" A Bunch Of Amateurs" by Nick Newman and Ian Hislop.

Blind Eye

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

A washed-up Hollywood star, Jefferson Steele, is flown to England to play the title role in King Lear at "Stratford" believing he will be appearing onstage at the legendary Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Instead he finds he has signed on with the "Stratford Players" in the Suffolk village of Stratford St John. He arrives in England with his career deteriorating and having problems with his daughter who is an aspiring actress on the fringes of the New York theatre.

The local villagers are over the moon to have such a “star” playing with them. Steele though is a typically selfish American with no time for manners, and displays an appalling lack of class, considering himself too big for this lowly setting. Will the arrogant Steele knuckle down to his latest role, or will he forever play the Hollywood star? If you've never seen this comedy before then there's only one way to find out......

Jefferson Steele is played by Jonathan Greaves, portraying the archetypal American "star" to be a ball of ego, attitude and entitlement; thinking that he is too big to rehearse, wanting to change the script to fit Steele's "talents" and expecting everyone to cow tow to him. When he finds out that this local theatre group are not about to treat this Hollywood star as a star so up himself, and his agent cannot, or will not get him out of this contract, he starts to  think differently on the job in hand. He also discovers that not all media news is great publicity!

I can only imagine that this role is joy for Jonathan to play as it allows him to play the ultimate diva, flounce and swear to his character's heart's content, as well as deliver some iconic Shakespearian lines alongside some brilliant comedy lines by Hislop and Newman. As always with Jonathan, the role is delivered brilliantly, reminding me so much of the actor Greg Davies in this role.

Saurav Modak plays Nigel Dewbury, possibly a rival for Steele but he loves the theatre and is very confident about his acting ability with the Stratford Players. Nigel is a proper ham and we get some wonderfully hammy, over the top lines from The Bard's pen, and Saurav brings the pompousness to the stage gloriously.

Danielle Rodgers plays the slightly over excitable Mary Plunkett, and in the play she has a bit of a crush on Steele. Could her jealousy be the downfall of out American star? Another lovely comedy role, whcih is something that Danielle excels at. there is a scene where Mary has to deliver a speech to Lear with great anger, and is in such contrast to the previously "fan-girl" behaviour when around Steele, it makes you sit up and take note!

Alex Sjoberg-Weekes plays Lauren Bell, the wife of the sponsor and budding actor herself, but all does not go quite to plan when her former occupation causes quite an unexpected blow to the future of the play!!!

Paul Duffy plays Dennis Dobbins, caretaker, health and safety officer and the Duke of Gloucester in "King Lear". Great accent and another classic comedy performance, including an unexpected change of character in the second act. Paul also was the Fight and Lift Co-ordinator.

Kay Thomason-Vardy plays Jefferson’s feisty teenage daughter, Jessica Steele. Jessica is wise to her father and his ways and stands no nonsense from him. Does her love of acting bridge that gap that has widened between her and Jefferson over the years? Kay brings the drama to the play within the play in the second act, but a drama that brings the gap between father and daughter closer together. As with Jonathan and Paul, we get another wonderful and consistent accent.

Beth Duffy plays Dorothy Nettle, the director of the Stratford Players and the moving force behind keeping the theatre alive. Dorothy is very typical of many Directors I know because she is the glue, the force, the determination, the organiser, the agony aunt as well as the mother hen for this bunch of amateurs. A real bridge over various troubled waters within the Stratford Players. 

Evie Lucas, Ashleigh Wilkinson and Gabriella Tilley play The Singer/Journalist. This trio move the play on, distracting from the subtle scene changes and giving the cast members breathing space to change costumes, and performing the words of the Bard to music arranged by Rowan Nix, with choreography thrown in by Ashleigh Wilkinson.

Directed by Lindsey Hemingway, assisted by JJ McCormack. It's pacy, is hilariously good fun and has been well cast. I have to say that these roles have been so well matched to the actors, playing to the individual strengths. The musical interventions are clever and cover a range of music genres - I especially like the country and western version of Shakespeare. There's a really nice balance of serious am-dram action combined with the hilarious ham fest. This is only Lindsey's second bout of directing ever, but the quality of the direction shows that I don't think this will be the last time that Lindsey dons the Director cap.

Set Designer is JJ McCormack. The whole stage is filled with this excellent design; there are two massive doors at the back which make the archetypal village hall seem more like a barn door design. The rest of the area is filled with various sections of scenery and a stage. It was quite fun getting in the auditorium early to take a look at the amount of props on stage, all of which are so relevant to the am-dram scene. As usual the construction of the set is by JJ, Lindsey, Grant Hemingway and Zack McCormack. This quartet should be up for some kind of set design/construction with this great set.

Kirsty Smith is the Stage Manager, making sure that the running of everything stage wise ran smoothly, along with Stage Crew of Izzy Tilley and Jennifer Reckless.

Costumes for the play are by JJ McCormack and Adam Chapman. If you've ever seen one of Blind Eye's shows, you'll know just how good the costumes are, having won awards for their costume design in the past. And I don't think that there were any of the characters who didn't have at least a couple of costume changes each.

Sound design and  lighting design are by Jack Clarke with Dave Dallard on standby. The sound cues were beautifully timed and the lighting operation was as timely and apt as the sound design and operation.

The writers Ian Hislop and Nick Newman really get to the heart of what local theatre is all about and that an amateur operation like local theatre is anything but amateur. I for one have been shouting this for decades.

Blind Eye support a different charity with every production and this time around they have chosen to raise money for Asthma and Lung UK. This charity do amazing work across the UK helping us all to breathe easier, and are the only charity in the UK supporting the nation's lungs.

"A Bunch Of Amateurs" is at the Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton until Saturday 30 May and see how a bunch of amateur theatre actors put on a professionally slick piece of theatre.