"Entertaining Angels" by Beeston Players.

Round Hill School, Beeston.

Richard Everett’s bitter-sweet comedy is set in a quintessentially English vicarage garden.  It follows Grace, a recently widowed vicar’s wife coming to terms with his passing, the loss of her family home to the potential new lady vicar, Sarah, the return of her missionary sister and a daughter with her own issues.

Grace has spent a lifetime on her best behaviour. Following the death of her husband Bardolph, she is enjoying the new-found freedom of being able to do and say exactly as she pleases. But the return of her eccentric missionary sister, Ruth, together with some disturbing revelations, forces Grace to confront the truth of her marriage. At the same time, Sarah reveals some un-clergy-like credentials of her own to Grace’s therapist daughter Jo.

The sharp tongued and quick witted Grace is played by Alison Williams. Grace uses her wit and sharp tongue throughout the play to hide the general feeling of her being lost since the death of her husband, Bardolph. Alison has a lovely easy acting style, almost as if she's not acting on stage, which makes her role seem extremely believable. Grace comes out with some things that you wouldn't expect a lady of her years to come out with, which makes Grace a bit of a shocker.

Ruth is played by Nicola Adkin. Like her sister, Ruth is an energetic woman who is all business. She feels better when busy and this rubs Grace up the wrong way regularly, especially with her Flymo. She is the typical older sister and holds a slight grudge against her more freely outspoken sister. After a certain confession from Ruth, there's  some quite emotional scenes between the two sisters. The chemistry between both sisters is, at times, electric.

Bardolph is played by Paul Langston. Bardy is a mild-mannered, relaxed individual; every inch a small village vicar. He is genuinely a kindly, friendly man whose gentle good humour is an even balance to his outspoken wife. It’s a pity he’s dead. He is not dithering or silly like some TV vicars, but just a genuinely charming man. He is however not backwards at laying things out straight to Grace. I've seen Paul many times perform with Beeston Players and always nails whatever role he takes on.

Jo is played by Meghan Southan. Like her mother and aunt, Jo has an ageless youthful quality to her. She seems to have never-ending patience, and she needs it with her family. Recovering from the painful end to her own marriage, via her husband’s infidelity, she is very supportive but not afraid to point out to her mother when she is in the wrong. This is Meghan's first time on stage but looks completely at ease.

Sarah, the new vicar, is played by Ali Parnham. A strong-willed, energetic woman vicar for the modern world. All jeans, knee length boots and Bluetooth headsets. She is seen by Grace as a polar opposite to the traditional vicars she is used to and therefore the relationship is strained.

There were a couple of prompts in the second act, but this is a really wordy play.

Directed by Gary Frost, the pace of this play is really nice because there are some pauses that break up some of the faster speeches, which breaks a natural flow of how people interact. This play is something a little different for Beeston Players because there's a more serious side to this play which balances nicely the comedic parts, venturing into a darker side of drama. It also leaves the audience member to decide whether Bardolph is just in the mind of Grace, whether he is an angel (without wings but with a heavenly trowel), or just a mirage. 

The set design is by Sam Williams. I would love my back garden to look as neat and tidy, and colourful, as this set. Complete with garden arches, pots of flowers, a wheelbarrow, gardening tools and a greenhouse, as well as a river (not a real one by the way), but there is water. The garden is clinically clean and would gain respect from Alan Titchmarsh without a doubt. the set was dressed by Nicola Adkin with loads of props, thanks to Nina Tunnicliff.

Sam is also responsible for the sound and the sound effects, which were utilised well, including the sound of the stream bubbling away.

Lighting by Tom Jenkins. Simple and straight forward; no fancy effects needed.

A new play to me, and that is what I really admire about Beeston Players, they don't rest on laurels and choose predictable plays. Every play that I've seen by this group have attracted excellent audiences who faithfully support The Players. I did overhear in the interval a couple of people who were experiencing their first time in attendance.

As usual The Beeston Players did not disappoint.

I attended the final performance of this production.

 "Play On" by Ravenshead Theatre Group.

Ravenshead Village Hall.

"Play On" is the story of a theatre group trying desperately to put on a play, "Murder Most Foul", in spite of maddening interference from a haughty authoress who keeps revising the script. Act One is a rehearsal of the show, Act Two is the near disastrous dress rehearsal, and the final act is the actual performance in which anything that can go wrong, does go wrong! It doesn’t help that the cast is extremely disgruntled, and the playwright accidentally deletes the entire sound effect board. All brilliantly good fun for the viewer.

