‘Spring
and Port Wine’
by Bill Naughton
27th,
29th, 30th November and 1st December 2001
Croft Street Community Centre, Lincoln
Seven
short months after we first sat down in the pub and discussed setting
up a new theatre group, we were on stage. In the
absence of any other takers Jez Ashberry volunteered to direct our first
outing – ‘Spring and Port Wine’ by Bill Naughton,
a
touching, comic, atmospheric ensemble piece set in Bolton in the early
60s.
Inspired
by the 1960s film version featuring a quietly menacing James Mason as
Rafe and a teenage Susan George in a mini
skirt, Jez brought together a mix of experienced actors and outright
newcomers in the company’s first cast. Ian Smith worked
wonders with a tardis of a set which had to accommodate a dinner table,
six chairs, a sofa, two armchairs, a television set and
a bureau in a space hardly big enough for Jason Hippisley to swing his
towel.
The
onset of spring and a few glasses of port wine after work are what puts
a spring into the step of young Hilda, but her home
life is soured by the overbearing manner of her father Rafe, who rules
Hilda and her brothers with a rod of iron. After a series of
arguments and confrontations – and the trials of Mother, who has
pawned Dad’s best coat in spite of her husband's fanatical
dislike of debt – the Cromptons manage to avoid a family break-up
by finally being honest with each other.
Our
first production was described by the Lincolnshire Echo as ‘a
sterling performance’ and involved 28 members and friends of the
company. |
