Boundary Players

The Boundary Players web site is at www.boundaryplayers.co.uk.

Last production

An Evening of Coarse Acting, 11th to 15th May 2010
By Michael Green. Coarse acting: “spoofs on bad amateur dramatics” parodying clichés, every kind of misplaced am dram performance, and theatrical disaster. This is an evening of four short plays, each with its own mix of disaster and hilarity.
Pride at Southanger Park is an adaptation with a Jane Austen-esque feel. That is until failing props, stage-frightened actors, actors with attitudes, forgotten lines, a reverend who sees it fit to conceal his lines in his bible, and a hidden mobile phone cause the play to descend into a desperate conclusion.
A Collier’s Tuesday Tea portrays a grim, Yorkshire, “trouble at t’ pit” scene in a 1912 miner's cottage. Issues with the props and furniture cause the cast to think on their feet and ad-lib to maintain the gritty feel of the scene... but fail miserably.
The Classical Greek tragedy of Oedocles, King of Thebes reflects the pretentions of an over-ambitious theatre group. A story of doom and gloom is turned into comedy by bad over-acting, a clash of personalities and a motley crew of actresses playing the Chorus.
In Trapped, a traditional English thriller soon descends into a farce. The characters clearly are not trapped when the inept Major Thompson succeeds in destroying the set with his over-enthusiasm. And what of the obscene walking corpse?
This final production of the season by the Boundary Players is guaranteed to please the audience with an evening of fun and laughter. 

Where

The William Penney Theatre, inside AWE at Aldermaston. Click here for a map. The entrance to the theatre can be found on the A340 Basingstoke to Newbury road, just before the Heath End Roundabout at Tadley. There is ample free car parking next to the theatre.

Box office

07947 295826, or via the web site.

Review of An Evening of Coarse Acting

11th to 15th May 2010.

This was the NWN review.

What a send-up Boundary Players: An Evening of Coarse Acting, at the William Penney Theatre, Tadley, from Tuesday, May 11 to Saturday, May 15 Boundary Players seemed very much at home with An Evening of Coarse Acting. Directed by Michele Middleditch and Steve Scollar, the four short plays from the master of theatrical parody Michael Green, ambitiously sent up four very different styles of theatre, embracing every cliché with great relish. Pride at Southanger Park presented 19th century love and romance in suitably mannered Jane Austen style. Emma Buck was very impressive as the angst-ridden Cecily Chichester, torn between the attentions of suitor William Squires (Dave Stephenson) and the lusty Marcus D'Angeo (nicely played by Mick Lee), overcoming various interruptions from the house manager (Davina Harris), lighting failures, and forgotten lines that sent the action into a loop, before a rogue mobile phone spiralled the scene into chaos. Gavin Crow provided a nice cameo as the Rev Giles Henry (trying to read his lines from his Bible) and Claire Humphries was well cast as the bemused maid Gladys. A Collier's Tuesday Tea ("with apologies to DH Lawrence") brilliantly parodied the gritty early 20th-century mining village drama, with the extended Hepplethwaite family discussing local affairs around the dinner table. When the legs came off the prop table, making all further movement impossible, the actors struggled in vain to keep going, with hilarious consequences. Special mention goes to Richard Mier as son Albert, who added a touch of pure farce as he revealed union jack underpants beneath his overcoat, and Steve Schollar as wheelchair-bound grandfather Joe, who filled any pregnant pauses with manic laughter and a wicked grin. The third piece took us back to ancient Greece, with Oedocles King of Thebes (Dave Stephenson wowing the ladies in the audience with his short tunic and classic good looks) succumbing to the emasculating (and painful) vengeance of his spurned sister-in-law Ovary (Marguerite Luxford). A suitably eccentric and over-exuberant chorus, providing plenty of wailing and thrashing with branches, rounded off the scene. Trapped, a typical country house whodunit, featured every am dram excess in the book, from Major Thompson (confidently played by Gavin Crow), who found himself "locked in" by the murderer, despite the fact that none of the set doors would close, to a corpse (Dave Stephenson) who started walking around, to various seriously melodramatic death scenes and a stage manager (Emma Buck), script in hand, who had to stand in for the police inspector at the last moment. Michael Green's scripts captured every excruciating detail of badly performed drama, though his playlets were frustratingly short. Boundary Players did the work full justice, with special congratulations to producers Andy and Julie Abbott for a simple but very adaptable set, excellent costumes (particularly in the 19th-century scene), and well constructed props. MARK LILLYCROP

Previous productions

Silhouette, 9th to 13th February 2010 See the review in the archive.
Party Piece, 20th to 24th October 2009
Going Postal, 12th to 16th May 2009
Rebecca, 10th to 14th February 2009
The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society's Production of Macbeth, 21st to 25th October 2008. See the review in the archive.
Murder at the Manor, 10th November 2007
An Inspector Calls, 16th to 20th October 2007. See the review in the archive.
Noises Off, 15th to 19th May 2007. See the review in the archive.
Deadly Nightcap, 23rd to 27th January 2007
Alarms and Excursions, 17th to 21st October 2006. See the review in the archive.
Outside Edge, 9th to 13th May 2006. See the review in the archive.
Jekyll and Hyde, 7th to 11th February 2006. See the review in the archive.
The Weekend, 9th to 12th November 2005. See the review in the archive.
The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society's Production of A Christmas Carol, 26th to 30th April 2005. See the review in the archive.
A Touch of Danger, 25th to 29th January 2005.
Lettice and Lovage, 19th to 23rd October 2004. See the review in the archive.
Out of Sight, Out of Murder, 27th April to 1st May 2004. See the review in the archive.
Bedroom Farce, 27th to 31st January 2004. See the review in the archive.
Deckchairs, 21st to 25th October 2003. See the review in the archive.
The Happiest Days of Your Life, 29th April to 3rd May 2003. See the review in the archive.
How the Other Half Loves, 4th to 8th February 2003. See the review in the archive.
Bonaventure, 22nd to 26th October 2002. See the review in the archive.
Look Who's Talking, 14th to 18th May 2002. See the review in the archive.
The Joyride, by Georgina Reid. 5th to 9th February 2002. See the review in the archive.
84 Charing Cross Road, by Helene Hanff. 6th to 10th November 2001. See the review in the archive.
They Came from Mars and Landed Outside the Farndale Avenue Church Hall in Time for the Townswomen's Guild's Coffee Morning, by David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin Jr. 15th to 19th May 2001. See the review in the archive.
House Guest, by Francis Durbridge. 6th to 10th February 2001. See the review in the Archive.
Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, by Oscar Wilde. 7th to 11th November 2000. Here's the review.
Look No Hans, by John Chapman and Michael Pertwee. 9th to 13th May 2000. Here's the review.