Silchester Players

All that is meant by the word panto is superbly wrapped up in Silchester Players' 'Jack and the Beanstalk', the final performances of which take place this weekend in the village hall.

I sat through the Saturday matinee performance when the children had a whale of a time enjoying meeting Maisie the cow — saved from the butcher's chopper — when she ambled through the audience.

Perhaps their greatest thrill came when Squire Sir Mortimer Mortiboy, so admirably played by Alf Campsie, descended by parachute to drop among them from the enchanted castle reached by Jack at the end of the beanstalk.

Sir Mortimer is lowered from the roof strapped to harness with with an umbrella as a chute — obviously needed on such a wet afternoon.

The action in two of the three acts takes place in Mangel Wurzel-on-the-Wold, obviously near Silchester with Pamber End, Tadley and even the Haymarket Theatre referred to.

Gilbert and Sullivan tunes were cribbed for the music and even 'The Toreador's Song' from 'Carmen' came in useful for the "cow-fight" with Alderman Crimshank, played by John Holmes, as the toreador.

Jack is well portrayed by Timm Brinkman, with Bryony Paton making a good Alice.

Shelagh Brinkman enters into the spirit of things as Mrs Durden and there is the charming Sarah Wood speaking her words so clearly as the Beanstalk fairy.

Keith Percival and Jill Mansfield, as Mr and Mrs Croaker, sing a fascinating duet.  Ian Hellem is TV cameraman Mr Blenkinsop and Chris Street and John Hollinshead a couple of simple village yokels.

Joint producers, John Birtill and Norma Smith who deserve congratulations, also use children as young villagers and fairies.  Daphne Bennett is the choreographer and Stephen Oliver the musical director and pianist.

Silchester Players were good value for their two one-act plays by Anthony Booth, presented in Silchester Village Hall.  If the other two performances were as good as the final one I attended, village and friends of the Players had little, if anything, to criticise and a lot to praise.

It was my first visit to watch the company in straight plays and I must say I was very impressed with the high standard, which was a credit to any amateur company.  But what an evening of contrasts the two plays made — ranging from stirring drama to farce at its most ridiculous.

The first play brought to reality all the beastliness and horror of the terrorist campaign in the Middle East, which gripped the audience.  There was a hushed silence as we watched an Ambassador's daughter held prisoner in an attic and subjected to inhuman treatment before being shot.

The poor unfortunate girl was played by Hester Fellows who, as Naomi, fully captured the hopelessness of her situation and the horror.

The dominant person in the plot was woman terrorist Leila, savagely characterised by Sheila Hollinshead.  She was very convincing.  So, too, was Alf Campsie as Luis, the priest, who was brutally shot by trigger-happy Tariq, the typical example of one who does not care one jot for human life, played by John Davis.

It was such stern stuff that it made the most experienced drama lover wince.

For the second play, we were allowed to laugh as much as we liked as we were introduced to the treble booking for "Chez-Nous", the cottage by the sea with two honeymoon couples, an angler and a good time girl, out for a party, all turning up at the same time for the same fortnight.

All the cast did well to live through the most impossible of situations, especially Carole Street as Julie Blagshawe playing opposite Alf Campsie as her husband, Bill.  Carole's facial expressions were comedy in itself.

The other newly-weds were Don and Sally Anderson, portrayed by Ian Hellem and Rosemary Monger, with Allen Betts in the rôle of the angler.  Bryony Paton was a most convincing good time girl, Zena and less convincing when inebriated.  Producer of both plays, Stephen Oliver, appeared as the demolisher who was to put an end to any argument as to whom was to have the fortnight, for the cottage had to come down to make way for a new road.

It was a subtle plot, bursting with humour, so well acted with such good continuity that the prompts could have been made redundant.  Here was an instance where the producer had really done his homework and I should like to congratulate him and his cast.