Edward Alderton Theatre

Family Planning
by Frank Vickery

Directed by Tony Coles

6-13 May 2000 (7 performances)

When young Tracy discovers she is pregnant, she doesn't know how to tell her parents - solid, dependable Elsie and hypochondriac Idris - or her boyfriend, Bobby. Gran, permanently ensconced in bed, helps to pave the way for her announcement. Unfortunately, Idris - overhearing Tracy and Elsie - jumps to the wrong conclusion and believes he has but a short time to live...!

Cast
Gran	Maureen Hardwen
Tracy	Helen Bezer
Elsie	Shirley Andrews
Maisie Millard	Jenny Devonshire
Jeffrey	Sam Oatley
Idris	Tony Donnelly
Bobby	Brian Callar

Crew
Stage Manager	Allison Henderson
Assistant Stage Manager	Angela Juett
Set Design & Construction	Paul Lay, Colin Rayment, Tony Coles, Clarke Findlay
Properties	Jenny Devonshire
Lighting Design	Bernard Tilley, John Buckle
Lighting Operation	Jerry McKeon, Amanda Whittle
Sound	Colin Rayment

Our production is dedicated to the memory of Brenda Winn

Review

Family trouble

This week Frank Vickery's slightly black but often very funny comedy Family Planning is being staged at the Edward Alderton Theatre. Directed by Tony Coles, it is a production full of sparkling performances by some of the best actors within the Bexleyheath group and it is a worthy tribute to Brenda Winn, the theatre's box office manager, character actor and backstage assistant who was taken ill during rehearsals for the show and died just three days later.

Vickery's play, which takes place in a Welsh family sitting room, isn't particularly original with its use of malapropisms, situation comedy and a heavy reliance on well-established stock characters. There is the committed hypochondriac, played with conviction and a strong sense of trauma by Tony Donnelly; a bed-ridden grandma constantly seeking attention when not fortune-telling or conversing with an empty chair, a part beautifully played by Maureen Hardwen in very effective makeup; a sex-starved neighbour (Jenny Devonshire), who remains haunted by a strange incident that occurred during her honeymoon; and a spiky-haired dimwit (Brian Callar) who has made the family's daughter pregnant.

There is also the neighbour's introverted teenage son (Sam Oatley) who spends most of the first scene knitting a woolly jumper then disappears for the rest of the play. Ultimately it is left to the perceptive work of Shirley Andrews as the careworn mother and Helen Bezer as her strong-willed daughter to bring an air of normality to the proceedings. Although the play lacked pace on last Saturday's opening night, with such a display of acting talent on stage the show should quickly gather momentum.

Roy Atterbury

Kentish Times | 11 May 2000

Family Planning by Frank Vickery

Family Planning
by Frank Vickery