At the beginning of the year, we brought you news that Rye Players was running a playwriting competition. The remit was to write a 10-minute play involving 3 characters, with the six winning plays being performed as part of the Rye Arts Festival. The competition attracted over 50 entries from local, national and international writers. The winners were announced in early summer and rehearsals began in earnest!
On 13th September, the cast and team of Rye Players well and truly brought these six plays to life under the keen eye of the Producer – Camber’s own Pat Driver. With two shows – a matinee and an early evening – at the Rye Community Centre, both performances were played to a full house, which is an indictment of the talent and high standard that Rye Players produces. All six plays were worthy award winners, and here is a taster of what, and who, they involved:
The Brooch, by Lawson Caldwell
Directed by Matthew Hamilton Green.
Cast: Philip McNicol, Venetia Saunders, Jazz Wilkins.
A story about a man who visits his now-elderly primary school teacher who had inspired him to make something of his life. The teacher, portrayed by the versatile Venetia Saunders, was oblivious that her comments, made some 60 years previously, had carried such impact. A cleverly nuanced flashback scene gave the whole play layers of emotional depth. (Hats off to the Light and Sound Engineer, Del Smith, for his imaginative use of lighting for that!)
The Window, by Barry Crossley
Directed by The Cast.
Cast: Stuart Clark, Laura Grove, Gareth Ward, with voiceovers by Arabella Ansar.
A hilarious play about a man obsessed with watching the recent goings-on at his neighbours’ house, and his long-suffering wife who tries to stop him spying. As if the script wasn’t funny enough, Laura and Stuart managed to perfectly ad-lib their way through a minor prop malfunction – and not the first time for Stuart! (Remember when Captain Smollett’s cannon fuse wouldn’t light when Treasure Ryeland came to Camber?!) There was a brilliant twist at the end, which had the audience in stitches.
Weird Sisters, by Andrew Mayor
Directed by Colin James.
Cast: Ruth Gibson, Pat Driver, Samantha McGrath.
A trio of ‘frenemies’ are rehearsing for their parts as the weird sisters in The Scottish Play (shhh! No-one say MacBeth!!) Amid a lot of entertaining bickering, and many attempts to try and upstage one another, there is a laugh out loud scene where all three attempt their best witch’s cackle, with Pat Driver’s version sounding like Santa Claus with ‘flu! All round good fun in the rehearsal room!
No! That Way! by Colin James
Directed by Pat Driver.
Cast: Andrew Mayor, Mike Nower, David Bentley, with voiceovers by Stephen John.
Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub! It’s not clear if they are the butcher, baker and candlestick-maker, but Props Maker, Lawrie Tumbar, excelled by creating a boat on the stage! Three men are stranded on a lifeboat with limited supplies but cannot agree on which way to row, or whether to stay where they are and await rescue. A fitting maritime theme for a Rye play which brought together three very different personalities. Andrew Mayor played a brilliant ‘Bossy Boots’ – Kenneth Williams-style, while Daivd Bentley entertained us with his inimitable hilarity as the fretful simpleton. Mike Nower perfected the grumpy old man. Another great twist was delivered at the end.
The Audition by Lawrence Wilson
Directed by The Cast.
Cast: Lawrence Wilson, Xan Kite, Rozzy Wyatt.
Set in the waiting room of an audition session to work with a famous music producer, two prospectives share their stories. Lawrence Wilson’s reflective character juxtaposes perfectly with Xan Kite’s dizzy, nervous newbie – but their incredible voices align beautifully.
Jam First by Tamya Reddin
Directed by Mark Russell.
Cast: Sara Nower, Philip McNicol, Clare Murray.
Set in a tea shop in Rye, Camber’s Clare Murray has been ‘catfishing’ a DFL over an online dating app. (“Oh, the picture? … Yeah, that’s from 1978…”) When he travels to Rye to meet her in person, he falls in love with the Cinque Port town (which he pronounces “Kin-Key Port”). Along with the help of the tea shop owner, Clare’s character, Marina, puts the DFL through a series of tests to see if he is suitable to move to Rye permanently.
The whole show ran for an hour and three quarters, despite being made up of six 10-minute plays. As Pat Driver reminded the audience at the start, “ten minutes on the page is slightly different from ten minutes on the stage”, especially if you factor in the pauses for laughter!
Scenery changes were swift and smart, executed by the adept stage management and crew, Julie Etches, Kieran Howlett, Mags Ivatts and Lois Fowler. The Front of House team was wonderful – warmly welcoming theatre-goers, checking tickets, handing out programmes and, of course, the all-important job of serving drinks from the bar!
If Rye Players decides to run these six plays again on a future date, do go along to see them – you won’t be disappointed!