Written by Rick Abbott, very similar to "The Play That Goes Wrong" or "Noises Off". The audience were having proper belly laughs at the characters and the script, which translates to the talents of the actors.

So many times of late I've seen theatre groups performing as an ensemble piece, meaning that everyone acts at the same level, and I am always hard pushed to pick anyone from the "ensemble group" who is any better than the next. This is another such show where the actors show incredibly tight teamwork from start to finish. 

Aggie Manvillle is the stage manager within the play, played by Helen Berry. Now, for anyone who isn't quite sure what the job of the stage manager is, this play gives you a pretty good idea, as she races round the stage making sure everything and everyone is where they should be. A wonderfully frustrated and hectic performance by Aggie, accurately played by Helen.

Geraldine “Gerry” Dunbar is the play within a play's Director. Again another frustrated soul is Gerry, brought to life by Mandy Buckley.

  Andy Cook plays Henry Benish who is playing Lord Dudley and Sarah Tryner plays Polly Benish who is playing Lady Margaret in the play's play put up with a lot. Henry is often getting his foot trodden on or hit in the groin by a chair by his in-play wife, and Polly is forever the butt of jokes about her size - all very un PC. It's when the play is presented on opening night that the real comedy emerges as both go to pieces, especially Henry with a dose of stage fright. 

Marla "Smitty" Smith is played by Katherine Butler. "Smitty" is playing Doris the Maid. Abbott is very generous with the comedy, sharing it out for every character and there is a wonderful, and very simple piece of comedy played out by "Smitty" where the front of her maid's hat is just slightly droopy and this causes it to flop over her eyes. Simple but comedy gold and Katherine works this so well.

Saul Watson, played by Eddie Gray, is the actor within "Murder Most Foul" playing Dr Rex Forbes - I hope that you are following all of this! Along with the character Billy Carewe, Saul gets to consume quite a bit of the stage wine, and as you can imagine, the script sounds a little different to what it should sound like in the final performance. There is nothing funnier than an accurately played drunk, and when the added comedy of trying to get your words in the right order goes wrong, you really can't help but laugh. This is Eddie's debut for RTG but his stage presence and confidence shows that this is not his first stage rodeo.

Billy Carewe, played by Oliver Glover not only is the slightly tipsy partner in crime to Saul, but he also has to make Billy, playing Stephen Sellers a proper hammy actor with staccato movements and over enunciated words. His proposal of engagement to Violet Imbry's character Diana Lassiter is another wonderfully funny piece of acting. Oliver has risen through the ranks of the Ravenshead Youth Group, and that experience shows in this very confident and comedic performance.

Rachel Gascoigne plays Violet Imbry, playing Diana Lassiter, and is a great foil for Billy with their act being art reflecting real life, within the play that is. Great upper class accent for Diana.

Louise Peary is the stage technician within "Play On" and is played by Lucy Johnson. Louise simmers throughout until Phyllis manages to wipe all of the sound effects from the console and then she explodes, but wouldn't you if it took you hours and hours to compile all the effects for the play and programme them all in the right order. Louise does wreak her revenge though at the end!

Phyllis Montague is the playwright who has written, and re-written, and re re-written "Murder Most Foul" who constantly interferes with the running of the play as well as the script. This wonderfully funny role is played by Catherine Buckley.

One very important thing with the "actors" and their "roles" within the play is to be able to show the difference between the two personas within the play, and that is something that the Ravenshead group have nailed in this show; you can immediately tell the actor from the "actor" from the role played by the "actor".

Directed by Rob Hurst, assisted by Jacques Hurst. If you've seen this comedy before, which I had several years ago, you notice things that seem different from when you first see it, and making those subtle changes to a play is the sign of an accomplished and confident Director. I've seen this quite often of late, and it's great to see a director making a production there own and keeping it fresh for people who have witnessed the shows before. For first timers to the play, you would not know that anything may have been changed. 

Rob has used every bit of the Village Hall as his stage, never restricting the acting to just the stage. Even before the play starts there's action, and interaction with the audience, and when the play starts there are actors coming at you from every direction, and even joining you in the audience throughout, again making this version fresh.

And afterwards I also commended Rob on the sign of a stylish waistcoat wearer, as depicted on the male cast members. Take a look at the bottom button of their waistcoats and you'll see that the bottom button is NEVER fastened up; the sign of a gentleman. It's these small touches that show the time taken by any great Director.

Set design is by Rob as well. Act One shows a bare skeleton of a stage, but come Act Two you could hear the audible gasp of the audience at the change in the set dressing. More than that I won't divulge but what a difference between the first and second act set.

