The Woldingham Players – Open Garden – review

The weather is lovely – but not everything in the garden is!

The Players held their popular annual Cheese & Wine party at the Village Hall on Friday 22nd February 2019. This gave us the opportunity to perform our entry for the Southern Counties Drama Festival at the Barn Theatre the following week, giving everyone involved with the play the opportunity to gain experience of performing before an audience ahead of the Festival.

“Open Garden”, a one act play by James Muirden, has a cast of five characters, two couples and a ‘Loo Person’. Harold and Victoria are the hard working owners of the garden played by Joe Crisfield and Allison Blair, together with the visitors Hugh and Henrietta played by Rick Morris and Sarah Greenwood – all performed to a high standard. The Loo Person in charge of the sanitary arrangements turns out to be well known in the past to two of the characters; mayhem takes over when the sun goes in and a storm erupts. Catherine Elliott, a relative newcomer to the Players, managed to convey both male and female attributes as the Loo Person with great skill, even down to a quick change on stage!

An appreciative audience thoroughly enjoyed this pre festival performance, after which everyone tucked into ample refreshments provided by the Committee.

Now for the main event! The Players performed at the Barn on 28th February – and wow, did they step up to the mark. They gave an outstanding performance and the Adjudicator and the audience were full of praise.

The results were announced on Saturday evening; we were shortlisted for Best Adult Play and Catherine Elliott for Best Adult Actress, but the Glow Theatre Group with their professional background and expertise won again and go on to the next round of the Festival.

Colin Brown, is to be applauded for assembling such a talented cast backed up by a strong team of backstagers and directing such an interesting and entertaining piece for the Festival – well done.