Village Players

Many thanks to all our audiences, for supporting us so well. What would we do without you all?

Thanks also to the many of you who voice your feelings and comment on the shows as you leave. Good or bad your opinions are valuable to us for making improvements where they are needed for future productions.

If you decide to go to our 'Past Productions' page, you can access some of the pictures taken during various shows.

"THE LOVELACE LEGACY" May 2008

A lovely play, gentle humour, and a little pathos, was served up last week by The Village Players at Pilning Village Hall. "The Lovelace Legacy” by Jim Sperinck was a joy. Young Aunt Edie (Georgina Hilton) left her cottage to Peter (Ian Stevens) and Sally (Lindsey Page), but she continued to haunt it (her ghost played by Pat Woodward-nice to see you back, Pat). The cottage is falling apart, but the vase, central to the story, mysteriously keeps moving and not even the disasters surrounding local yokel Thomas Smithers, and his twin brother Roger (both by Mike McDonald) as he bodges the repairs account for this. Peter, meanwhile, fed up with the disruptions scarpers with his publisher Olivia (Judy Malone), With excellent lighting effects flashbacks to the past when Aunt Edie and her boyfriend Walter (Morton Bray-Warner) lived there were smoothly blended in with the present time. Sadly Walter goes off to war and the dreaded fateful telegram arrives. The Vicar’s wife Imogen (Lyn Waterhouse) brings news that a motorway is going to run through the cottage, and the local estate agent Miss Turpitt (Julie Padbury) turns up to value the property. But all is not lost, a cache of valuables is discovered under the hole in the kitchen floor, stashed there by an infamous highwayman, and Jennifer Thoroughgood (Carol Woodhouse) reprieves the cottage as it is a National Treasure, at which point Walter appears at the door and Aunt Edie’s ghost leaves clutching the vase which all the time contained the telegram. Everyone lives happily ever after!

Produced by Hilda Dunn and stage managed by Julie Tyzack this was a play that was enjoyable from start to finish. Roy Edwardes

A classic village panto with all the right ingredients: a cosy venue, enthusiastic performances, a few fluffed lines, wobbly sets and dodgy lighting. A production where the audience are as much a part of the production as the pantomime itself. It was charming, heart-warming and essentially English. It is not to be missed if you live near Pilning. An excellent script by Michael Buchanan-Smart; and with sound directing from Carol Woodhouse, meant the story skilfully combined aspects of the original musical starring Judy Garland with all the musts of a pantomime. There were goodies, baddies, song and dance in abundance, many jokes, audience participation and as much slapstick humour as possible. Karin Latham played it straight as a sort of sensible head-girl type of Dorothy ably assisted with a show stealing performance by Abigail Humphries as Toto the dog. Karin combined well with Lindsey Page as Prince Boz, especially in their duets. David Gardener, David Cummings and Charlie Brigden entertained as a loveable trio of village comics playing the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and The Cowardly Lion with as much adlibbing and clowning as they could get away with. Judy Malone as the Wicked Witch had stage presence, a strong voice and good movement: all the requirements for the baddie, and her two assistants Georgina Hilton and Hope Riches were full of youthful energy and cheek. Andy MacGillivray as the daft dame and the prompt Pat Woodward, worked well as a double-act, while the real stars of the show (the children) melted the heart or added unexpected humour with every clunky scene change.

In particular The Roadies and The Poppies were hugely enjoyable, along with the Munchkins who created an eccentric chorus for many of the big numbers. With songs like "Greased Lightening", "Everything I Do", "Get Me To The Church On Time" and the iconic "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", this Wizard Of Oz Couldn’t fail. And it didn’t. The show continues tonight and tomorrow at 7.30pm. Harry Mottram

You were brilliant. Thank you for a lovely evenings entertainment. You did exactly what the audience came to see, a performance that YOU all enjoyed giving, and it showed.It is a delight to watch young people doing with enthusiasm what the “old hands” have asked of them. I loved the costumes, the scenery was practical and worked beautifully, the lighting was very good – only that box of whizzbang wires called the sound system threw a wobbly.The songs went well – it’s not easy singing to an unforgiving tape.

Great to see the way you got the audience on your side, and don’t ask me why, but for some reason the “Yellow brick roadies” won the audience every time they appeared – and only a bit of a song to learn!

