Theatre Reviews by Phyl Romeril for Local Guardian

Wadham Players – An Evening of One-Act Plays

This evening of one-act plays preceded a busy time of festivals, so my comments on each will be brief in fairness to the measure of success in two of the entries, one at Havering and the other at Waltham Forest.

Barnstable by James Saunders can be described as Theatre of the Absurb. Alison Rhodes, Chris Millington, Marki Simons, Jill Atkins and June Gray represented a household who were all somewhat fraught with problems.

A mystery was involved in each incident – shots, chimneys falling, moles in the lawn, thrushes being shot and so on. Each character faced the problem in a singular fashion.

Skilfully portrayed and sensitively directed by Bob Gray, this difficult type of theatre, I felt, came across very well.

It will be interesting to see how well it is received at the Havering Festival.

Secondly, Sequence of Events by George MacEwan Green goes to the Waltham Forest Festival at Chingford Assembly on March 25, 2004.

A hangman, a prostitute, a murderer and murderer’s parents are the ingredients in this Edwardian piece. It’s a fascinating drama revealing the reactions to the hanging.

Keith Cummings and Elaine Elliott represent the stricken parents, Matthew Jones the confused young murderer, Suzanne MacPherson the seasoned prostitute and Andy Gillies the Hangman.

The three acting areas represented the sequence of events and some first class lighting and quality acting established a strange web of sex and death.

I found this drama, directed by Michael Michael, quite emotional. As already mentioned, it can be seen again at Chingford amongst entries from other groups in the Waltham Forest Festival during theatre week, March 22-26.

The final play, which is not in a festival, was Panel Games by Eileen Brandon, which was also produced and directed by Michael Michael., It offered a revealing portrayal of the way doctors and psychiatrists deal with people with genuine social problems and how their actions affect applicants who need help.

They wriggled and excused their decisions, blaming bureaucracy for the outcome. When put in black and white, as was the case in one wordy scene, emotions and blood pressure soared.

The man struck back at the negative response but to no avail – so powerful are those at the top. Whatever the panel may have personally thought of the case, they were overwhelmed by the oath which they had sworn, one which controls their future. 

I found this piece compelling.

It was enacted once again to a very high standard by Andy B, Stephen Jacobs, Lee Ocsko, and Terry Perkins. These four constituted the panel, but the absolute winners, although they lost the game, were the three interviewees.

The ladies of such diversity of character were Amanda Cummings, Ann Housden and Rose Floyd. I was fascinated by the strength with which they stated their cases and the effect  on their lives by the decisions. It was a disturbing thought that such bureaucracy could exist.

This short episode was forceful, giving plenty of food for thought. Dave Mason and Christopher Powell were responsible for light and sound for all three plays. Sets were designed by Bob Gray and Dave Housden, costumes by Christine Powell.

Waltham Forest Arts Council celebrates the birth of William Morris 170 years ago with a presentation of his only play, The Tables Turned.

Global Productions will be performing the play from Friday, April 16 to Sunday, April 18, at 8pm, at the Forest Community Centre. Tickets will only be sold in advance. Call Michael on 020 8527 4690 or Bob on 020 8527 6456.