Venue: Very good. Large seating area with a well run bar. The auditorium is large with tiered seating and another few rows of free standing seating near the stage.
Set: Fairly simple but perfect for the play. The small stage at the back with the piano was good and both exits were well used.
Costumes: For the committee meetings they were unremarkable but fine. The John Cockle T-shirts were very bright and nicely designed. The costumes for the pageant were all brilliant.
Plot: Set in the ballroom of the dilapidated Swan Hotel, a group of local members of the Pendon community are brought together to organise a town pageant based on a lost piece of local history, the massacre of the Pendon Twelve – where the Earl of Dorset crushed an uprising of rebellious workers, led by John Cockle. The committee comprises disparate characters with very different views of what the pageant should be and what it represents.
As the meetings progress, the group becomes ideologically divided with the left-wing side, led by a Marxist Polytechnic teacher, building it up as a political rally. The right-wing side of the committee formulating plans for a violent confrontation in response.
Performances: Ray (Mike Marsh) - Had a Richard Wilson like pained expression, but was very amusing and played the part well.
Donald (Malcolm Trayhorn) - Superb, perfectly nerdish and irritating.
Helen (Christine Holt) - Make-up was a bit in your face, but she played the part well and was particularly funny in her last scene
Sophie (Suzanne Austin) - Attractively played and worked ever so hard especially when she wasn't actively engaged in dialogue.
Eric (Chris Whalley) - Surly and a deeply unpleasant character. Well portrayed though with just the right level of controlled fanaticism.
Audrey (Mary Newton) - Stole every scene she was in. Dream of a part for an actress of mature years. Absolutely hilarious.
Lawrence (Rob Ash) - It's so hard to play being drink believably. He certainly pulled it off and one round of applause after a long speech was well deserved.
Tim (Stephen Brody) - More effective when he played the captain rather than just Tim. Because of the way this actor speaks, he needed to slow the dialogue down. A lot of it merged into a a string of words that were difficult to make-out.
Philippa (Jurgita Baleviciute) - Delightful in her opening scene. She spoke so quietly that it was difficult to make out anything she said in act 2 due to the piano playing.
Max (Simon Tipple) - Very small part, perfect for a beginner.
Summary: There was a terrible masking issue in scene one of the opening act that lasted for between 5-10 minutes. A few scenes could have been tightened but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it and laughed out loud on many occasions. A huge amount of effort had been put in and I certainly hope to see more Ayckbourn's from this company in the future.
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