A Bunch of Amateurs they may be, but that didn’t stop the Lichfield Players from pulling off an impressive performance.
The play, by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman, is mostly set in ‘a barn’ – the rehearsal room of the fictitious Stratford Players.
You would imagine a barn would enjoy the silence of the countryside, not the constant, annoying, irritating, ‘boom boom’ of music emanating from the Garrick’s main theatre next door as it hosted a very loud 80s night.
But the cast bravely battled through the noise as if it wasn’t there.
Directed by Robin Lewitt, the production elicited lots of laughs from the packed audience on Thursday night (2nd May).
The script, though wordy, does feature some comic gems. But of course it’s all down to the actors’ timing to make these moments work – and they did pull this off.
I am full of admiration for the sheer hard work which goes into remembering and delivering the lines. At times the exchanges between the characters were delivered so naturally that you could forget they were reciting script. High praise indeed.
Every cast member made the most of their characters, making them all believable. Ian Davies as American ‘superstar’ Jefferson Steel was brilliantly vainglorious, while Niamh Mahon as Mary Plunkett (star struck with Jefferson) brought a lively, colourful energy to the production (think Su Pollard in Hi-de-Hi!).
Amanda Munden, tackling arguably the most difficult role as ‘show director’ Dorothy, coped admirably with the demanding script.
Though the set remained largely the same throughout, there were some nifty, efficient, subtle changes in the darkness between scenes.
The bed and breakfast set was a little squashed to one side of the stage but the cast coped with the limited space.
If the characters had been forced to use the on-set swear box, it would have been very full indeed. But the expletives were true to character, appropriate in the context and were funny.
The slapstick moments – such as creating a scene where the building’s sprinkler system soaks the actor – were hilarious.
Congratulations to all on and off stage for your hard work.
A Bunch of Amateurs runs until 4th May at the Lichfield Garrick.