Image Credits:-
Images kindly supplied by The Chameleon Theatre Group. Many thanks to them. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images. Two images from the Chandler’s Ford Today archives.
It was lovely to join Janet at Ritchie Hall to see Spring Trio, the latest production from The Chameleon Theatre Group, on 27th April. (This ran until 29th April). Spring Trio lives up to its name as the audience was presented with three plays, one of which was written by Matthew Meehan from the Chameleons. The plays were a mixture of comedy and drama. There were interesting twists too. All three plays made great use of simple sets and props.
Searching by Matthew Meehan
This was also directed by Matthew Meehan with Annette Trenchard as Production Assistant. The setting was in The World’s Fair Hotel, Anywhere, UK, and revolved around Vincent Welby, a renowned medium.
Martha and Alison come on first, only one is keen to see Vincent. Alison is sceptical and had brilliant scathing lines. Then in comes Sally who is friendly to them. Martha doesn’t mind but it is clear Alison just wants to get out of there and is in no mood to be friendly. We see Eden, Vincent’s assistant, come on to tell the audience the show would start soon but she doesn’t even look at Martha and Alison. Eden disappears behind the curtain. Jim followed by Rick then comes into the seating area for Vincent’s clients.
When Vincent begins the show, Jim appears to have a genuine experience of Vincent getting through to someone “on the other side”. Note the word “appears”. Rick is desperate for any news of his missing brother but we discover he was contacted by Eden the day after the story of the missing brother went out on the local news. Has someone done their homework? Is there a con going on or can Vincent genuinely help Rick?
There were many laugh out loud lines in Searching and a twist at the end which I can’t reveal without giving the story away. Fans of Ghosts and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) would probably have picked up on the twist. (I am a fan of these and yes I did guess the twist but it was the perfect ending to the story).
Excellently performed, very funny, and what I especially enjoyed was thinking one moment Vincent has to be a fraud, then something else crops up with makes you think again, and then again maybe not.
Searching also fulfils the first “rule” of comedic writing. It is never funny for the characters. It is for the audience to decide that, always, whether they’re watching a play, a TV comedy, or reading a funny story. Think of the classic funnies you like – Blackadder Goes Forth is a fabulous example. Definitely not funny for the characters.
Cast was:-
Martha – Lizzie HardenAlison – Clare Britton
Sally – Fiona Winchester
Eden – Olya Chamberlain
Jim – Patrick Arnold
Rick – Matthew Meehan
I suspect Clare Britton loved giving her lines as the “snarky” Alison. I know I would’ve done.
When I create a character and put words into their mouths, I am “getting into their heads”. I need to do that to be able to write them convincingly enough to hook readers. I love giving my characters lines. Those lines are coming out of the situation I’ve put them in and the type of character I’ve created. I love setting my pompous characters up for a fall for example. Always good for a laugh. Just not for them, that’s all.
Nobody said a writer had to be nice, okay? We often can’t be to our characters, so there.
Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down by Richard Cameron
This second play was so different in mood and directed by Lorraine Biddlecombe with Kayleigh Underwood as Production Assistant. It was the longest of the three plays. The story revolves around three women who do not know at the start they are linked to one (unspeakable) man and a past tragedy, but circumstances lead to their paths crossing. And they find out. Boy, do they find out. Again, I can’t reveal the “end result”.
What I will say is if I wore hats, I’d take them off to the three ladies who starred here. The acting was intense (as is the story line). How long it took them to learn their lines, I wouldn’t care to guess, and the audience absolutely had to find out what happened to these three. I was rooting for the one man who linked them to get his “comeuppance”. The funny thing is he was only referred to – a lot – and one of the ladies showed her response to him as if he was on the stage with her. That was frighteningly convincing.
The tragic event is the death of a “simple” lad who fell to his death pursued by bullies many years ago. Bullies seems too light a term to use but given CFT is a family friendly website, it’s best left there but you get the idea. When the play moved on after the tragic reveal, you had to focus hard to ensure you didn’t miss anything (a good sign) and events unfurled more rapidly.
Later, the lead bully gets one of the women pregnant (he dumps her; she knew he wouldn’t want to know and realised she was better off on her own especially since her parents’ attitude to the situation was better than she thought it would be; she has a son, the son doesn’t find out who his dad is until much later on in the play).
The bully marries another woman (and is abusive), and the third lady? She was the friend of the lad who fell. She too was bullied at the time by this lead bully and his pals and is haunted by the tragedy.
The performance of an abused wife was harrowingly done. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who wanted to yell at the wife to just get away. This is a good sign. To be engaged with the characters like that is a sign of great writing. I must admit I did think the first part of the play was too long. I felt the tragic reveal could have happened sooner but after that you didn’t dare miss anything.
Cast was:-
Lynette – Jenni Prior (friend of tragic victim)Ruby – Liz Finbow (single mum)
Jodie – Emily Whittingham (abused wife)
Carl – Woody Lockley-Boyd (son of single mum and the lead bully).
Wonderfully powerful performances by all. Carl came across well as the lad who finds out late who his dad was and is resentful at Mum, Ruby, but you see exactly why she took the actions she did – to go it alone. She was right too.
