A NEW team of directors at Ealing’s Questors will unveil their debut productions tonight.
The theatre on Mattock Lane will show three one-act plays - Red Peppers, High Tea and George's Room - in a showcase event displaying the new directors' talents.
Red Peppers, adapted into a TV movie starring Joan Collins in 1991, is a short comedy about a quarrelsome couple touring music halls with their comically poor performances.
Part of Noel Coward’s Tonight At 8.30 series, the production was once described by Coward himself as a 'Vaudeville sketch sandwiched in between two parodies of music hall songs'.
Director Peter Gould, said the piece remained relevant to a modern audience.
“[It is] still very funny, even after 80 years, and the script comes alive in performance," he said.
"Today, we are used to seeing behind-the-scenes dramas on TV. Back in the thirties, this must have been an eye-opener for theatre-goers!”
High Tea, a more modern drama written by Mari Lloyd, focuses on a man who has decided to spend what is possibly his last Christmas in Las Vegas with his wife.
The only obstacle to the vacation is the protagonist’s elderly mother, who does not yet know of his plans.
“It has such strong characters and natural, witty dialogue,” said director Cathy Swift, who has been directing community theatre for the past 25 years.
She was sent High Tea to use for the showcase after writing a letter to Mari Lloyd last year.
The third play of the trio - Alun Owen's George’s Room - portrays the difficulties of a widow living alone. The arrival of a lodger is seen as the life event that might change her fortunes.
Tonight’s event is already sold out, but performances run until next Saturday, February 27, mostly at 7.45pm.
They are suitable for all over the age of 11 and tickets cost £14/£17.
For more info see www.questors.org.uk
Picture courtesy of Peter Collins, with thanks
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