Drama group relishes resurgence

Ashhurst Drama Group stages second show this year

Roland Dickerby runs a health farm with his wife Julia. He is constantly harassed by portly guests in search of carbohydrates of the sweet variety. Olivia, his formidable mother-in-law, keeps a beady eye on him.

Life gets even harder when Julia’s supposedly dead husband, the charming rogue Sidney, turns up.

These are some of the challenges facing Roland in the comedy Kindly Keep It Covered, written by Dave Freeman.

The first of Ashhurst Drama Group’s six performances is already sold out. In her directorial debut, Cheryl Wheatley is co-directing with Peter Doherty.

Ashhurst Drama Group’s first production was in 1971. Things have waned and ebbed since then but in the past five or six years it has done one production a year, Wheatley says.

Audience size is increasing as is the number of members.

Kindly Keep It Covered is the group’s second show this year. The group decided to add two extra nights as it had full houses for Gone to Seed earlier in the year.

It performs at the Ashhurst School hall that seats about 50 people.

Supper is provided during the interval.

Wheatley says the group is like a big family and they do it for fun and to entertain the audience.

Her role is to ensure the cast puts on a cohesive play that works. There are different ways of interpreting characters and situations so she guides the cast.

She has acted with the group and more recently helped her husband Max Wheatley with lights and sound.

The cast has been rehearsing three times a week since the start of August.

Timothy Tankersley plays health farm owner Roland Dickerby. He first appeared on stage with the Ashhurst Drama Group in 2020 in Death and Taxe$ where he met his now wife, Emma Tankersley.

Emma plays Roland’s wife Julia. The other cast members are Joyanne Morrison (Olivia de Vere), Karla Knowles (Vanessa Harbinger), Richard Tankersley (Sidney Floyd Plucker), Andrew Gore (Hooper) and Anna Skeggs (Sgt Campbell).

Richard, Timothy’s father, has been a part of the Ashhurst Drama family for 20 years and loves the vibe of a satisfied audience.

Roland (Timothy Tankersley), Julia (Emma Tankersley), Sidney (Richard Tankersley) and Olivia (Joyanne Morrison) try to decide how to handle the pickle they have got themselves into. They are rehearsing Ashhurst Drama Group’s production of Kindly Keep It Covered.