Recent Plays
THE SINS OF THE FATHER A Murder Mystery. Directed by
Mike Andrews. Written by Pat Riley. Wednesday 9th and Friday 11th
June 2010 This murder
mystery mini-play and competition, with a crime quiz and pie and peas provided by Adel Badminton Club (on the Wednesday), was Adel Players' double fundraiser, following on from the success of last years'. The Wednesday event took place and raised money for Adel War Memorial Association whilst the Friday event took place in Adel Church and stable to raise funds for the maintenance of the fabric of the church buildings. Set in 1955 this whodunnit was set in Adel Rectory following the life of the Somerfield family and those around them. When the Rector's body is found in a field it appears suspiciously similar to the suicide of the Rector's son Hugh, twenty years earlier, raising all sorts of questions and leading visiting tourists to wonder whodunnit. Was it Mrs Somerfield, unloved and unloving wife of the Rector? Was it Edward Armstrong, loyal but betrayed curate of the parish? No, it was Helen Somerfield, daughter of the Rector so cruelly treated by her father and so desperately lost without her older brother!
Audience feedback for The Sins of the Father:
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THE CHERRY ORCHARD
By Anton Chekhov. Directed by Dianne Newby.
21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24th April 2010
'The Cherry Orchard' is a play about resistance to change, about holding on to something, someone or an idea, even when we know it doesn't make sense anymore. For this reason it is not a mere history lesson. Its themes reach out and touch us today.
We performed this production 'in the thrust', using the floor space and also the stage for the ballroom scene. Our audience sat on three sides of the hall allowing them to feel closely involved in the lives, loves and turmoils of the characters, as well as in the slapstick and humour.
Our strong backstage crew worked incredibly hard, including building a wonderful staircase (Mike Andrews, Ron Darby and others). Many of the exquisite costumes were handmade by our very talented Ros Porteous. The soundtrack was carefully chosen and mixed by new member Andrew Ferguson and clever lighting provided by Eric Wells. All these elements and a large amount of hard work went towards creating an atmospheric setting of Russia in 1904.
With many thanks to David Newby for these wonderful photographs, taken during a dress rehearsal.
Click on images below to enlarge.
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)
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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Have Your Say!
Have
you recently seen an Adel Players' performance? Let us know what you
thought about the production and the facilities provided by emailing us
at feedback@adel-players.org.uk and maybe see your own comments featured on this page. We would love to hear from you.
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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!
Click on images below to enlarge.
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!
Click on images below to enlarge.
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.
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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.
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Thank you for a brilliant production
of Caught in the Net, I think it was one of your best. Margaret R.
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.
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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.
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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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Have Your Say!
Have you recently seen an Adel Players' performance? Let us know what you thought about the production and the facilities provided by emailing us at feedback@adel-players.org.uk and maybe see your own comments featured on this page. We would love to hear from you.


























