Mirth lightens midwinters
AS the world turns and brings us a mixture of sunshine and snow, good news and bad we now turn from looking at our mysteries for the dark evenings, to the times when we’ve brought mirth to your midwinter.
Comedies are often the tonic to the short days and long nights and the last three seasons have proved how varied and popular they are whilst also offering us look backs to pockets of history.
Three years ago we presented Willy Russell’s One for the Road. It takes place over one evening as upwardly mobile Pauline and Dennis Cain host a dinner for neighbours Jane and Roger. The intention is that the senior Cains will join them, but they get lost in the plethora of identical roads on the new-build estate.
Throughout, tales are told of random acts of vandalism around the neighbourhood – initially thought to be the pranks of the much maligned ‘Parnes kids’. It is later revealed that Dennis is the culprit; acting out against the claustrophobic, suburban existence he finds himself in.
Relationships were no less straightforward two years ago when we flitted back further to the 1970s for Alan Ayckbourn’s How the Other Half Loves. This time we had three couples to keep up with: ‘well to do’ Frank and Fiona; his employee Bob and wife Teresa; and young couple William and Mary.
The set comprises all three homes and multiple dinner parties play out simultaneously, magnifying cracks in the relationships and highlighting the complexity of trust and union.
Mix-ups and physical comedy are used to break the various tensions, and the result is generally feelgood, either because you aren’t the only one having woes or because at least you aren’t like the couples on stage!
Last year’s offering was a frothier frolic as we brought you Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense. The characters and plots of PG Wodehouse have been revitalised by the Goodale Brothers much to the delight of audiences near and far.
It was a charming challenge for the entire production team as the props and costumes ranged from period attire, to a half/half male/female costume and even a Spode-mobile!
If you have any programmes from SDC shows you have seen, we would be grateful for the opportunity to take a copy.
To contact the Little Theatre in Southport, Merseyside, follow us on Facebook and Instagram.