Medstead Players - 'Pink String and Sealing Wax' (1978)
Written by Roland Pertwee
Directed by Estelle Westcombe
“PINK STRING” SUCCESS AT MEDSTEAD The Medstead Players staged their second production on Friday and Saturday of last week, and once again played to large audiences on both nights.
The play, “Pink String and Sealing Wax,” by Roland Pertwee, was set in Brighton during the 1880’s, and concerned the lives of the Strachan family. The father, Edward Strachan (John Hurst) was a public analyst and a typical “heavy father”, ruling his family with a rod of iron.
The mother, Myra (Joan Allsop) was very much under her husband’s dominance, but more sympathetic to her children’s ambitions. The eldest daughter, Emily (Kerry Prior) has great hopes of becoming a famous singer, and the son, Albert (Ronald Whitcher) is forced into studying to be a chemist by his father, while, all the time his real talents lie in engineering.
The second daughter, Jessie (Helen Shirley), wants to become an actress, and the youngest daughter, Eva (Amanda Mott) is very concerned for the guinea pigs that her father uses in his chemical experiments. Altogether home life is not too happy for most of the family, and as a result, Albert starts mixing with bad company. One night he secretly brings home Pearl Bond (Pam Kercher) the wife of a publican who knocks her about, and she steals some strychnine from the chemist’s laboratory .
Stan Whitcber, who played the part of the elderly waiter in “Small Hotel”, this time had an Irish accent to cope with as Dr. O’Shea, the Strachan’s friend and physician. His son, Ernest, an up and coming young barrister in love, with Emily, was played by Hugh Price, junior.
The producer was Miss Estelle Westcombe, without whose skill and experience the whole play would not have been nearly so successful.
Richard Smith’s stage setting was superb, and brought a spontaneous round of applause from the audience on Saturday. The costumes which had to be authentic on a small budget, were made by Mrs. Christine Smith and Mrs. Valerie Prior.
Properties were by Mrs. Kath Whitcher, lighting by Mr. Robert Ellis (by courtesy of Four Mark’s Dramatic Society), make-up by Mrs. Debby Parrack and Mrs. Valerie Prior.
The large prompter in a very small space was Graham Pettit, and the sound effects by Robert Lailey and assorted club members and cast. Sandy Chitty and friends served refreshments, and Mr. Joe Allsop was on the door.
Although the club has only been in existence for just over a year, it has already a good deal of support and encouragement from both the people of Medstead and other amateur dramatic societies locally.
One of the club’s main assets must surely be the high proportion of young members. In fact, in “Pink String and Sealing Wax”, more than half the cast were under 20 years of age, with several more young members helping back-stage.
Set in the parlour of the Strachan’s house in Brighton during the late 1800’s, Pink String and Sealing Wax is a domestic drama concerning a repressed family, whose cold and undemonstrative father comes to realise the full worth of his children. Edward Strachan controls his family with little tenderness and understanding. His loving and ambitious children are pushed to the limits by his lack of attentiveness. When his eldest son becomes associated with a married woman who plots to incriminate him in the murder of her husband, Edward realises how very wrong his priorities and attitudes were and fights to protect his son and reunite himself with his estranged family.
Cast:
Eva Strachan - Amanda Mott
Mrs Strachan - Joan Allsop
Albert Strachan - Ronald Whitcher
Edward Strachan - John Hurst
Jessie Strachan - Helen Shirley
Emily Strachan - Kerry Prior
Doctor O’Shea - Stan Whitcher
Ernerst O’Shea - Hugh Price
Pearl Bond - Pam Kercher
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