EIGHT members of Sturminster Newton Amateur Dramatic Society (SNADS) have been working together for weeks to bring Craig White’s three Open University graduate plays to life on the stage of The Exchange – and the production was a thought-provoking delight for both audience and participants.
The three short plays, Barney, Double-Glazed and Blood Sport, were the culmination of his script-writing degree, and they cleverly show how stories can be told quickly and concisely – a skill exemplified by Alan Bennett.
The evening started with Barney, sub-titled Disability is not a Barrier. Sarah and Peter have been married for years. Following a car crash, she’s in a wheelchair, able to move only her right arm and her head. She is utterly dependent on him, having to accept his arrogance and dogmatism. He leaves for work and a strange woman comes into the garden where the angry Sarah is sitting, waiting for her carer to arrive. A different story unfolds. A technical glitch marred the opening night, but the actors covered magnificently, so that even if the audience couldn’t see the “poignant video”, they fully understood its dramatic impact. Fiona Drewett, Toby Greenfield and Jessica Allen told the powerful story with great skill and nuance.
The second, and shortest, of the plays was Double-Glazed, the most comedic of the trio thanks to Mary’s hilarious malapropisms, which created a wonderful smoke-screen to the heart of the story. Mary (Jane Filbey) and Sid (David Phillips) are at home, awaiting the arrival of a double glazing salesman, Wayne from Wayne’s Windows, played by Martin Lilley. He’s all ready with his spiel – they are all ready with the Earl Grey, and much much more.
The evening ended with Blood Sport, a very different way to look at hunting and hunters. Martyn Lilly reappears as the unseated hunter, with Lisa Ford and Sarah Phillips in the other roles.
This playlet is more complex than its predecessors, and evidently confused some members of the audience. I think the answer is in the final tableau. The writer has delved deep into the motivation of blood sports, and decided that the battle against The Fox has more to do with resentment of motherly influence and that balance between the attraction of beauty and the fear of physical intimacy than it has with tearing live animals apart.
I am not in the least offended by swearing, but it can try to mask a reluctance or inability to search for the right words, and too much effing and blinding (as it used to be called) dulls the ears, so that important dialogue can be missed. But it is hard to attract audiences to new work, and all congratulations to Craig and his actors for providing a challenging evening in such a confident and entertaining way.
GP-W
(Rehearsal images)