The idea was to have a social event for members of the ETC, but to give it some spice 'party pieces' were invited.
So on a Friday afternoon in early July forty or so gathered for a picnic at Au Carrau, Sainte-Dode. A performance space had been created and an audience area established.
More than a dozen performances were given and it has to be said that the standard was high. We began with a monologue from Ian Warwick followed by an animated poem by Jacqueline. David Foster read a humorous poem by e.e.cummings entitled my sweet old etcetera — he explained that cummings did not believe in capital letters or punctuation. Then Sue Seth gave a marvellous rendition of Albert and the Lion.
Gill Foster then astonished us all by reciting a thought-provoking and funny poem that she had written herself. Several members encouraged her to enter her poem in suitable competitions. Dave Braney sang a poignant song by Max Boyce called 'Duw, it's Hard' and managed to get the audience to join in the chorus.
Sandy Notman introduced himself as 'Mr. Shakespeare' and gave a superb rendition of Launce's soliloquy from Two Gentlemen of Verona. This was followed by a piece by Stephen Fry and Hugh Lawrie from the Cambridge Footlights Review called "A Shakespeare Masterclass, An Actor Prepares" where Phil and Jon took to the stage.
Anne Dickens introduced her party piece from the film "The Matrix" with an excellent explanation of the film then recited from memory "Morpheus's Monologue". Maurice Shorter sang "A Hymn to Him", better known as "Why Can't a Woman be More Like a Man". Nancy followed up with a hilarious "Blonde's Story". Maggie added more laughs with a rendition of a Pam Ayres poem. Then Sue Seth presented a sequel to Albert and the Lion and finally Ben Brotherton gave us John Betjeman's Inddor Games Near Newbury.
The party pieces were followed by a grand picnic and all agreed the event had been so much fun we would certainly repeat it next summer.
So on a Friday afternoon in early July forty or so gathered for a picnic at Au Carrau, Sainte-Dode. A performance space had been created and an audience area established.
More than a dozen performances were given and it has to be said that the standard was high. We began with a monologue from Ian Warwick followed by an animated poem by Jacqueline. David Foster read a humorous poem by e.e.cummings entitled my sweet old etcetera — he explained that cummings did not believe in capital letters or punctuation. Then Sue Seth gave a marvellous rendition of Albert and the Lion.
Gill Foster then astonished us all by reciting a thought-provoking and funny poem that she had written herself. Several members encouraged her to enter her poem in suitable competitions. Dave Braney sang a poignant song by Max Boyce called 'Duw, it's Hard' and managed to get the audience to join in the chorus.
Sandy Notman introduced himself as 'Mr. Shakespeare' and gave a superb rendition of Launce's soliloquy from Two Gentlemen of Verona. This was followed by a piece by Stephen Fry and Hugh Lawrie from the Cambridge Footlights Review called "A Shakespeare Masterclass, An Actor Prepares" where Phil and Jon took to the stage.
Anne Dickens introduced her party piece from the film "The Matrix" with an excellent explanation of the film then recited from memory "Morpheus's Monologue". Maurice Shorter sang "A Hymn to Him", better known as "Why Can't a Woman be More Like a Man". Nancy followed up with a hilarious "Blonde's Story". Maggie added more laughs with a rendition of a Pam Ayres poem. Then Sue Seth presented a sequel to Albert and the Lion and finally Ben Brotherton gave us John Betjeman's Inddor Games Near Newbury.
The party pieces were followed by a grand picnic and all agreed the event had been so much fun we would certainly repeat it next summer.