Silchester Players

Playing the numbers game

‘AND THEN THERE WERE NONE’, performed by Silchester Players, at Silchester village hall, on Friday, June 1, Saturday, June 2, Friday, June 8 and Saturday, June 9

I usually have a problem with Agatha Christie plays: even after the detective has explained it all at the end, I still don't understand it.  But ‘And Then There Were None’ is a bit different — the 10 characters are killed off one by one and there isn't a detective.  This makes it a gripping story, as you try to work out who's going to be bumped off next and, of course, who-dun-it?

The play is set in 1936, on a small island off the the coast of Devon.  Ten people, all with a guilty secret, arrive at the only house on the uninhabited island and the fun begins.

In a period piece like this, it would be easy to caricature the accents and mannerisms of the time, but director Brian Gillett has wisely resisted this temptation.  But emulating the (posh) accents of the ruling classes is always difficult and the cast had mixed success with this.

Kevin Belcher, as the rather caddish Captain Philip Lombard, was outstandingly good.  He captured the period perfectly, and gave a most convincing performance.  Nick Lock, as the ex-CID officer, was suitably seedy and used his imposing body to good effect.

Keith Graham (Rogers the butler) managed to show a restrained disapproval of the toffs as well as a stiff-upper-lip stoicism when things started going wrong.

Geoff Murrell, as Sir Lawrence Wargrave, showed that even high court judges can have a nasty side, and Tony Oliver played the dithering doctor.  Sharon Macdonald-Grute (secretary Vera Claythorne) effectively portrayed her increasing fear of imminent death.

The set had a 30s' art deco look to it, with a good vista through the French windows, and the costumes reinforced the period feel.

The pace was generally good, despite a few prompts in the final act, and the director made good use of the space — not easy when you have to cram 10 people on to a small stage — but luckily the numbers soon reduced!

This is the 25th anniversary of Agatha Christie's death and, apart from ‘The Mousetrap’, her plays are not performed so often nowadays, so this absorbing play was a good choice for Silchester Players.

PAUL SHAVE
Newbury Weekly News
June 2001

A laugh with the luvvies

Intriguingly titled ‘Three in a Bed’ (or ‘Actors at Work, Rest or Play’), Silchester Players presented three one act plays last week, directed by Keith Graham and Kevin Belcher with a common theme — actors.

In the first, ‘ln By The Half’ by Jimmie Chin, the action took place in the flat of Madam (Janet Taylor), a former actress.  In an effective mix of comedy and poignancy, the ageing actress lives in a fantasy world of the past and is aided in this by her housekeeper Doris (Gaynor Keefe).  The cosy world is blasted apart when Madam's estranged daughter turns up one day to tell her that she is dying of cancer and old conflicts surface in a mix of comedy and drama.  Janet Taylor brought her great wealth of experience to bear on her role, with good facial expressions.  As the daughter Ursula, Lyn Davies was perfectly cast; she is a talented actress and played the tricky role to perfection, and Nicola Bratt was impressive as the drama student Sylvia.

Act Two brought us ‘Distracted Globe’ by Nick Warburton.  This took place at an after-show party of the play ‘Hamlet’.  There were good comedy performances from Gerry (Nick Lock) and Patsy (Sharon Macdonald-Grute) as they laid out the buffet (ham bridge rolls in honour of the play!) and Tony Oliver was splendid as the lecherous Eric, who turned every line into innuendo.

‘Cup Final’ by Charles Mander was the last play, which was set in the dressing room of the Polden Players after an amateur dramatics festival and much comedy was made of the situation.  Sharon (Sarah Oliver) is revealed, head in hands, despairing at the disastrous events that befell her in her play.  Joe, excellently played by Brian Gillett, appears in a monkey costume, followed by Martin (Nick Lock) hilariously dressed as a Gollywog, and furious because he fears his chances of being voted best actor have been dashed by the others.  Good performances were also given by Geoff Murrell as the slightly camp director Raymond, Jill Hutchings (Alice) and Lyn Davies (Ophelia).

This was a very enjoyable production, but was marred by far too many prompts in all the plays.  Whether this was first night nerves or lack of rehearsal, it was not of the usual very high standards.  Silchester Players will present ‘Panto at the OK Corral’ early in the New Year.

TREVOR DOBSON
Newbury Weekly News
October 2001