Recent Plays

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The Cherry Orchard The cast	The charms of Lopakhin - Yermolay Lopakhin (Robert Colbeck) and Lyuba Ranyevskaya (Beth Duce)	Medication time - Lenya Gayev (Alan Foale) and Varya (Claire Lipman) look on as valetman Yasha (Chris Andrews) gives Ranyevskaya her tablets
Grisha my boy, Grisha my son - The grief of Ranyevskaya	The madman in love - Clerk Yepikhodov (Gavin Jones) attempts to woo chambermaid Dunyasha (Louise Timothy) but she only has eyes for Yasha	Off the cushion, into the pocket - Gayev ponders the joys of billiards
An afternoon out - Varya, Ranyevskaya and Anya (Helen Duce)	Spare a kopek?- Peace interupted by a passer-by (David Newby)	One kvass too many - Simeonov-Pishchik (David Pritchard) takes a nap
Ein zwei drei! - Charlotta Ivanovna (Carol Crossfield) enchants with her magic	The belle of the ball  - Ranyevskaya	We are above such things as love - Eternal student Petya Trofimov pontificates
A poem in six parts by Tolstoy - The Stationmaster (Arthur Duce) bores the guests (Stella Garside and Anthony Josephson)	I'm such a sensitive girl - Dunyasha has her head turned	Disasters by the Dozen -  Yepikhodovsmiles, laughs even
Mother and daughter moment - Ranyevskaya and Anya	That's really lapping it up - Yasha	Who bought the cherry orchard?  I did - Lopakhin's confession
A fine sensitive soul but no galoshes - Trofimov and Lopakhin bid their farewells	I loved you, you know, Yasha - Dunyasha struggles with unrequited love	Are you happy? - Ranyevskaya sees hope in her daughter's eyes
Would you believe it! - Pishchik pays up	No more life in this house, never again - Varya	Farewell old house!  Farewell old life! - Anya
Final thoughts - Ranyevskaya and Guyev bid their home and childhoods goodbye	Silly billy - Footman Firs (Bernard Riley) is left behind	Press cutting of the production

Audience feedback for The Cherry Orchard: Excellent play, all the actors were brilliant and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Dunyasha was played very well.  Lovely acting and true feeling.  Well done. Excellent.  Wonderful acting and fab design. (J Lambert) The Duce family - a talented bunch indeed!  Well done everyone! (E Simpson) Really captures the mood of the era and very impressive characters. The staircase was outstanding! We went on Saturday night and were most impressed - I thought it was an excellent production and very moving.  (M Morton)

Adel Players blossom! Article written by Ann Lightman for Adel Bells parish magazine Their production of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov was a masterpiece. Although the play demands a large cast, the standard was high despite at least two of the “stars”, Dianne Newby and Mike Andrews, going backstage as Director and Stage Manager respectively. What really surprised me about the play, premiered in Moscow in 1904, was that it could be so relevant to Britain today. Does a family having their estate sold to pay off debts, their refusal to accept reality or to change with the times sound remote?   What about the business-man buyer cutting down a renowned landscape to build houses – any parallels?  The remote background is particularly relevant to a Leeds audience with its east European heritage. The superb performances by the leading actors/actresses enabled one to concentrate on the play itself. Robert Colbeck as the businessman and Beth Duce as the family head were utterly convincing, as were Claire Lipman (adopted daughter), Alan Foale (uncle) and Tom McMeeking (student - sharing the role with Anthony Josephson) who also had major roles. Two new members of the cast were Louise Timothy (maid), and Helen Duce (daughter), both of whom added a touch of youth and glamour.  Male youth (and arrogance) was provided by Chris Andrews. One was not overwhelmed with sadness as the play was written as a comedy.  The performances of Gavin Jones, (clumsy estate clerk), Bernard Riley (elderly servant), Carol Crossfield (governess), and David Pritchard (neighbour) were all brilliant and succeeded in lightening the tone, as did the gaiety of the party scene.  Perhaps this made the poignancy of the ending all the more powerful, when the senile servant, after a lifetime of service, is abandoned by the family in an empty house to face the depths of the Russian winter. The costumes deserve special mention – some were amazingly elegant, others exotic, some ragged.  The wardrobe mistress, Ros Porteous, did a fantastic job. The music/soundtrack – the haunting song at the beginning repeated a couple of times, the party music and the sound of trees being felled, plus a whiff of cigar-smoke, all added to the atmosphere. The backcloth of the bare trees on the stage was effective too.  The stage was only used for the party scene – all the main action took place in the round – which worked very well.

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CAUGHT IN THE NET

By Ray Cooney.  Directed by Bernard Riley.

