Pat Yesmin as Miss Maple in ‘Dealth by Fatal Murder’ 2017
2017
In the spring 2017, we put on Three’s a Crowd, a collection of one act plays. It was an opportunity for people who wanted to have a go at directing. Linda Wilmot directed a hilarious play about a desert island. Keith Lambert’s was about misunderstandings using mobile phones and Yvonne Helin Hobbs directed a play centred round a Welsh family dinner. However, I did front of house and also helped on the bar at the Community Centre. The wine was awful – James Day had bought the cheapest he could find in the interest of maximising profit; after one glass most of the audience went across the road to the pub instead!
Poster for the play ‘3’s A Crowd’
In March, we had a play reading of the third of Peter Gordon’s Inspector Pratt comedy spoofs, Death by Fatal Murder. Liz Mac was going to direct. Much to my amazement, I was cast as Miss Maple, a part that had previously been performed by Pippa West to great acclaim. Big shoes to occupy. This would be our summer production, and we were able to put it on in the lovely garden at Teign Lawn.
Cast in the play ‘Death by Fatal Murder’ 2017
Kym Dyer and Tom Churchward in the Play ‘Death by Fatal Murder’ 2017
Liz Mac and I also started work on another pantomime, based on Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold. Richard and John once again provided musical input. The working title was Das Teigngold but we changed it to The Treasure of the Teign later in case our potential audience thought it too highbrow!
Poster for the play ‘Treasure of the Teign’ 2018
The AGM in April confirmed Roger Hunt as chairman, Steve Allen as Treasurer and James Day as secretary.
The weather was not good in May when we performed the play but although cold it stayed fairly dry. Liz Mac had to stand in for Megan as the Welsh clairvoyant on the first night. Megan had a sore throat and no voice. It is so interesting how differently audiences react on different nights; some are raucous, some are quiet, some lines get a massive laugh one night and barely a titter on another.
We did a repeat performance at the Village Festival in June. I had an embarrassing moment here when I froze upon entry and had to madly adlib. I remember saying to Tom, the police constable, ‘I’m afraid, I have completely forgotten what I was going to say.’
Quick as a flash he replied, ‘ Oh dear, Miss Maple. Do you mean you’ve lost the plot?’
In November, the Players put on a terrific performance of One Man Two Guvnors a play by Richard Bean an English adaptation of Servant of Two Masters a 1743 commedia dell’arte comedy by Carlo Goldoni. This had been a huge hit on Broadway launching James Corden’s acting career. Our own James Day excelled in the role of Frances Henshall and a great time was had by all – including plenty of audience participation and trays flying and water being sprayed around liberally.
Poster for the Play ‘One Man Two Guvnors’ 2017
Cast from the Play ‘One Man Two Guvnors’ 2017
Liz Mac, who was the prompt, was in despair as the cast meandered round the script. But the audience all thoroughly enjoyed it. It was performed up at Humber Barn, now beautifully fitted out as a venue for all kinds of events. A far cry from those drafty productions we had done up there before! I wasn’t in this play, but I did help out with front of house and, remembering how cold it had always been at previous shows in the Barn, I wore my warmest sweater and thermal vest. But it was roasting hot because the wood-burning stove was going full pelt!
2018
Cast of the play ‘The Melo Drama’ 2018
At the beginning of 2018 we turned our minds to one act plays again. This was another opportunity for people to try their hand at directing. Roger Gallagher directed some of us in an act from a longer play, Melodrama by John Bartlett. It was the dress rehearsal of a melodrama taking place on a Royal Naval ship, concerning long lost sons and pirate attacks. My part was Captain Heartyoak and I had to die after being shot by the pirate! This was tricky with my arthritic hip! But it was enormous fun. John Patton was playing our director, and the action stopped from time to time as the needy cast asked for reassurance from him. James Day directed a spoof spy play with Liz Mac, John Besant and Derek Greatorex. And I think there was another one too. But as we were up first, we generally repaired to the pub when we were done and didn’t stay to watch. Also, as each play was rehearsed separately we didn’t get to see them in rehearsal
Players Poster for first production of the play ‘Party Piece’. Liz Macnamara originally took the role of Mrs Hinson and later directed Pat Yesin as the same when it was produced again in 2018.
Later on that year, Liz Mac directed us in Party Piece, a play which the players had done before and in which she had played the harridan, Mrs Hinson. She cast me in this role, and I was quite nervous about following in her footsteps, but she reassured me that I was just fine! We performed this in August in the garden at Teign Lawn, now renamed Ciao Nan. We didn’t have very long to prepare – I think about six weeks – and it was quite a complicated plot, involving adjoining gardens. As usual Peter and Marilyn brought it to life with a brilliant set. I thoroughly enjoyed playing a cantankerous old lady, oversharing with my neighbours as I gate-crashed their barbecue. Tom Churchward, fearless as ever, dressed up in a party frock for the barbecue scene while Kym, as his stressed wife, wore dinner jacket and white tie. They were supposed to be Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
Cast in the play ‘Party Piece’
Jane Gallagher, Roger Gallagher and Pat Yesin in a scene from the Play ‘Party Piece’ 2018.
All the while, Liz Mac and I continued to work on writing the panto and we finally got it into rehearsal late in 2018.The inspiration for this panto was Richard Wagner’s Das Rhinegold and as Ken Sunshine was the local Wagner expert, I showed him our script asking for his opinion. His only comment, ‘Brunnhilde is spelled with two n’s and an umlaut,’ which we gleefully worked in to the dialogue whenever possible – two hens and an omelette etc.
Cast from the play ‘Treasure of the Teign’ 2018
We performed the panto in December 2018 in the Village Hall. Our Dame, Flosshilde, was James Day and he hammed it up like anything. He was puzzled about the notion of basing a pantomime on a Wagner opera. A bit of a purist as regards pantos, he thought they should only be based on traditional stories, such as Aladdin or Cinderella. He has since started his own group exclusively for pantomimes. Pippa West stole the show appearing at random times as a Wagnerian soprano complete with Viking horns, bursting into loud whoops and had to be gently led off stage.
Cast in the play ‘Treasure of the Teign ‘2018
Our villains were Steve Allen as the dwarf Trumpner and Tony Cottle as local MP Theresa May Knott. And there were seductive Teign maidens and Valkyries. Dear Roger Hunt, who was desperate to be in the show despite his illness was one of our Hookers, weaving the web of destiny. There were four of us and we occupied a space by the sound desk throughout the performance, from time to time mounting the stage to explain the story, dressed in black robes and grey wigs.
At one point, Roger managed to drop his script which hit one of the plugs under the lighting and sound desk plunging the village hall into darkness! Confusion reigned until we discovered what had happened! Richard and John worked their usual magic with the music, including writing several songs especially for us. Ken Sunshine’s verdict afterwards: ‘Brilliant. I’m amazed how much real Wagner you managed to work in.’
Cast in the play ‘Treasure of the Teign’ 2018
This article highlights Pat’s reminiscences from 2016 – 2018
and will be continued in Part five – starting in 2019 with an evening of ‘One Act Plays’, so watch out for the next article.
This article was assembled by Dawn Rogers and the Bishopsteignton Heritage Hub team.