Reviews of our Shows

Review of Murder in Play by Simon Brett

Bawtry Phoenix Theatre

Murder in Play

Directed by Rupert Atkinson

21 May 2024

I have to confess that I have never seen this play, but it is certainly one to watch out for in the future.

As the title suggests this is a play within a play and the action starts actually during the rehearsal for the play, Murder at Priorswell Manor when we see Lady Cholmondley, Lady Virginia Cholmondley Major Rodney Pirbright, Triggs and Mr Papadopoulos all onstage talking.

I have to say my initial thoughts were this was a play with “not so good actors” taking part, the lines were a little dead pan and appeared to be a little strained as the actors weren’t too sure of them.

Never fear, however as this was quickly brought round when Boris Smolensky called to the actors to give them notes on their performances, we could see then this was a rehearsal by the “professional” actors.

As the action unfolded, we found out that Lady Cholmondley, played by Renee Savage was the wife of Boris, Renee was played effortlessly by Sue Stevenson and Boris was played by Chris Austin.

Boris, we found out likes to have his little indiscretions with any young actresses he works with, and this was true in this piece with Lady Virginia Cholmondley, played by Ginette Vincent who in turn was played by Hannah Laszkowicz and Hannah ensured we all knew her acting skills were top class.

Major Pirbright, played by Tim Fermor is also the love interest of Lady Virginia, Tim in turn was played by Andy Kemp who was superb, especially when Boris gives him further directions regarding his shell shock which he got from the war. Boris tells him to lift his voice a little higher which he did with hilarious consequences.

Triggs was the Lady Cholmondley’s maid, who had very few lines but was able to give some very funny facial expressions during the scenes.

Mr Papadopoulos, played by Harrison Bracewell, is an old has been actor who relates various stories from his acting career and manages to play much younger characters by wearing an “unnoticeable wig!” , Graham Hadley played the part of Harrison and was able to entertain the audience, but not his fellow actors, throughout the entire piece and when he was finally locked in the cupboard I think they all gave a sigh of relief.

Mrs Puttock is the housekeeper to Lady C, again Boris gives out his directions and asks her to be a little older, when Mrs Puttock, played by Christa D’Amato enters again she is a version of Julie Walters and her two soups sketch, hilarious. Mrs P/Christa was played by Trudy Panting, who again was able to deliver her lines with ease.

The last character is that of Pat, only one name, and is the stage manager, Pat was played by Catherine Minnis, who ends up playing one of the characters after the “murder” has taken place, again we have another actor who is able to convince us, the audience, they are a little wooden on stage.

As the action takes place there is a murder, but who was murdered and indeed who was the murderer? I shall leave that piece of information for you, the reader to find out for yourself by going and watching this extremely funny play.

Everyone involved in this must be congratulated on their excellent performances, not playing one but two characters, one of them not too good either. Congratulations also must go to Rupert Atkinson who directed this exceptionally funny piece and also to Men in Sheds for another excellent set.

Review by NODA North East Councillor Les Smith

Review of Grease by The Bawtry Phoenix Young Players

It is always good to see a “House Full” sign outside a theatre and it is even better when the performers are all youngsters, and this is exactly what happened in Bawtry this week when Bawtry Phoenix Players Young Players performed Grease.

This society is going from strength to strength and is testament to the committee members who all work so hard to encourage the younger members to join and perform on stage.

Due to the amount of talent this society has the female characters were shared between two sets of girls, however the male characters were performed by the same young lads at each performance.

I was pleased to see Team Lightening when I attended on Thursday evening, and here we had Beth Stroughair in the role of Sandy, Beth has a beautiful voice and was able to put it to good use especially in her song, Hopelessly Devote to You, you could hear a pin drop and it was obvious the audience loved it. Beth had a great relationship with Leo Cotton who played Danny and he was able to bring everything out of this part, they proved to be a great force in their duet You’re The One That I Want with the rest of the company.

One of the characters in this piece is that of Rizzo which is multi-faceted and therefore needs a strong actor to be able to pull it off, step in Lola Gill who was able to play this smouldering character and bring it to life. When she sang her song, which is a skit at Sandy, Look At Me I’m Sandy Dee she was perfect. Again, Lola was able to work so well with Thomas Wood who played Kenickie and it was good to see Thomas in a part totally different to the last one he played, Capt. Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, he was able to prove just how versatile he is.

One of the bubbly characters in this piece is of course Frenchy and Jasmine Maw was able to bring this character to life with ease, never going over the top which is so easy to do with something like this part.

Also being able to prove themselves were Freya Keenlyside as Jan and Tia French as Marty, both pulling out all the stops to get the best out of these parts and it was exactly the same with the parts of Patty, Miss Lynch and Cha Cha which were in the capable hands and voices of Millie Rhodes, Lucy Thiede and Molly Rowlinson respectively.

In Ryedale High’s dance we see Vince Fontaine who is quite a sleezy character who uses his work to hit on the girls in the school, Eloise Firth was perfect in this part and was able to show Vince’s “charm” and the right amount of sleeziness to make it work. In the same scene we see Jonny Casino who is the singer at the dance, again Alex Anderson was brilliant in the part and has a lovely voice to make it work.

When Frenchy has a dream about her beauty school, which we all know she has just dropped out of, we see the female Angels who together with Teen Angel deliver the song Beauty School Drop Out, I’m not sure how old Harrison Smith is but he was excellent as Teen Angel, his voice fitted superbly the song and his charm made everyone in the audience love him.

The other female character in this piece is Blanch Hodel and it was in the more than capable hands of Eliza Simpson.

The other young lads in this piece were played expertly by Oliver Wood as Doody, James Bilby as Roger, Will Tempest as Sonny and Levi Moyes as Eugene throughout the run.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this production especially Alan Cropley as Musical Director, Melissa Hodson as Choreographer and Jonah Thompson as Director and Leader. These were also ably assisted by Nell Stroughair as Asst. Director, Emma Spencer as Asst. MD and Barbara Dale and Beverley Daines as Co Producers.

Reviewed by NODA North East Councillor Les Smith