20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd January 2010

Ray Cooney's hilarious farce Caught in the Net is a sequel to Run for your Wife, which ran for nine years in London's West End.  We find bigamist John still running between the his two families, one in Wimbledon and the other in Streatham.  When his daughter Vicki and son Gavin threaten to meet up following chats on the internet, but not realising that they share the same father, John has to ensure the meeting will not happen.  Even with the tireless help of his poor lodger Stanley and the interference of Stanley's Dad, it seems inevitable that the game is up and that his wives Mary and Barbara are destined to meet!

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Smith and Son John Smith (David Pritchard) and Gavin Smith (Chris Andrews)		Mum - you'll never believe this! Gavin and mum Barbara Smith (Carol Crossfield); Vicki Smith (Karen Wilton) and mum Mary Smith (Dianne Newby)		I've met this fantastic girl! Gavin and Barbara
My Boobie-Boo-Boos! John and Barbara		Would I lie to you? John, Mary and lodger Stanley Gardner (Robert Colbeck)		Paying the rent? Stanley and Gavin
Sweet sixteen Vicky		Sick of the subterfuge John and Stanley		Waiting for the John Barbara
Mary, Mary quite contrary Barbara comforts Mary		A near revelation John, Mary and Stanley		Dad lends a foot Stanley's Dad (Alan Foale)
The last laugh Mary and Barbara		East and West End Girls Mary, John, Barbara and Stanley		In search of the Wimbledon waves Dad
Rehearsal larks David, Dianne and Robert enjoy a daft moment		Caught in the Net The programme		With thanks Our fabulous backstage crew

Audience feedback for Caught in the Net: Very good.  Enjoyed a fab laugh. Haven't had such a laugh for years!  Thanks!  HB & GP Bob [Robert Colbeck] you were fantastic as well as all the others.  Can't stop laughing!!! David Broker Just brilliant. Alison G. Top banter - thanks. That Vicki's nice. First class performance and setting.  Congratulations to all concerned.  Wonderful evening of comedy and fun.  New chairs excellent. Heating was very acceptable.  Maybe interval too long!!! Bob T. I thought it would be good to let you know how much four of us on the front row enjoyed the Saturday night performance at Adel. Not only Robert, who we managed to tell how brilliant we thought he was afterwards in the bar but all the others, were excellent in their parts. Our menfolk were crying with laughter and laughing out loud and we two women thoroughly enjoyed it all, a little more quietly.  Congratulations to all concerned. No prompts needed and how they all managed to remember all those difficult lines and situations we shall never know. Well done. Thank you so much.  PS Almost forgot the chairs, wonderfully comfortable. Sally E, Nigel E. and Hazel and Graham B. We all really enjoyed the play last night. Val C. Thank you for a brilliant production of Caught in the Net, I think it was one of your best.  Margaret R.

Review of 'Caught in the Net' by Ann Lightman as published in Adel Bells magazine A Spring Tonic          The Adel Players “Caught in the Net” 20-23 January 2010 One wonders if the latest Adel Player’s production should have been available on prescription!  If “Laughter is the best medicine” then yes – four full houses which had plenty of laugh which must have had a positive effect on the health in Adel, especially after all the cold and snowy conditions we have endured.  Not so sure about the cast though – it was such a physical play that the leading men in particular must have been near exhaustion at the end! “Caught in the Net” by Ray Cooney OBE is the sequel to “Run for Your Wife”,  which holds the record for the longest-running comedy in the West End.  Frankly I thought this superior – the best farce I have seen. The “plot”, if it can be called that, is based on a bigamist getting found out – considerably funnier than that bald statement. The unravelling of the bigamy in both homes is shown simultaneously on stage – enabling the action to flow speedily, without breaks, so that the audience gets quickly swept into the intrigue. One would think that such a plot inevitably would “end in tears” but a clever twist at the end (which I am not revealing) meant a feel good “happy ever after” ending…the only tears were those of laughter. As usual the cast were superb, word perfect, timing spot on…I particularly noticed the superb visual humour…how the cast didn’t “crack up” a few times remains a mystery. Again I am really impressed at the age range in the cast and the two younger members, Chris Andrews, and Karen Wilton (making her debut), need congratulating in holding their own in such a talented and experienced cast. The writing was superb too - plenty of very clever, witty lines. I found the characters surprisingly well-developed for a farce. One did not expect such a play to delve deeply into moral questions, though it did carry the “health warning” (repeated once) that bigamy was illegal. It did leave me wondering when it was written though. The mobile phone calls and the internet chat-room seemed bang-up-to-date, the relaxed attitude to marriage, the treatment of same-sex relationships and the husband laying down the law and being obeyed, seemed so long ago! The date is elsewhere in Adel Bells. What is your guess? The quality of the production is now matched by other aspects. Superb new (and comfortable) chairs have been very generously donated and were much appreciated. Obtaining the booked tickets (at £5) on the night is speedy…perhaps due less change needing to be counted. The programmes are by donation and are sponsored by several advertisers. The teas, served in the Gladys Tetley room, worked well and as usual ice-creams are available in the Hall. Ann Lightman

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