Loved all the witches, all the Goodies, and those familiar thighs (!) the poppies and the Munchkins. As for Wotchit and Witchit, it was heartwarming to see two teenagers engrossed in their parts and performing without a care for what their peers might think – wonderful stuff. Scarecrow, Tinman and Cowardly Lion - Dorothy and that super Toto, a joy to hear and see you. As for the direction – Carol, you made it all work. Well done. And one last word to all the young people. You are prepared to get up on a stage, learn lines, do as you are directed, and entertain an audience. You may not realise it at the moment, but you are doing yourselves a power of good for your future careers, whatever they may be. You can proudly stick on your CV’s your ability to communicate with others. Have I missed you out? Don’t fret, this year we all enjoyed your part of the show. Keep it up! Roy Edwardes

Re: Your Music Hall entertainment. Tuesday June 17th 2008On Tuesday last you again gave our clients, members of the committee and residents of the village a very enjoyable evening of entertainment. You didn’t play any parts; you were yourselves, warm friendly people, just wonderful caring members of our society. You enriched all present by your efforts and I hope you felt truly rewarded by the audience response. You definitely left all of us with a smile on our faces.We hope to be invited to another evening in the future and our members are happy to contribute to any of your incidental expenses. All the cast performed magnificently but It was great to see Pat Woodward perform word perfect and looking so much better. Thanking you all again for a wonderful evening, Leonard Sacs would have been proud of you. Yours sincerely, Robert C. Griffin, Secretary & Trustee.

Regarding the above I too would like to add my grateful thanks to all who took part.We were very lucky to have Joyce Forse along to play live for us on Julie Padbury's keyboard. We also had George Simmonds, who you may remember was with us for some of our pantomimes. He played The Huntsman in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" some years ago and more recently played Dame in pantomime for us. The rest of the cast will be well-known to you all ( Hilda, Carol, Lindsey, Julie Padbury, Denise and Andy) with two of our more recent new members ( Hayleigh and Judy) taking part. Last but not least our very own Julie Tyzack who kept us all in order as The Master of Ceremonies, and gave us a song too on this occasion, and lastly myself, which gave us a cast of twelve. Thanks again to you all for your hard and dedicated work! The show was just great and I am so proud of everyone who took part and gave of their very best. Thank you all! Love Pat x

'TREADING THE BOARDS LEFT ME WALKING ON AIR' Article written by Judith Malone( who played our witch) for the Western Daily Press

When I was very young, all that I wanted to do was to go on the stage, and I rather fancied myself as I danced on table tops, regaling unfortunate parents of my friends with renditions of The Trolley Song, by Judy Garland. Another trick was convincing my companions I was the queen of the fairies and could fly by jumping off the window sill.
They seemed to accept it, too - this possibly because I really believed it myself. Obviously something of a show-off in those days, one of my main missions in life was to make my classmates laugh, incurring the wrath of various teachers who didn't appreciate my comic turns.
However, the self-conscious individual lurking beneath this bravado surfaced with a vengeance in my teenage years, and I particularly dreaded reading aloud in front of our English class. Then one day we were asked instead to enact a piece from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.
Playing the part of Malvolio in a hilarious scene about yellow stockings and cross-garters, the nerves disappeared as I lost myself in the part of the strait-laced servant. Hi-diddle-dee-de, an actor's life for me!

Fast-forward several decades, and life moved on, taking its twists and turns, without my ever treading the boards again - until, that is, I joined Pilning's Village Players for this year's The Wizard of Oz Panto! As a "new girl", it was thanks to an act of generosity from another member of the company that I was given the part of the Wicked Witch of the West. Naturally, there were numerous comments from friends and colleagues claiming I didn't need make-up (or a personality change) - but I'm saying nothing. I've loved every minute with this group of all ages, personalities and talents. As Evil Eva, I had full rein to be as nasty as possible - which was extremely enjoyable. And I was especially lucky with Eva's constant companions - her gorgeous teenage witches and witchlets, with younger children as her mischievous winged monkeys. Everyone has been very supportive of each other, and I was far from word-perfect, to the point that every time there was an unexpected pause in proceedings, I assumed I had missed my cue.
Such was my pessimism that, on one occasion, when I had just ordered Dorothy's dog Toto to be boiled in my cauldron, I heard the prompt say "run, Toto, run!" and, with a knee-jerk reaction, I shouted it out myself, loud and clear. The audience may have been a little bemused, but it certainly had some of the cast laughing.

THE local critic Roy Edwardes wrote a message to the panto's young people saying, in effect, that all the processes of performing on the stage would fit them for life generally. I couldn't agree more, but I also think that, at any age, being part of a drama company like this - whatever your role - can be equally life-enhancing. So, today the Village Players, tomorrow the world? Broadway and The Trolley Song? Probably not. But I'm not complaining. I'm simply delighted to be where I am.

Dear Players, Well done, all of you. What a good job you made of this play. For once I am unable to say something like “Joe Bloggs stole the show” because this really was a team effort. You all did your bit, and Pat had hardly anything to do in her prompters den.

