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Show: Full Circle
Society: Bembridge Little Theatre Club
Venue: Bembridge Village Hall, Isle of Wight
Credits: Janet Shaw
Type: Sardines
Author: Cheryl May
Performance Date: 26/06/2021
Full Circle
Cheryl May | 28 Jun 2021 08:59am
With amateur theatre groups staging productions again I set off to Bembridge Village Hall, to see Bembridge Little Theatre Club’s latest production, Full Circle. Whilst social distancing regulations are still in place, and audience numbers reduced to thirty for each performance, I was pleasantly surprised to see the seating arranged in a café style. Social distancing was very much in evidence, but how encouraging for the cast to see the audience seated at clusters of tables rather than looking out to pockets of empty seats. The attentive front of house team brought drinks to the table, a glass of wine or juice is included in the price of the ticket.
Bembridge Little Theatre Club have a reputation for staging good theatre, and their production of Full Circle, by Janet Shaw, doesn’t disappoint.
Billed as a comedy drama, Full Circle explores a family’s current relationship problems that have resulted from a single decision taken forty-four years earlier. Dee and Millie haven’t spoken since 1969 and through a lack of communication, no one knows why. When Brian and Linda, their respective children, met and married their mothers tolerated each other on social occasions. Now it is the week of their only granddaughter’s wedding, and it becomes physically impossible to dodge the inevitable confrontations. No one knows what happened forty-four years ago and Brian and Linda are fed up with the awkwardness of the situation.
The play is centred around Brian and Linda’s lounge, and opens with Linda planning her daughter Nicola’s wedding with military precision. Jane Robert embraces the role with confidence and ease, giving a lovely portrayal as the elegant and efficient Linda, the mother of the bride with a penchant for designer shoes. Every aspect of her daughter’s wedding has been organised, even down to an ice sculpture and firework display. Her husband Brian’s horror when he finds out just what has been planned for the big day, and how much it is going to cost, is well conveyed by John Hammond.
John Hammond, plays the part of curmudgeonly husband Brian superbly, also showing another facet in Brian’s character later on in the play as he steps up and saves the big day. Hammond has some of the funniest lines in the play and carries them off with aplomb.
Alice Burton-Jones shows great confidence and ability as Linda and Brian’s daughter, Nicola, who is as determined as they are that her grandmothers resolve their differences before her wedding day.
With the arrival of the two feuding grandmothers, Dee and Millie, played respectively by Martie Cain and Glenys Lloyd-Williams, come new problems for Linda and Brian. Brian’s mother Dee arrives on a motorbike which she crashes into the greenhouse. She wears motorbike leathers and enjoys drinking whisky with her son, much to Linda’s dismay. In total contrast, Linda’s upper-class mother, Millie, wears designer clothes and an air of disdain. Totally opposite in appearance and nature, their acerbic put downs and verbal slanging matches show that their forty-four year old feud is still ongoing. Miss Cain and Miss Lloyd-Williams are superb in these roles, their well-timed performances convey the wit of the play.
John Abraham gives an excellent and colourful portrayal of Wills, a flamboyantly gay and overly dramatic neighbour, who lifts the mood with every appearance. Wills relishes the task Brian has set him to find out more about the mysterious Jack, especially when skeletons tumble out of the proverbial closet at an alarming rate. The play seems to have a series of revelations, one of which is Wills real name, which provides Brian with plenty of opportunity for banter.
John Molyneux has a lovely cameo role as Gloria. Gloria’s surprise visit to see Millie builds the intrigue.
The play is well directed by Barry Aspinall, who draws out the drama and tension within this comedy, each member of his excellent cast playing their part perfectly. It was a clever touch by the Director to use a male actor to play Gloria, as a transgender male and not use a female to play Graham, as suggested in the script.
The sound effects team are on the ball with the many different ringtones, which the cast respond to expertly. It is not easy to have three or four conversations going on at once, as with each phone call we see the wedding plans unravel.
Depicting a typical family living room and furnishings, I particularly liked the set’s floral arrangement behind the French windows. Sound, lighting and music choices complimented the production.
The play completes the full circle of the title, with a poignant denouement.