Image Credits:-
A huge thank you to The Chameleons as ever for kind permission to use their excellent photos. Screenshots from The Chameleons’ Facebook page and website were taken by me, Allison Symes. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos.
Also a huge thank you to Katrina Lush for kind permission to use her photo of the Slimming World Yes You Can sign placed next to The Chameleons’ Waiting For Gateaux sign at Ritchie Hall recently. Katrina, like me, is a member of the Slimming World group that meets here. This photo went up on the local SW Facebook page and gave us all a huge laugh. I think it is excellent product placement for Slimming World and The Chameleons.
It was a joy to be back at the Ritchie Hall with Janet to see the latest production from The Chameleon Theatre Company. Their latest show, Waiting for Gateaux, intrigued me the moment I heard about it. My first thought was this must be more fun than Waiting for Godot. I was right. I was surprised though to find a story behind the laughs which was often moving. More on that shortly.
Plot
The basic plot can be summarised as:-
Waiting for Gateaux introduces you to a motley collection of weight watchers who are members of Mo-tivators, the worst health and fitness club in the country. It is run from a small hall in the middle of nowhere by Maureen, a ‘big-boned’ fifty-something widow. Her fellow members seemingly have nothing better to do on Club nights than eagerly await deliveries of pizzas and curries from the local take-aways! A secret crush, a family secret and a scheming trickster are all on the menu too.
Slimming World
I also laughed for another reason when I heard about this play. I am a Slimming World member. My group meets at Ritchie Hall which is also the home for The Chameleons. Katrina Lush from the Friday Slimming World meetings took a photo of the Slimming World sign slap bang next to the Chameleons’ sign for Waiting for Gateaux and posted in on the group’s Facebook page. It got more than a few laughs! See what you think of it.
Waiting For Gateaux Cast:-
Jo Fadera – plays Maureen who founded the club. Mo-tivators is named after her.
Patrick Arnold – plays Donald Dack. Note the surname! There is a lovely gag later about Donald having to duck. The character is slimmer of the year having lost 12 stone. He is the only successful dieter here.
Lisa Barfoot – plays Jackie. Has a huge family secret and is loyal to Maureen.
Isla Kirby – plays Raven who also has a huge family secret and is dragged along to the club by Jackie. Raven is argumentative but plays a pivotal role in exposing Sophie’s schemes. Talking of whom…
Millie Lockley-Boyd – plays Sophie. Also has secrets. Is a schemer but will she get her comeuppance at the hands of the Mo-tivators?
Voice of Charles – played by Nick Coleman. Just what is his link with Sophie and does this spell doom for Maureen’s precious club?
Directed – Annette Trenchard.
This was her directing debut for The Chameleon Theatre Group. Congratulations on a job well done!
Review
A sign of a successful play and performance is when you are convinced by the character portrayal. (Same applies to what makes a good book or story funnily enough).
All five actors present on stage were successful here. As the play went on, sympathies deepened for Maureen trying to save her club, you almost willed Maureen and Donald to finally get together as both had sad pasts and were clearly meant for each other, and the character of Sophie was truly horrible, as schemers should be.
I was gripped wanting to see how things unfolded. Not something you’d necessarily expect from a play with a funny title where you’d expect loads of laughs and you’re usually waiting for the next gag. There were plenty of laughs here but there were also revelations about the characters and you could see how their issues would get in the way of genuinely trying to lose weight. The only one this didn’t apply to was Donald who only stayed at the club because he’d fallen for Maureen.
Comfort eating is a very real thing. The play was touching at times because it was clear this was an issue for some characters, even if they didn’t realise it, but you also found out the understandable reasons why. There was a lot of word play, which is a great love of mine, and the 1980s music helped set the scene and mood.
Laughs From the Set Itself
The first laugh of the night came before the actors came on stage. How come? There was a life size cut out of a guy (who is meant to be Donald Dack) before he lost his 12 stone. Let’s just say there were two big round balloons and a long thin one in the middle strategically placed on this cut out! You couldn’t miss it. It wasn’t subtle. It was funny though.
The recipes on the back wall of the set were changed frequently. First one up was for Brussels Sprout Risotto. I know someone who absolutely loathes those vegetables and thought of them immediately. I also thought of a comment from the late Alan Coren who felt pity for Belgium because “even their cabbages are smaller than everyone else’s”!
Another recipe put up later was Maimed by Chocolate. There is a renowned Death by Chocolate cake of course.
