DescriptionJoin the Lane End Players as they take a trip to India in this hilarious farce
Set in Lady Eppingham's house in India where the eccentric but aristocratic Lady lives in a world of fantasy and past glory of the Empire, whilst the run of her tea estate is left in the hands of her unscrupulous nephews. When Beatrice Horrocks- Lady Eppingham's half-sister and illegitimate daughter of her father, Lord Rothbury, and of decidedly lowly birth- arrives to claim her right to manage the estate, the situation devolves into hilarity, as Beatrice slowly but surely sorts everything out and exposes the schemes of her nephews. Cast Houseboy - James Davis Rahmu - Dave Bowden Basil Landau - Nigel Bacon Jeremy Eppingham - Charlie Edgley Martin Eppingham - Paul Edgley Lady Hester - Eve Berry Miss Vana Lupitya - Hilary Davis Beatrice Horrocks - Kath Gill "Auntie left audience giddy with laughter" (Bucks Free Press review by Andrew Chatfield) Lane End Players have again proved they are a company with great versatility and a wealth of comic talent. These qualities were just rather wasted on this singularly average play, whose main redeeming feature was that is resulted in Kath Gill giving one of the funniest performances I have seen in ages. With a little help from make-up artist Lou Jackson, My Giddy Aunt transformed the excellent Dave Bowden from the Italian opera star of Lend Me A Tenor (the Players' last triumph) to a traitorous Indian manservant and Nigel Bacon from his regular clean-cut young man role to that of a doddering ancient solicitor. But most spectacular of all was the metamorphosis of Kath Gill into a brusque, elderly Halifax fishwife. It was not just make-up and wonderful Oxfam dresses which did it, but an outstanding performance built on close attention to character, voice and comic timing. Kath's Beatrice Horrocks transformed the play into a good night's entertainment at Lane End Village Hall. Her character is a blunt-talking widow who turns up at a tea plantation in Janakpur, India run by a dotty aristocrat (Eve Berry) and her two greedy nephews (Charlie and Paul Edgley). To their horror, they find this common woman has inherited the estate and there follows a wrangle over wills which leads to bloodshed. Nigel Bacon created his character well but spoilt it by taking a number of prompts and while Eve Berry provided some laughs she struggled to capture the complex madness of Lady Eppingham. Only Kath Gill unerringly hit the mark time and time again with her Victoria-Wood-style homeliness. |
Author
Ray Cooney, John Chpaman
DirectorTish Marshall
VenueLane End Village Hall
Church Road Lane End Bucks HP14 3JE (see map below) |
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