The Wizard of Oz

A thoroughly enjoyable production with the added pleasure of a real and extremely appealing Toto, a star if I ever saw one, especially when she sniffed out the sausage being cooked by Professor Marvel.

In fact the principal line-up was second to none, most notably Felicity Pringle (Dorothy), Rob Arrowsmith (Lion), David Nayler (Tinman), Oliver Faulkner (Scarecrow), Tony Edwards (Oz Guard), Jenni Boyce (Glinda) and Sheila Clapcott (Wicked Witch) – all absolutely superb.

Technically the show is a huge challenge in the relatively confined space, but it was a challenge conquered by the company

They also conquered Claire Camble-Hutchins’ intricate & highly impressive choreography. The difficult music was, I think, more of a challenge but Lesley Lock is an old hand when it comes to directing and knows how to get the best out of her cast.

This Oz was well worth the visit.

Linda Kirkmam

Caught In The Net

The last time I saw this company I said that I couldn’t wait until the next show and I was certainly not disappointed. 

Two teenagers (played faultlessly by Dan Rumsey and Asya Zuyeva) meet on the internet and, amazed by their similarities, both are called Smith, and have a father named John who drives a taxi, they plan a rendezvous.  The action of the play revolves around John, with one family in Streatham and another in Wimbledon, desperately trying to keep his two lives and children from colliding.  He is assisted by his friend and live-in lodger, Stanley.

While John is running between families, poor Stanley is left holding the fort, with hilarious consequences.

It would be difficult to pick out any of the cast in this superb show but the antics of John (Phil Vivian) and Stanley (Scott Heaton) have to be seen to be believed, their comic timing is excellent.  There is a small part played by Brian Foley of Dad, this was acting of the highest degree.

Well done to the two wives Barbara (Theresa Slater) and Mary (Rachel Mackrell) for simply keeping straight faces during all the antics.

Congratulations to Director Lisa Miller for giving us such an excellent evening’s entertainment.

Lyn Richell

Separate Tables

This production was chosen to celebrate All Saints’ 60th anniversary and Bournemouth’s 200 years of existence, and on both counts it worked a treat. Although there are other plays with local connections, Separate Tables most certainly fits the bill in terms of the references it makes and in its portrayal of the period when the town was genteel – and it was, it really was. I grew up there.

No company survives without a regular intake of new blood, and ASDS always has a healthy mix of long-time members and newcomers, giving them a huge pool of talent from which to pick their casts. Whilst no-one in this production, well directed by Douglas Eyre, was completely new there were one or two who have done very little, yet they blended well with the more experienced performers to produce a production that was one of the best I have seen from this group.

Separate Tables is two separate plays linked by the set and the majority of the characters. The action takes place during the early 1950s in Bournemouth’s Beauregard Private Hotel, where there are a number of elderly permanent residents whose lives are only enlivened by the arrival, or possible arrival, of new guests. In the first play that proves to be Mrs Shankland, a clearly distressed woman who is plainly ill-at-ease in the surroundings in which she finds herself. Rosie Hodgkinson was absolutely superb in this role and was well complemented by an excellent Simon Trueick as Mr Malcolm, the cause of her distress. Their fight scene, in particular, was alarmingly realistic.

The second play brings in resident Major Pollock, whose brush with the law and subsequent disgrace prove to be the catalyst for the down-trodden Sybil Railton-Bell to find the courage to finally defy her overbearing mother. These three roles were movingly and sensitively portrayed by Tony Edwards, Jenni Boyce and Sheila Clapcott.

John Sivewright, despite his youth, seems to have cornered the ASDS market in elderly men and his characterisation of retired schoolmaster Mr Fowler was extremely impressive, as was that of Jenni French as the efficient manager, Miss Cooper. Olly Faulkner gave a marvellous characterisation of soon-to-be doctor, Mr Stratton, and although Louise Tawn’s Miss Tanner/Mrs Stratton was perhaps not quite how I would imagine the character to be, she played it in a delightfully spirited way.

Jenny Wise was utterly believable as Lady Mathieson but I did feel that Gillie Sutherland’s Miss Meacham veered slightly into caricature – although she is, of course, described as odd so perhaps that didn’t matter too much. And Nina Eyre (Mabel) and Hayley Dellow (Doreen) were the epitome of disgruntled waitresses.

Full marks too for the most effective set and costumes.

Linda Kirkman.