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Thame Players |
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Daisy Pulls it Off By Denise Deegan Directed by Coleen Tudway Colleen pulls it off! Colleen Tudway must have spent her time at school organising midnight feasts and getting up jolly japes judging by her spot-on direction of “Daisy Pulls it Off”. The play requires a first class director with the ability to marshal the gangs of girls into lively performances and this production certainly allowed Colleen to show off her paces. She struck just the right balance of straight respect for the material and mild parody to make it a high-spirited romp. Central to the production is Daisy, and from her opening scene when she had to engage the audience with her direct speech, Holly Jones showed she had the confidence, talent and creative imagination (not to mention vocal technique) to take us into this light-hearted pastiche; the adventures of plucky students at a boarding school. Along with Holly Jones there were a cast of talented youngsters who revelled in this opportunity to play villains; especially Penny Harper and Jo Brock who made the most of their wickedness and give their parts just the right energy to let Holly and her trusty side-kick Trixie (played by Constance Beauregard) have something substantial to bounce off. The jolly hockey sticks Head Girl, Katie Sanderson, and her friend Alice (Emily Baker) reminded me exactly of my crushes in the first year of Upper School. The “Adults” held their own however, especially Dorrie Oliver as the saintly Headmistress, Miss Gibson, Frances Lord played a most dislikeable teacher as Miss Granville, and Mark Williams found a mysterious accent as Mr Scoblowski, the music teacher with a secret. Val Cockayne brought a lovely gentleness to her role as Daisy’s Mother and Lynne Rimmer played the piano for the songs with just the right touch to remind us all of the school pianists we have sung along with at school assemblies. It was a slick production, special mention must be made of the exciting cliff top rescue in the second half. They play was an appropriate choice for the Players Theatre, bringing a clearly popular West End show to the Players theatre. The first night audience cheered our heroine Holly at the end, and would have given her another curtain call if the fierce stage manager (Steve Lambell) had not been so keen to get to the bar! Margi
Barbour
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The Thame Players Theatre Company Ltd Patrons: Sir Tim Rice, Bruce Alexander Registered Company No. 4389665. Registered Charity No. 1092559 |