Written By
Lucille Fletcher
Where and When
26th – 27th April 1963 @ Church House, Wimborne
Cast
- Mrs Stevenson – Rita Stuckley
- Telephone Operators – Patricia Wood, Jenni Meek* and Thelma Dryden
- 1st Man – Joe Brooks
- 2nd Man – Tim Eling
- Information – Muriel Brooks
- Hospital Receptionist – Stella Tory
- Western Union – John Fearn
- Sergeant Duffy – James Ward
- Attendant – Russ Guillaume
*Due to illness the part was taken by Margaret Williams
Creative Team
- Producer – Vincent Watters
- Prompt – Vincent Watters
- Stage Manager – Clifford Cowling
- Make up – Douglas Treharne
- Effects – Peter Brooks
- House Manager – Edmund Henbest
- Business Manager – Muriel Brooks
Reviews
Rita Grips ‘Em In Thriller
There appears to be new life in the old Wimborne Drama Club. The two evenings of three one-act plays staged in the Church House, Wimborne, included some lively performances.
The comedy The Dear Departed; the whodunnit Tea for Three and the suspense thriller Sorry Wrong Number all went down well with good audiences.
The Dear Departed was seriously threatened when Sam Fawcett, who was to take the place of the grandfather Abel Merryweather, went down with flu, but club stalwart Mr L. H. Mottram stepped in and gave a first-class performance.
This funny and popular play was well produced by husband and wife combination of John and Elizabeth Anthony, who also took two of the leading parts. Muriel Brooks did well in her stage comeback after a number of years and Arthur Brooks gave another good performance. Victoria Slater also did well in her first stage showing. Prompt for this play was Mr Mickelburgh.
Mr Fawcett also had a part in Tea For Two. In this Donald Waterfield steeped up to take over as the absent minded professor, whose wife, played by Daphne Young, was a clever murderess. Victim was Tim Eling, who played a policeman, and who was poisoned. It was Mr Eling’s first show and he should be a useful member with more experience.
Mrs Young gave a cool performance and test-tube happy Mr Waterfield had obviously worked hard to do well as stand-in. Margaret Williams also did well. The play was produced by Thelma Dryden. Prompt was Brenda Parsons.
The outstanding play of the evening was Sorry, Wrong Number with its cast of ten. The story of the neurotic bed-ridden woman left alone in her New York apartment and who overhears a telephone conversation by two men planning a murder – her murder – was a winner.
New producer to the club Vincent Watters, who has plenty of experience in production in Canada, made this a potent product with some good effects and scenery. Rita Stuckey, as the woman, lived the part until she was murdered as the train roared by on the subway outside her window to the accompaniment of realistic screams.
I liked the idea of showing the other characters through gauze on one side of the stage while Rita sat throughout the play on the other half. When she picked up the telephone the face of the operator would appear highlighted by a torch, and the same would happen with the other actors.
Rest of the cast: Telephone operators, Patricia Wood, Margaret Williams and Thelma Dryden; two men Arthur Brooks and Tim Eling; information, Muriel Brooks; hospital receptionist, Stella Tory; Western Union and lunch room counter attendant, Russ Guillaume; and Sgt Duffy, James Ward.
During the interlude the organ was played by Mr John Chalmers. Stage manager was Mr Clifford Cowling; effects by Peter Brooks; house manager, Mr Ernest Henbest; and business manager Mrs Muriel Brooks.
Programme of one act plays staged at Wimborne
Wimborne Drama Club attracted good support on Friday and Saturday, when they presented three one-act plays. Apparently rewritten to make it adaptable to any locale Stanley Houghton’s well-known comedy, ‘The Dear Departed’ retained all the humorous situations but the dialogue from the North Country idiom and dialect lost much of it’s impact.
Making their bow as producers with the Wimborne Club, John and Betty Anthony did a sound job and also played well as Mr. and Mrs. Henry Slater. L. A. Mottram. who deputized at short notice for another
player, gave a delightful character-study of the revived corpse Abel Merryweather; and Muriel Brooks was convincingly ‘acid’ as Mrs. Jordan. Arthur Brooks and Ann Simmonds supported well as Ben Jordan and Victoria Slater.