Sound is by Daniel Andrews, and what a superb job Dan did. from the opening piece of music, which straight away set the tone for this very funny piece of theatre, through to the timing - and at times planned mistiming of the effects, everything was spot on.

Lighting is by Iain Walton. One thing that I have noticed about the production side of Ravenshead Theatre Group is just how slick and professional the technical people are.

The costumes for the final act are gorgeous and extremely classy and sourced by Lin Baggarley, Mandy Buckley and Rob Hurst.

This production isn't produced very often locally, possibly because of the hard work that goes into the show by everyone, but when the results are as good as this, the hard work is so worth it. It's also reflected in the audience sizes and their reactions. Friday night was rammed and their reactions could not have been better.

The Postman delivered yet again!

"Play On" by Ravenshead Theatre Group is at Ravenshead Village Hall until Saturday 18 May.

 "Legally Blonde" by Good Companions Theatre.

Derby Theatre.

O Mi God U Guys, are you going to love this production! I know I, and the packed derby Theatre audience certainly did on Thursday night.

"Legally Blonde", if you've not seen the musical, or the film before, is the story of Elle Woods who is completely smitten with Warner Huntington III when he tells her that she is dumped as he is off to Harvard to study law, and feels that he needs someone more "serious". Elle decides to show him that she is serious by enrolling in Harvard to win him back, unbeknown to her, he has already found his someone serious in Vivienne.

Elle discovers that she has a flair for this legal thing by using unconventional methods and manages to win the day by winning the murder case and freeing the accused, the fitness queen Brooke Wyndham.

In the interim she finds herself a new love, an unlikely ally and an enemy in Professor Callaghan when she turns the tables on him and shows what a slimeball he really is.

As a group, this cast are faultless, so I won't go into just how fabulous they are individually; they do however all deserve a credit.

Elle is played by the gorgeous Helen Perry, who looked like a walking, talking, acting, singing Barbie doll. Completely pitch perfect, looked incredible and danced like her life depended on it. Helen has some fairly quick costume changes which she carries out effortlessly. I've seen many professional and local productions of "Legally Blonde", and have seen many Elle Woods, but I think Helen has to be my new favourite Elle.

Elle's best friends and Delta Nu Nu Sisters are Margot, Serena and Pilar, played energetically by Lindsey Greasley, Jennifer Alton and Ru Kniveton respectively.

Kate, who is one of the featured Delta Nu Sisters, is played by Cat Howourth.

Gaelan is played by Cass Barrett and Leilani is played by Reema Rose.

Elle's parents, Mr and Mrs Woods are played by Chris England and Claire Jarman, who at one stage arrive on stage in a golfing buggy.

Warner is played by Martin Counter, and this version of Warner Huntington III was not as arrogant or slimy as some that I've seen in the past, and that is quite fresh. Yes, the character is arrogant and shallow, but Martin built on that but retained the human side  as well.

Vivienne, Warner's "serious" girlfriend who eventually sees the shallow side of Warner, is played by Callie Egan, who I last saw as a Roman Ancestor in GCMT's "The Addams Family". Nice to see Callie in a main role because we get to hear her singing more than in the previous show. Vivienne comes from a very conservative East Coast background and is everything that Warner needs to make a serious move to become a lawyer.

Lucy Slaney plays Whitney who is Vivienne's law school friend and partner in mischief when it comes to bringing down Elle.

Emmett Forrest, who Elle fell in love with while at Harvard, is played by Rob Chilton. Every actor who plays any character will bring something different to a role, and Rob does that as well by presenting a more shy Emmett who comes out of his shell more when around people like Elle. A well timed department store changing scene went completely to plan.

Paulette, the hairdresser with a penchant for the Irish, is played by Kate Trail. Paulette Buonafonte has always been one of my favourite characters in "Legally Blonde" because in a world of pushy characters, Paulette is hard working and always willing to help anyone, as proven in the scene where she is helping Elle with her studies. Kate is a lovely singer and love the song she performs "Ireland", and the choreography that goes along with that scene.

Kyle, the hunky UPS man is played with great twinkly-eyed confidence by Charlie Torry. It's very safe to say that Kyle was not just a hit with Paulette as the audience were more than eager to show their appreciation of Kyle,  his large package, as well as Charlie the actor. A nice, cheeky role with swagger.

Dewey is Paulette's brash ex-husband who lives in a trailer and holds her dog captive. Although Dewey doesn't have a lot of stage time, it is a great cameo role for Ross Trail.

