Plumley’s own Other Theatre Company turned their casting problem into a triumph with their latest production in the Village Hall. Unable to find a play that matched the female to male ratio in their available players they gave us two one-act pieces: ‘The Dock Brief’, by John (Rumpole) Mortimer for two men, and for six women the lesser known Derek Lomas’ ‘Darlings, You Were Wonderful!’
There are strong parallels between the two playlets. (Neither really has a plot for the reviewer to give away.) In both, victory is snatched from the jaws of failure by a deus-ex-machina theatrical device. We do not see the main drama of the courtroom scene (in the first) and the amateur dramatic festival (in the second): we observe the characters as they prepare and interact with each other, and the strength of the plays lies in the way the actors bring their characters to life and make us believe in them. Harry Kennedy made an excellently incompetent barrister and Jon White’s pathetic bird seed merchant who did away with his wife certainly won the sympathy of every husband in the audience. In the second play, Mandy White, Glen Godson, Paula Mattock, Anne-Marie Lonsdale, Sarah Sherwood and Kate Smalley played a vamp, a mother-hen figure, an imperious drama queen, a pair just out for a giggle, and a traumatic teenager – roles which came quite naturally in some cases but required rather more demanding acting for others. The rehearsal of the play-within-the-play was hilarious, and if all sixteenth century Spanish drama is like this, I hope the Other Theatre Company will give us more of it in future.
As usual, the sets were impressive, the sound and lighting systems ran with a smoothness belying the hard work that went into them, and the village can be proud to host an Amateur Drama group that operates to professional standards – and look forward to the next production.
Review by Roger Barlow.
For more information about this production, please see our Past Productions page for The Dock Brief / Darlings, You Were Wonderful.