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Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery
|
| Cast | |
| Phoebe Reece | Sue Higginson |
| Audrey Hepworth | Maureen Hardwen |
| Felicity Keswick | Carol La Roche |
| Thelma Greenwood | Stephanie Dungate |
| Gordon Pugh | David Hampton |
| Crew | |
| Stage Manager | Jean Sharp |
| Assistant Stage Manager | Alison Lawrence |
| Set Construction | Marc Charlwood, Chris la Roche, Nicole Antras, Ross Holland |
| Properties | Janet Hampton, Nicole Antras |
| Lighting | Tim Hewitt |
| Sound | Alan Webster |
Special thanks to Mary Legg-Willis for
the loan of her wheelchair
Preview
Untalented actresses make a real killing
Competing for the longest play title in the world is The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery — a spoof on the world of amateur dramatics. And the strain is beginning to show on producer Ross Holland's face as he works with come of the most profoundly untalented actresses in the world. Scenery falls down, lines are forgotten, cast rows threaten the play — but, tears aside, that is exactly what he wants.
For their next production, the supremos of Bexleyheath's Edward Alderton Theatre dive deep into a play-within-a-play scenario, turning themselves into an untalented mish mash of performers who stumble through the highly amateurish What They Wrote — Murder At Checkmate Manor. A series of monumental cock-ups occur including one hilarious moment when an actress, about to be strangled by a mystery assailant hiding behind a curtain, fails to stand near enough the drapes and for the sake of the plot ends up throttling herself.
Taking a comic sideways look at amateur dramatics, the play promises much laughter for all the family. It is a new comedy written by David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin Jr. The play opens on Saturday at the Edward Alderton theatre, Bexleyheath and runs until July 15. Tickets details on 303 2541.
Kentish Times | 6 July 1989
Review
Wonderfully shambolic season end
The Edward Alderton Theatre group vacated their venue last week in Brampton Road and let the Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society take over. If you can't remember a local group of that name it isn't surprising, as it is the creation of David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin Jnr, authors of a series of plays within plays that show an incredibly incompetent group of ladies trying to put on Macbeth, a ghost story and, in this case, a murder mystery. Each one works on exactly the same premiss — nothing ever goes right. Scenery falls down, props are forgotten and lines are mixed up.
It is not as wearisome as you might think, since some of the catastrophes are breathtakingly extravagant and it's good end-of-the-season stuff that makes no demands on the audience. What's more, there are plenty of parts for women which makes a pleasant change.
The good ladies of FAHETGDS had well and truly taken over the theatre by the time I arrived and were to be found selling fudge in the foyer which I carefully avoided! From the moment the chess table fell over, the farcical action went at a furious rate, broken only by the serene Phoebe Reece's (Sue Higginson's) pronouncements. Her greatest moment was her half-time quiz, where for one terrifying second I thought she was about to give the audience the Dame Edna Everage treatment. Fortunately we escaped.
The standard hackneyed comment about comedy is that to do it well is much harder than you think. But even getting something consistently "wrong" takes a lot of practice and the hard work put into this production could be clearly seen. The marvellous confusion that occurred at one moment when the entire case seemed to be taking off or taking on chairs had a grotesque balletic quality all of its own. Amidst all the chaos at the end, the climatic shooting was glossed over, but this was true to the shambolic spirit of this production. A great way to round off the 1988/89 season.
Stan Eames
Kentish Times | 13 July 1989
