Longueville Little Theatre Company

An Award Winning Performance

For the second year running the LLTC has won the John Lewis Rose Bowl for Drama at the annual Milton Keynes Festival of the Arts. The event took place in February at the RC church hall in Stony Stratford.

Our entry was a 15-minute excerpt from November’s production The Killing of Sister George by Frank Marcus. Taking part were Joan Airs, Jo Bowyer, Liz Rhodes and Sara Wheeler. The director was Madeleine Toye and the stage manager was Beryl Snowden. John Drinkwater, Paul James and Paul Wheeler provided technical backing.

Adjudication for the drama part of the festival was by Frances Brownlie who, apart from having worked in all branches of theatre herself, has adjudicated throughout the UK as well as in Hong Kong and Ireland.

As well as making some constructive criticisms she praised both the acting and the technical input, awarding a ‘Commended’ certificate.

Last year – the first time the LLTC had entered the festival – we won the trophy with an excerpt from Alan Ayckbourn’s Table Manners.

Review by Don Beamish

This was pretty much a ‘Wow’ type evening, all a bit breathtaking. Firstly, the Theatre was everything one could wish for, I had seen it on completion, and I have to confess that when standing on that stage on that occasion I came over very Shakespearean, and remorseful that I had hung up the motley. However, it was even better on our opening night when the foyer was bustling with bodies. Anticipation is nine-tenths of the pleasure, as the saying has it and I, for one, couldn’t wait to get in. I have to pause in the middle of this euphoria though, to reflect that thirty-odd years ago, I was feeling these same emotions about the Jennie Lee!

That’s enough about the Theatre, as I must save some superlatives to use on the play. It’s a gem of a of a piece of writing, and I am surprised that we have not tackled it before, the plot is excellent, and unlike many of its contemporaries it has easily stood the test of time, and comes over without any hint of quaintness. Plays like this are not that easy to find; as we a essentially a Repetory Company everything we do will be somewhat aged, not to say mildewed even, but as long as there are soap-operas Sister George will have a timeless future.

Writing crits for LLTC is made much easier thanks to Alan and the set builders, the sets are always splendid, and this one was no exception; although we are aware that from the back they look like random collection of matchboards held together with clamps, screws and hope, from the front they look as solid as St. Paul’s Cathedral – and as elegant. When the curtains opened on this production, they revealed a stage of similar dimensions to a small aircraft carrier, but the set fitted beautifully. I felt like applauding.

How lucky were the actors to have this space to strut in where a move could have a capital ‘M’ instead of a vague sidle. How lucky too, to have such parts, each one as meaty as could be wished for, but each one held their own in a lovely balanced production.

Liz Rhodes will probably never have a better role than this and she bullied her way through it with great confidence. She is pathetic but ultimately unlikeable, she dishes out appalling verbal cruelty to Childie, what a strange pair they are. George really is a superbitch, if she was a bloke she would have a shaven head and tattoos on her knuckles, the sort of person who really enjoys her sadism, and this came across in a shiveringly realistic way. It must say something about us that these parts are always the most fun to play. George is every bit of a match for Titus Andronicus - meat pie, anyone?

While George is portrayed as overpoweringly butch - just look at how she dresses - Childie is very much the flower, and I think the writing skills – and the acting - are such that neither character appeared stereotypical, they are weird certainly, but very believable. Childie gets, and deserves, our sympathy, or at least she does until we learn of her true age and how far around the block she has been. It would be interesting to get a woman’s perspective on this relationship, it made me feel quite uneasy. Which is, I guess, exactly what the playwright intended.

Sara Wheeler, as the BBC lady, came on immaculately dressed and looked exactly the way a BBC lady would look, and she acted the way a BBC lady would act, she was perfect, Sara is always good, but she just gets better. She was ice to George’s fire.

As the interplay between the three main characters unfurled, we began to see the tackiness below the surface. Oh dear, what nasty people these are. The whole setup gradually gets more sordid.

Sara’s character, Mrs. Mercy Croft, (Mercy, now there’s a classic misnomer!) turns out to be every bit of a bitch as George, and because she is so much more subtle, she is so much more scary. Neither of the protagonists has much feeling for Childie, she is just a possession, a mere poker chip. Jo Bowyer, as Childie, gave a delightful interpretation of the part and held her own against the strength of Mercy Croft and Sister George.

The main thrust of the play is to gradually get us to develop a rapport and sympathy with Sister George while at the same time bringing about a loss of respect for Childie. This works up to a point but George was just too nasty for the audience to be overly upset when she lost her main acting job. I think the writer had poetic justice in mind when she was offered the part of a cow!

Joan Airs, as Madame Xenia is not really part of the main plot, but she is a useful device flesh out the character of George, and she did the job well. She will be remembered for her costume. Mercy Croft was dressed elegantly, Childie was undressed equally elegantly, Madame Xenia wore whatever antonym comes to mind. Great stuff.

Maddie Toye did a very professional job of the directing, those years at RADA were not wasted, and in spite of the brittle nature of the dialogue, there was an overall smoothness to the whole production. Balance was the keynote. Everyone concerned should take a bow, and that includes the PBI in the car park, unsung heroes all.

I think it is obvious that I enjoyed this play, I enjoyed it a lot, although what it says about lesbianism is a bit on the dark side.

So, at the risk of repeating myself, I have to say that the standard just keeps going up. This has been a cracking start at the new theatre and makes one feel very optimistic about the future of the group.