Medstead Players - 'Allen Gallery Readings' - September 2013 Devised and Directed by Janice Hopwood Hall
By way of a change, the Medstead Players decamped from their traditional base in Medstead and travelled to the Allen Gallery in Alton and in the event the temporary move was extraordinarily successful.
The audience were treated to an evening meeting local historical celebrities and some of the characters they created, ranging from the famous Jane Austen to perhaps a lesser known Geoffrey Burrell reading, of all things, the highly hilarious 'minutes of a council meeting'. Local Georgian farmer's wife, Mary Bacon, explained some of her recipes described as 'receipts'. The First World War poet, Edward Thomas was present, his most famous poem is perhaps Adlestrop about an express train briefly stopping at a lonely country station. We met other characters from down the ages, all of whom wore their Sunday best clothes and brought appropriate artefacts with them.
The whole evening was the brain child of Janice Hopwood-Hall who had obviously put much time and research into the presentation. Once more the Medstead Players showed their versatility and creativity. Let's hope there will be more interesting excursions away from their home base to supplement their successful plays, pantomimes and so forth in Medstead Village Hall.
[Colin Fuller]
Cast:
Carol Bedingfield, Dominic Clifford, Stephen Forster, Claire Fraser, Janice Hopwood Hall, Peter Hopwood Hall, Pam Kercher, Sue Ovell, Anita Prior and Stan Whitcher.
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