Our “Bunch of Amateurs” stage another success

The second SBADS production of 2025 has finished after a very successful run of four shows at South Brent Village Hall. “A Bunch of Amateurs”, by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman, played to hundreds of apreciative playgoers, who laughed their way through every performance.

We’ve had lovely feedback for the show, and we’re really pleased that so many people enjoyed it, praising both the talented cast and the stage crew.

In a play that followed the fortunes of an all-American action hero actor who finds himself joining an am-dram group in rural England, Tim McGill immersed himself in the role of Hollywood ‘star’ Jefferson Steel, bringing great depth to the part and taking the character through the whole gamut of emotions as he journeyed from rude fish out of water through (literally) washed-out failure to triumphant Shakespearean lead.

Nat Cook took the role of Dorothy Nettle, expertly capturing the pain of directing a group of am-drammers and dealing with the stress of running the ‘Stratford Players’ with or without a Hollywood divo, and giving glimpses of the steel beneath her outwardly cheery persona.

Guy Rapson returned to the SBADS stage for the first time since 2019 to play died-in-the-wool thespian Nigel Dewbury, and was brilliantly insufferable throughout the drama.

Denis Dobbins, star-struck carpenter, was brought to life by Alan Prince, a mere 51 years after his first SBADS appearance, capturing the ‘avuncular but slightly dull’ Dobbins perfectly.

Proving that SBADS continues to be a company for the whole family, Lauren Steel was played by Alan Prince’s granddaughter Imogen Blackwell. Taking her first role outside SBADS pantos, Imogen demonstrated a flawless American accent and portrayed the spoilt, sulky but streetwise teenage daughter of Jefferson Steel to great effect.

Kim Kidney made a triumphant return to main roles on the SBADS stage after a long gap to play Lauren Bell, brewery wife of the Stratford Players’ main sponsor. With more costume changes than a panto dame and an unfailing knack of arriving with a cheery ‘Hello!’ after every Jefferson Steel meltdown, Kim showed ‘brassy’ Lauren to be a much more rounded character than assumed from her looks.

Having been loved by the audience last year as snobbish Lady Alicia in Jane Austen’s Lady Susan, Sharon Hughes was loved by them again as down-to-earth Mary Plunkett, jolly, gushing (or at least dribbling), thoroughly confused about what films her Hollywood hero had actually been in, and regularly raising guffaws from our theatregoers.

“A Bunch of Amateurs” was steered by Robin Willoughby, directing his first full-length play, who helped his cast bring out the the full depth of the script and their characters and brought an excellent drama to the South Brent stage.

Peter Brown worked tirelessly as the Producer, keeping a complex production on track and running smoothly, and helping navigate some ‘elephant traps’ in the script and stage directions to create a slick show.

“A Bunch of Amateurs” faces the tricky problem of showing a different am-dram company space within our own, and staging chunks of King Lear within the play. The back-stage crew, led by ‘AJ’ Kempthorne did an excellent job of subtly changing the theatre-within-our-theatre throughout the scenes, before transforming the stage for Lear (and back again) in only the time it took for the cast to change their costumes, cunningly using dummy tea chests to form the scenery. Tristram Grevatt devised and built the scenery and notes that he’s “just relieved that it worked”! The stage crew, also including Bridie Kennerley and Daisy Pollak Hobbs, not only shifted the scenery in front of the audience but also appeared as ‘journalists’ and a remote actor off-stage.

The lighting team of Mason Eastley and Adam Cook brought the stage to life with effects both dramatic and subtle, and the audience particularly commented on the lighting during Lear. Costumes were artfully supplied by Cathie Pannell and Val Meek: the script calls for a wardrobe “better than you would expect for an amateur dramatic performance”, and they delivered. Music was provided by Julia Thomas and Baklava. Rachael Vickers took up the mantle of Front of House manager for the first time. Julia Willoughby sourced and somehow managed to keep track of the dozens of props required by the script.

We must extend our sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to the production, on stage, back stage, front of house and, above all in the audience. Even though – as Denis Dobbins says – “It’s a cruel world, amateur dramatics”, hearing laughter and applause makes it all worthwhile. Thank you!