Ralph to show her exactly how he wanted her to play the part, he would be the one to get the blade in his chest. But as was shown by Detective Inspector Spence of Scotland Yard It was not the stabbing that killed poor old Ralph, it was indeed Prudence who had been so hurt by Ralph's words and her desire to help her son make it in life, seized her opportunity to inject Ralph with a fatal amount of insulin which did indeed polish him off. Inspector Spence was played by Marlene Cockell with a good amount of severity and certainly left us knowing that she was definitely in control, even though her slightly bumbling Sergeant, Delia Dobbs, who was brought to life very convincingly by Margaret Waller, was seemingly doing her utmost to screw the investigation at every turn.
Mr Ralph Tilton was the Emcee for the evening and kept the whole play flowing and managed to keep the audience under control
In conclusion I am happy to say that the overall production was a great success, Costumes lent just the right amount of weight to the play, it gave the impression that it was indeed set in the present but that the play within the play was set in the 1930's. The sound and lighting which was in the hands of Ellis Simpson was unobtrusive and well done. Luke O Callaghan was a very worthy Props and stage manager and the whole thing was indeed a great success.
A very sumptuous supper of a Ploughman's salad, tea and biscuits was provided half way through to the audience, by Mrs Ann Way and Mrs Viv Simpson on whom thanks must justly be lavished.
Scooby Doo and the Stinkin' Spectre
This short play, written for the juniors by Mark Veitch and John Hicks and directed by Mark was a real hit with the juniors, It was fast paced full of fun and was greatly enjoyed by the Audience. .
The famous five are on their way to help protect the Mayoress and her valuable chain of office from the greedy fingers of the Stinkin' Spectre. The play opens with Hortense Harper and her husband, Henry, played very capably by Jessica Harding and Bethany Veitch, being awoken in bed. They realise that they have been 'hit' by the Stinkin Spectre and all their jewellery has been stolen. The Spectre was played by the hilarious and convincingly evil Johnathon Fox.
The Velma, Fred, Shaggy, Scooby and Daphne soon meet Percy the Pig man who was portrayed by the very talented Georgia Cunningham, accompanied by her gorgeous little farm hands, Ashley and Jordan Weise and Gracie Veitch. Next they meet Stella the horse-woman. Beth Veitch played Stella with the perfect amount of 'plumminess' She made her seem very upper class and well-to-do. Next along comes Darren the Drain man, Singing merrily as he comes. Johnathon gives an equally good performance as Darren as he goes about his business of cleaning out the village drains. these three characters all drop hints about the Spectre but don't like to talk about it really, but are happy to point our heros in the right direction for the Mayoress' ball.
At the Ball Kimberly Veitch gave an excellent performance as Shaggy complete with an American accent who's one aim in life was to eat as much food as is humanly possible in the shortest amount of time, so along with his side kick Scooby Doo, played by George Simpson with fun and great hunger the pair managed to eat much of the banquet set out for the guests. And it wasn't long before the spectre struck again and stole the Mayoress' chain of office from around her very neck. Lily Peacock played the Mayoress with just the right amount of pomp and grace to compliment her slightly hen pecked husband, the Mayor, who was portrayed by Shannee Skelton with the humility and 'down troddeness' the poor fellow .
Velma, played by Amelia O'Callaghan with great expertise and oodles of stage presence got Shaggy, Scooby and the others into 'detectivising' mode. Nicole Cockell who played the hapless Fred with an egotistical flair soon found a massive footprint and the other member of the famous team, Daphne managed to find some sticky plasma dropped by the spectre. Dapne was played by Lorelie Stone, who gave a very convincing performance of our 'fem fatale'. It wasn't long after that Scooby was to spot the final clue, a calling card of the Stinkin' Spectre, tucked not so discretely into the bosomnal cleavage of the Mayoress, so with a sneaky ploy Shaggy manages to obtain the clue and so begins the down fall of the Spectre. After a chase the ever scoffing duo manage to catch the spectre and due to Daphne's wiles and clever detection he is unmasked as Darren the Drain man who was eventually dragged off to a deep dark cell somewhere by the local Bobby, played fleetingly, by Rebecca Veitch.
In conclusion, the play was a tremendous success, and the excellent dance at the Ball was very professionally choreographed by Rebecca Veitch. Ellis Simpson with Her father, Alex, supplied the sound effects and lighting to great effect. The costumes were a real credit to the whole show and were produced by our Wardrobe Mistress, Brenda Harris.
Congratulations must go to the whole of the Stagelights for producing yet another successful show.
Pictures will accompany this report shortly