This also saves me from picking out individual performances for praise, so what can I offer as criticism? As someone “audibly challenged” I did find the quality of the sound equipment varied a bit. In the first act I had difficulty with clarity, then it improved until the last scene when it began to ‘over carry’ voices. However, a bit of tweaking might cure that. I realise the Inspector was suffering a cold (get well soon) and this didn’t help in following some of the plot, but the audience frequently reacted to it so it must be me! (I at long long last get sorted out with a digital hearing aid this week – a week too late in this case) Talking of cases you all upheld the best traditions of “The show must go on” when a hefty slam of the door brought the book case slowly crashing to the floor. Earn yourselves £250 by sending the clip to “You’ve been framed”! This will also boost your set designers to see their excellent set on TV. I enjoyed it all, set, good continuity, the choice of music, costumes, lighting, special effects (brilliant thunderstorm) and, above all, The Play and The Players. Good Luck on the last night and Well Done. Roy Edwardes

Someone sent a rocket into space, and it came back sprinkled with stardust which moulded itself into THE VILLAGE PLAYERS What a SPLENDID SHOW, I did enjoy it.

Let's take a look at it. If there were special stars they were the little ones just loving being on stage and not afraid of "looking silly". Brilliant to watch them. They had the backing of the seasoned members of the cast, Dame Gladys with her one liners and overacting skills, Tweedle Dee, the perfect companion for a star of tomorrow, Tweedle DUM. He was such fun to watch as he LIVED everything going on around him The Alice's, 3 generations, beautifully played by Nikki, aided by a sweet youngster, Abigail, and abetted by Old Alice (oh, come on!) performing her swansong (We shall miss you, Sue)

Prince Valentino had his moments, like the sword fight, but needed to swash his buckle a little more at other times, and Billy needed to strut his stuff a bit more too. Ernest Compost was a hoot, what a great accent, every word crystal clear, and the same goes for Princess Incontinenta who carried off her "petulant child" role to perfection.

The Queen of Hearts, well, she looked fearsome, she will terrorise dozens of kids at the matinee, and she ruled the stage with her presence. (One tip from Pat - wear black tights Carol, there was a little bit of you showing that wasn't fearsome!) Wasn't the White Rabbit a good scene setter? Yes, very good, nice and bouncy and tied it all together. I Loved the Mad Hatter's Tea Party ﷓ all of you, but a pity the dormouse's mask muffled everything she said﷓ and, surely the Mad Hatter's price tag is Half a Guinea (10/6d), it's on the programme picture. Perhaps it's the deliberate mistake for old duffers like me to spot. I know I'm getting on a bit, glasses, hearing aid and all that, and please correct me if I'm wrong. But I distinctly heard Alice refer to the Cheshire Cat as "HE". A "HE" is definitely not what the Cheshire Cat is, ME﷓ WOW!!! So there we go for another year. If I haven't mentioned you, my apologies, but you are still one of those bits of stardust making the whole show sparkle.

‘Alice in Wonderland’
Puns and appalling alliterations abounded in this excursion into Wonderland, being a departure from a December production, perhaps more enjoyable because it was this side of Christmas.
Some good one liners: ‘Having a beauty sleep - gone for a few weeks then?’ and some terrible jokes ‘What do you call a fly with no wings: a walk’, set the scene for the evening’s entertainment.
Julie Padbury was able to use her experience in a different type of role as the White Rabbit, getting the show moving and wearing an excellent costume.
The Second Principal Girl, Abbey Padbury, gave a confident and amusing debut as Princess Incontinenta.
Individual comic items blended well with a variety of numbers from different musicals. Becca Plumley as the Cheshire Cat gave a fine performance with an outstanding costume and face make-up.
An interesting "Blind Date" sketch demonstrated Carol Woodhouse’s ability and versatility in taking on two characters, namely Cilla Black and also the (baddy) Queen of Hearts.
Some imaginative and well executed choreography was in evidence, particularly in the Youth Club dance number. In ‘Bring it All Back’ the youngsters were obviously enjoying their contribution and demonstrated it proudly. The ‘Fantasia’ number was also good in terms of choreography and there were some very effective masks.
Competent performances of duets were also in evidence from Alice (Nikki Tyzack) and Prince Valentino (Lyn Waterhouse). Alice looked very much the part as the traditional girl adventuring in wonderland.
Tweedles Dum (Robbie Cecere) and Dee (Lindsey Thomas) were excellently portrayed, despite the differences in physical size. Dum (making his debut) was a very good foil to Dee.
Pat Woodward (Dame Gladys) is always ready to do her bit and her rendition of ‘Copa Cabana’ was very good, especially visually, as were her other extravavagant ‘Dame’ outfits.
‘Anything You Can Do’ was also well performed by Alice and the Tweedles.
Considering the limited resources, facilities and space, this was a very respectable production and a good atmosphre was acheived.
I was reminded once again of the village production in ‘Cider With Rosie’ - the simplicity and charm of this wholesome entertainment being a refreshing contrast from some of today’s television entertainment. Alan Pickard. Thornbury Gazette.