The slimy Professor Callaghan is played by Phil Stanley. I have always been a big fan of Phil's voice, which in "Blonde" has a jazzy edge to it, as shown in the song "Blood In The Water". It's quite nice to see Phil play a slightly different character; a character who extracted "boos" from the enthusiastic Thursday night crowd at his final bows.

Enid Hoopes is an Harvard intern who is on the case in Callaghan's team, is played by Heidi Hand. The make up and costume completely transforms Heidi into Enid. A few nice comic sections for Heidi to show her strong comedy acting.

Cameron Trail plays Aaron Schultz and Stephen Mura plays Sergei Padamadan who, along with Enid are featured law students with academic credits that would intimidate anyone.

Grandmaster Chad is a fun cameo role for Jake Perry.

Brooke Wyndham, the fitness queen who is on trial for murder of her sugar daddy husband, is played brilliantly by Georgina Bateman.

Chutney - who would name their child Chutney? - Wyndham is played by Eleanor Mallinson. Chutney Wyndham has a really bad perm and an even worse attitude. Eleanor delivers the best accent in this show.

 Winthrop, Lowell and Pforzheimer are three admissions officers of Harvard Law School who eventually admit Elle into the program after some critical evaluation. In the past these roles have been played by male actors, so it's nice to see these roles changed up a bit and played as female officers by Ellie Mallinson, Lisa Scott-Savage and Debs McPherson.

The Judge, who presides over the court proceedings, is also played by Debs McPherson.

Gary Rowley is the Court Stenographer and DA Joyce Riley is played by Louise Simcox.

Nikos, the man in the dock who works for Brooke as a pool man, is played by Tom Banks. A minor comic role where we have to decide if he is gay or European. The truth is out, quite literally when his best friend, or is that boyfriend Carlos, interrupts the court proceedings with a little outburst; a scene they both manage to steal.

Addison is played by Rachel Wallace, Avery is played by Roxhanna Tucker, Quinn is played by Emma Chadwick, Harper played by Olivia Thompson, Jet Blue Pilot is played by Scott Mill.

The ensemble consists of Brian Counter, Ali Watkins, Emma Chadwick, Ollie Hand, Olivia Thompson, Charlotte Hanser, Josh Greengrass and Rachel Wallace.

We must not forget the two canine lovelies here. So well behaved they are and they seem to have enjoyed their thespian roles as their tales never ceased to stop wagging. Neville Parkin played Rufus and Blossom Grey played Bruiser stole the hearts of everyone. Trained by Cat Howourth.

Directed by Helen Oldham and Phil Simcox. This is a massive show with a massive cast and Helen and Phil have made this a massive success.

Musical Director for the show is Richard Hodges. There are some incredible vocal performances in this show which have been teased out of these incredible vocalists by Richard.

Choreographed by Jackie O'Brien, and yet another massive undertaking for one person. The skipping scene, "Whipped Into Shape" is performed by both male and female actors, and has been perfectly timed to the song without any mishaps with the skipping ropes. There are some excellent cheerleader dance moves among all of the brilliantly choreographed pieces for songs like "Bend And Snap", "What you Want", "Ireland" and "Gay Or European".

The set is by Scenic Projects and reminded me of a cartoon page with its' off kilter and slanted scenery, only added to the comic style element. The four big letters that were lit up that were lowered into the set spelling Elle's name really created a stylish section to the show.

The costumes are thanks to Clara freestone and Carole Pratley. I lost count of the costume changes for Elle, every one as glamorous as the previous one.  So many costumes for so many people.

Sound design is by Phil Simcox and Simon Birchall and operated by Phil Simcox. There were a few missed mic cues and I would have liked to have had the volume up just another notch, but I appreciate that this area of production, with a cast this vast is a massive job. I've said in the past that a Sound Operator has to be part octopus to get all the faders in the right place at the right time.

Lighting design by Jamie Vella who delivers an exciting and vibrant programme of illumination.

With such a big cast, another area that deserves mentioning is stage management by Steve Cole and Helen Blakeman.

There's also a BSL interpretation from Seb Probert on the Saturday night performance.

Well, I hope that I have mentioned everyone who brought this gorgeously fluffy musical to life on stage, and if I haven't, please forgive me. Only one name that I couldn't trace in the programme was that of Carlos unfortunately.

Oh My God how I love this musical which is crammed full of catchy tunes, great characters, a fun script, that may not be quite PC - but who cares? It's bright, breezy, bouncy, camp and pink! What more could you ask for?

"Legally Blonde - the Musical" is at Derby Theatre until Saturday 18 May. Seeing this musical will definitely leave you feeling in the pink!