Under a gentle Autumn sky, with a backdrop of sparkling Pyreneean peaks and in warm sunlight dappled by an avenue of plane trees, eight ETC players performed two of Alan Ayckbourn’s five interlinked works collectively entitled “Confusions”. This continues our successful format of rehearsed readings outdoors, for a pic-nicking public and makes for a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, with the players just a few metres from their appreciative audience. Written in 1974 by this prolific and much loved dramatist, each piece is the usual masterful combination of subtle comedy and social commentary.
The first, “Mother Figure”, gave us Lucy (Maggie Crane), a fraught and exhausted mother whose ability to hold an adult conversation has disintegrated under the stress of motherhood and who treats everyone in the same childlike and condescending way. Both Rosemary (Gill Foster), a concerned neighbour, and her chauvinistic and controlling husband Terry (Maurice Shorter), are reduced to a state of infancy by Lucy’s mothering and puerile conversation.
The second playlet “Between Mouthfuls” sees a hilariously hapless waiter (Ian Warwick) inadvertently entwined into the conversations of two couples in his restaurant. The couples’ marriages are both disintegrating, because the wife in one (Nancy Robotham) has had a brief affair with the pompous and disagreeable husband in the other (Phil Faiers) – who also happens to be her husband’s boss! While the cuckolded husband (Bill Kimber) fears only for his job and not a jot for the desperation that drove his wife to be unfaithful to him, the cheated wife of the boss (Jacqueline Rochelle-Cawte) haughtily and disdainfully declines to eat a succession of courses placed before her, puffing on her cigarette throughout and vowing loudly to kill the mistress when she finds out who it is. The denouement finds the boss offering to buy his grateful underling a brandy in the bar while the wives are destined, off stage, to come face to face in the toilets.
Two typically amusing satires artfully directed by Annie Dawes.
Blog post by Anne Dickens
The first, “Mother Figure”, gave us Lucy (Maggie Crane), a fraught and exhausted mother whose ability to hold an adult conversation has disintegrated under the stress of motherhood and who treats everyone in the same childlike and condescending way. Both Rosemary (Gill Foster), a concerned neighbour, and her chauvinistic and controlling husband Terry (Maurice Shorter), are reduced to a state of infancy by Lucy’s mothering and puerile conversation.
The second playlet “Between Mouthfuls” sees a hilariously hapless waiter (Ian Warwick) inadvertently entwined into the conversations of two couples in his restaurant. The couples’ marriages are both disintegrating, because the wife in one (Nancy Robotham) has had a brief affair with the pompous and disagreeable husband in the other (Phil Faiers) – who also happens to be her husband’s boss! While the cuckolded husband (Bill Kimber) fears only for his job and not a jot for the desperation that drove his wife to be unfaithful to him, the cheated wife of the boss (Jacqueline Rochelle-Cawte) haughtily and disdainfully declines to eat a succession of courses placed before her, puffing on her cigarette throughout and vowing loudly to kill the mistress when she finds out who it is. The denouement finds the boss offering to buy his grateful underling a brandy in the bar while the wives are destined, off stage, to come face to face in the toilets.
Two typically amusing satires artfully directed by Annie Dawes.
Blog post by Anne Dickens
Rumors at Sembouès
Well we did it!
After various Covideo conference calls and despite living in Pandemia the ETC managed to put on Neil Simon’s elegant comedy, “Rumors”. We chose his American version, hence the spelling. We staged both performances at the delightful outdoor setting at Sembouès Salle des Fêtes. Happily the weather was on our side even though there was an orange alert for thunderstorms for the second performance.
Our aim was to keep our theatre group active during coronavirus restrictions and to let our 500 or so ‘Friends’ know that we are able to stage socially distanced outdoor events.
At Sembouès our audiences sat in the shade of two giant sycamores with a picnic while the cast performed a rehearsed reading of “Rumors”. There were many highlights not the least of which was when a dog wandered to the front of the stage area, squatted, and left a puddle. The audience loved it and the cast struggled to suppress laughter.
We are planning more outdoor play readings, hopefully without canine interruptions, so keep an eye on our website.
After various Covideo conference calls and despite living in Pandemia the ETC managed to put on Neil Simon’s elegant comedy, “Rumors”. We chose his American version, hence the spelling. We staged both performances at the delightful outdoor setting at Sembouès Salle des Fêtes. Happily the weather was on our side even though there was an orange alert for thunderstorms for the second performance.
Our aim was to keep our theatre group active during coronavirus restrictions and to let our 500 or so ‘Friends’ know that we are able to stage socially distanced outdoor events.
At Sembouès our audiences sat in the shade of two giant sycamores with a picnic while the cast performed a rehearsed reading of “Rumors”. There were many highlights not the least of which was when a dog wandered to the front of the stage area, squatted, and left a puddle. The audience loved it and the cast struggled to suppress laughter.
We are planning more outdoor play readings, hopefully without canine interruptions, so keep an eye on our website.