But best of the lot was the Vegetarian Surprise, one of Maureen’s recipes. We find out later the surprise, to bolster the flavour, is liver! That won’t be a hit with The Vegetarian Society.
The Plot Thickens
The club then is not great at what it is supposed to be doing. What the characters are getting from it though is friendship. This is why their club matters, especially to Maureen, who would be lost without it.
Then along comes Sophie. She works in television and is looking for clubs like Maureen’s to feature in a new reality show. The club are excited about this. So Sophie comes along to their meeting and cannot believe what she sees. Little exercise is done and the club send out for pizzas, chicken dhansak, and scoff chocolate during their meetings! (I can reassure everyone this does not happen at Slimming World!).
Maureen in her excitement signs what she thinks is a legal document giving permission for the TV reality show to film. Not a bit of it. Sophie is a lying minx. It is a waiver of the legal rights the tenants, Maureen and her club in this case, have over the building. They have evicted themselves.
Sophie is the new owner of the building and is in contact with the Barrett Corporation (led by the voice of Charles, played by Nick Coleman) who want to knock the building down and set up a new leisure club which will, naturally, be expensive. The likes of Maureen and her Mo-tivators would never be welcome at a place like that. And now they are out of the building they meet in, though they had five years to go on their lease.
To say the club members are not happy is an understatement. Then a snow storm hits and Sophie is stranded with the club overnight. Raven is a mechanic and has also disabled Sophie’s posh car to ensure she couldn’t leave before the snow laid heavily. Sophie is supposed to meet Charles the following day to discuss this new leisure club facility and is happily anticipating making millions. This leisure club will be just the start for Sophie.
The club and Sophie argue. Maureen pleads because the club is her life but Sophie is having none of it. They say money talks and that’s all Sophie’s listening to.
Raven manages to steal/”borrow” Sophie’s phone. Raven ensures Sophie doesn’t get the message Charles has rearranged the meeting because of the bad weather. Though Donald rightly points out Sophie could find out when the rearranged meeting will happen later.
Raven also tells the club members Sophie apparently refers to Charles as “Mr Floppy” and we do hear earlier a conversation between Sophie and Charles where it is clear she is doing him favours to get this meeting to get the leisure club built. He refers to her personal touch. Corruption is nothing new.
Eventually Sophie does get to leave but it’s too late to see Charles. I would like to think she was out on her ear there, leaving her with an empty building she can’t sell or rent out because of her actions, but the play ending does not make that clear. It’s the one thing I would have liked to have seen added to the script. I like poetic justice every now and then!
The family secrets were revealed. It turned out Raven had a closer relationship to Jackie than was at first thought but Raven had been aware of this long before Jackie. I was glad Raven didn’t have a problem with it either. It meant she and Jackie could effectively start again with their relationship.
Jackie also has had to contend with an unfaithful husband but the end of the play shows her planning to boot said husband out and use some of her spacious home for the new meeting place for Mo-tivators, ending their dilemma of having nowhere to be. It also helps her good friend, Maureen, to whom she is close.
Donald finally plucks up the courage to ask Maureen out. She refuses but comes back from fetching her coat to invite him over to hers instead.
All’s well that ends well. Now where have I heard that before?
Good show. Glad things worked out well for the Mo-tivators in the end.
Excellent performances then with characters which gained the audience’s sympathies (bar the character of Sophie though I hope the actor there is encouraged by the thought she did such a good job here nobody would want that character to do well!).
Next Production
The Chameleon Theatre Group will be staging Bleak Expectations, a comedy written by Mark Evans, from 25th to 27th July 2024. Ticket prices are £14.00 for adults and £9.50 for children, though the ticket price does include a delicious ploughman’s supper. Having been at shows before where The Chameleons do this, I can vouch for that supper!
There was a radio show called Bleak Expectations which sent up Charles Dickens and his works wonderfully some time back. From the blurb on the screenshot below, this play is based on that very funny show so this will be a good laugh.
Conclusion
Chandler’s Ford is blessed to have an excellent local theatre company in its midst. Over the years I’ve seen a mixture of comedies, tragedies, and pantomimes and The Chameleons have put on wonderful performances for all of them.
Am also pleased to say The Chameleons are continuing to support the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance, which gets no government funding, via the raffles, the bar, a donation bucket etc. So, as well as having an enjoyable night out thanks to our theatre company, you can support an excellent cause at the same time. What’s not to like about that?
See you at the next show.
Related Posts:-
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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