Obvious thriller
Margery Vospers ‘Tea for Three’ produced by Thelma Dryden proved to be a rather ‘obvious’ thriller, though more effective ‘timing’ on the part of the players could have heightened the tension. Margaret
Williams gave an exceptionally ‘natural’ and relaxed performance as Mrs. Haydock and Tim Ealing was completey in character as Mr. Evans. Daphne Young gave a straight forward interpretation of the role of murderess Mrs. Merrowdene; and Donald Waterfield – also deputizing at short notice for another player – was at home in the part of the absentminded Mr. Merrowdene. A word of praise is due for the attractive
and well furnished sitting-room setting.
Effective, too was the setting for for Lucille Fletcher’s ‘Sorry Wrong Number,’ with a panorama of briIIiantIy Iit New York skyscrapers visible through the open window; but in this case it did the production a disservice by emphasizing the incongruity of practically the entire cast speaking in normal British conversational tones.
Attack too vigorous
With her movements restricted by her role as the neurotic bedridden Mrs. Stevenson, Rita Stuckey gave well sustained performance, but her attack was so vigorous from the outset that she left herself very
little scope for working up to a higher peak of panic later in the play.
No acting was required from the other players, who were mere voices at the other end of the telephone wire; and although their features were illuminated – presumably by torches – the light was so dim through the gauze screen, that only the glow of the light was discernible from the rear part of the auditorium.
The play was produced by Vincent Watters. Other members of the cast were Patricia Wood, Margaret Williams, Thelma Dryden, Arthur Brooks, Tim Ealing, Muriel Brooks, Stella Tony, John Fearn, James Ward
and Russ Guillaume.
Clifford Cowling was responsible for stage management Douglas Treharne was make-up artist; Mr. Mickelburgh, Brenda Parsons and Vincent Watters prompted and Peter Brooks operated effects.
Edmund Henbest and Muriel Brooks undertook House and Business duties.
There’ s new life in Wimborne’s Drama Club
There appears to be new life in the old Wimborne Drama Club. The two evenings of three one-act plays staged in the Church House, Wimborne, included some lively performances.
The comedy ‘The Dear Departed’, the who-dun-it ‘Tea for Three’, and the suspense thriller ‘Sorry, Wrong Number’ all went down well with the good audiences.
The Dear Departed was seriously threatened when Sam Fawcett, who was to take the place of the grandfather Abel Merryweather, went down with flu. But club stalwart Mr. L. H. Mottram stepped in and gave a first class performance,
This funny and popular play was well produced by husband and wife combination of John and Elizabeth Anthony, who also took two of the leading parts.
Muriel Brooks did well in her stage comeback after a number of years and Arthur Brooks gave another good performance. Victoria Slater made a success of her first stage part. Prompt for this play was Mr. Mickelburgh.
Mr. Fawcett also had a part in Tea For Three so Donald Waterfield stepped up to take over as the absent minded professor, whose wife, played by Dapne Young, was a clever murderess.
Shows Promise
Victim was Tim Ealing, who played a policeman. It was Mr Ealing’s first show and with his fine beard as a good asset, he should be a useful member with more experience.
Mrs. Young gave a cool, calm performance and Mr. Waterfield had obviuosly worked hard to do weIl as stand-in. Margaret Williams also did well in this play. It was produced by Thelma Dryden. Prompt was Brenda Parsons.
The outstanding play of the evening was Sorry, Wrong Number with its cast of ten. This suspense show really gripped the audience, which is unusual in local drama group productions.
A Winner
The story of the neurotic bed-ridden woman left alone in her New York apartment, who overhears a telephone conversation by two men planning a murder – her own – was a winner.
New producer to the club Vincent Watters, who has had plenty of experience in production in Canada, made this a potent presentation with some good effects and scenery.
Rita Stuckey, as the woman, lived the part until she was murdered as the train roared by on the subway outside her window to the accompaniment of realistic screams.
I liked the idea of showing the other characters through gauze on one side of the stage while Rita sat throughout the play on the other half. When she picked up the telephone the face of the operator would appear lit up by a torch and the same would happen with the other actors.
Rest of the cast: telephone operators, Patricia Wood, Margaret Williams and Thelma Dryden: two men, Arthur Brooks and Tim Ealing; information, Muriel Brooks; receptionist, Stella Tory; Western Union and lunch-room counter attendant Russ Guillaume and Sergeant Duffy, James Ward.
During the interlude the organ was played by Mr. John Chalmers. Stage manager was Mr. Clifford
Cowling; effects by Peter Brooks; house manager, Mr. Ernest Henbest and businessmanager, Mrs.
Muriel Brooks.
Programme