This is where sometimes you want a follow-on story where the son comes to realise his mother was right but, as in life, loose ends are not always tied up in writing. It is another good sign though if you can envisage the characters carrying on with “life” after the play has finished. It shows the writer has written them well enough to convince you.
This was a play that went straight to the emotions – punch to the gut time. I don’t know if the title was inspired by the Elvis Costello song of the same name. Sometimes titles can inspire other works.
The behind the scenes crew were:-
Stage Manager – Andrew Lockley-Boyd
Lighting – Izzy Finbow
Sound – Dave Wilkins
Front of House Manager – Marilyn Dunbar
Bar – Roger Hester and Gillian Wilkes
Murder in Little Grimley by David Tristram
The mood switches back to comedy for the last play which was directed by Sheila Hardiman with Glen Partridge as Production Assistant. The Chameleons have been to Little Grimley before. (Lockdown in Little Grimley by the same author). It was great to be back there to see the world’s most hapless amateur theatre company in action (or attempted action) once more.
Oh and I should add acting “badly” deliberately is a skill in and of itself. Les Dawson had to be able to play the piano properly to be able to play it wrongly. You know the rules before you break them. Same applies here. So all credit to The Chameleons here.
This time our heroes decide they’re going to stage a murder mystery. They’ve got the fake blood and the retractable toy dagger from the local joke shop which is run by a woman nobody gets on with. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, how about having your director facing a charge of murder for real? Victim – the joke shop owner. Last person to see her alive – Gordon, the director. Also seen burning his clothes (because he said the fake blood didn’t wash out) – Gordon, the director. Not looking good is it? Will the Little Grimley group ever get to stage their murder mystery?
Cast was:-
Gordon – Geoff Dodsworth
Margaret – Glen Partridge
Bernard – Stuart Wineberg
Joyce – Siân Hayden
Sam Pemberton – Nick Coleman
What is nice about the Little Grimley plays is you get to know more about the characters in each play. This makes the characters seem more real. So we still have bossy Gordon, Margaret is still hoity-toity (but clearly the best actor among them and knows it too), Joyce still can’t act (she struggles with two lines Gordon gives her to his despair), and Bernard is the one to spot Gordon is much more stressed than normal and knows this isn’t just due to Joyce’s acting inability. Bernard is the one to eventually get to what is behind this. Oh and he still has a banana addiction. Only in Little Grimley could that happen.
There is a great twist which proved Joyce has hidden depths and there was a reason, besides Joyce, for Gordon being so tense with the company. Nick Coleman comes on as Sam Pemberton, the police officer, who tells Gordon things aren’t looking good for him and reveals the twist later.
How it pans out was great fun to find out. Did I guess how here? No. I was thinking along the lines the joke shop owner wasn’t really dead, this was a set up somehow, but then got stymied by the thought of who would want to do that to Gordon. I would have understood it more if it was done to the hoity-toity character of Margaret! Also the motive stumped me. The joke shop owner may have been a pain to all and sundry but you just walk away, right?
I hope there are more Little Grimley plays. They’re fun. I don’t know how difficult it is for actors to play actors but it was well done.
Conclusion and Next Production
It was a wonderful evening of entertainment. I laughed, I wanted a happy ending for that abusive wife (I could’ve cried for her many times as the story went on), I laughed again. Three great plays though the middle one was kind of the odd one out in terms of mood but boy did it pack a punch.
The next production from the Chameleons will be Lilies on the Land by The Lions Part and will run from 27th to 29th July 2023. This is based on the real life stories from the Womens’ Land Army so again there will be a change in mood and tempo again here. Something to look forward to this summer. Be sure to book early and you can book through their website – see www.chameleontheatre.co.uk for more on that.
Related Posts:-
Part 3 – The Chameleons Say Hello…to their Favourite Performances
April Trio of Plays – The Chameleons – Review by Allison Symes
Read interviews with Chandler’s Ford writer Allison Symes: Part 1 and Part 2.
Read blog posts by Allison Symes published on Chandler’s Ford Today.
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Thanks for the review. Chameleons were struck twice by ill health during the rehearsal period, making last minute changes necessary. Glen Partridge stepped into the role of Margaret halfway through with advantage of knowing many of the lines as she had been production assistant.
However, Emily playing Jodie was very much a last minute illness and Gillian Wilkins stepped in to the part. Gillian did a wonderful job, even managing to learn some of the lines. Although she had a script on stage, I hardly noticed it.
Many thanks for the update, Sheila. I don’t know how long it takes people to learn lines when they have the “normal” amount of time in which to do so. I do know I can’t do it! To learn lines at short notice is especially remarkable.
Well done to everyone. (And a swift return to good health too for those who had to stand down).
What an excellent review, Allison. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. They have handled these plays so magnificently. These plays were so thought-provoking, and the Chameleons keep challenging themselves each time and they have performed such a rich variety of plays over the years. It’s great to see new members as well. The Chameleons are a gem in our community.
Thanks, Janet. It was a great evening.