Broadbent Theatre Past Production: Evenings of Intimate Theatre

Playing with Fire is based on a visit Strindberg made to some friends in 1892. They had been close but one unfortunate remark caused Strindberg to break off their friendship. The play is Strindberg's spiteful revenge on his one-time friend.

Both this play and The Stronger are remarkable for the way they study moments of crisis - that moment against which normality is judged. The intensity of that moment wields an unforgettable power.

Playing with Fire Cast
The Father	Douglas Ballard
The Mother	Phyl Walshaw
The Son	Phil Brown
The Daughter-in-Law	Cathy Harris
The Friend	John Dring
The Cousin	Liz Byrne

Strindberg, in a writing life of nearly forty years wrote more than sixty plays, beginning with historical dramas, through naturalism to his later experimental work. Both The Stronger and Playing with Fire are from his more naturalistic period.

The Stronger is a tour de force for any actress, being a virtual monologue. It is one of the very few examples of his work to show a sympathetic view of woman.

"A scabby little vaudeville which I've scratched out for the provinces" was how Chekhov described this one act comedy, somewhat ungratefully considering he was making his living from these "scabby" little plays at the time. With the success of his major work, these highly entertaining an amusing short plays have tended to be overlooked. It is only recently that they have been recognised as superb examples of the playwrights craft - a pleasure to work on and a pleasure to watch.

Proposal Cast
Choobukov, Stepan Stepanovich	Douglas Ballard
Natalyia Stepanovna	Cathy Harris
Lomov, a neighbour	Stanley Knafler

Bernard Shaw strides almost a century of English theatre. A contemporary of Strindberg and Chekhov, his last work appeared only six years before Look Back in Anger. His ability to laugh at pomposity, persistent nonsense and himself, ensures that his work will be enjoyed for at least another century.

His view of Ellen Terry was that "she chose a man at a glance.... and married him before he had time to have any choice in the matter". He surely had Miss Terry in mind when, in 1933, he wrote Village Wooing one of his wittiest short plays.

Verse drama. One can almost hear the thud of hearts into boots when these words are mentioned. Yeats, himself, may have had a similar reaction, for he sought to bring drama and poetry together in a way which would give full power to both. He wished to achieve something more than limp verse in established dramatic form.

Amongst his later plays is Purgatory, here his technique is at its height. Purgatory - the eternal in between. The play has the fascination of the moments between waking and sleeping - a walking dream. Intangible but never insubstantial, the strange and haunting play carries its own special power.

If Synge's dramatic work is small in number, it is large in stature. Although he wrote only three full-length plays and three shorter ones, from 1903-1910, they are an important achievement.

The Shadow of the Glen is one of the early plays and is essentially a knockout farce. Although the plot has been used in many comedies, what distinguishes it from others which get their laugh and disappear, is Singe's language. The richness of the Irish speech has been developed to bring another dimension to this entertaining farce.

Shadow of the Glen Cast
Mora Burke	Maureen Phelps
The Tramp	Bob Hewis
Dan Burke	Hugh Proctor
Michael Dara	John Dring

Crew
Set Designed by	Kari Furre
Set Built by	The Company
Stage Management	Ginge Barker, Liz Byrne, Ron Colbourne, Chic Ross, Kev Williams, Chis Maddison, Tim Thornally
House Management	Malcolm Bates, Madge Johnson, Margaret Stanney, Joyce Westman
Box Office	Lorna MacDonald

Acknowledgements

Charlie Hanson is the travelling drama director for Lincolnshire and Humberside Arts

Costumes, Stage Furniture and Lighting by the Company with thanks to Linda Tilbury, the Theatre Royal and the Drama Centre

The Lindsey Rural Players are indebted to Lincolnshire and Humberside Arts for financial aid

Purgatory Cast
Old Man	Ginge Barker
Boy	Pete Dennis

The Stronger Cast
Mary Yates
Mary Maddison

Village Wooing Cast
A	Bob Hewis
Z	Tina Sharpington