Marie Bird as ‘Jack’ and the villagers

Cast dance to ‘I need a hero’

Finale - ‘Reach for the Stars’

(left) Tara Preston as ‘Rancid the Rat-Catcher’, plus the Giant’s minions and Debbie Attrill as ‘Piccalilli’.

Jack and the Giants’ minions

(L to R) Pip Edwards as ‘Queen Apricot’, Maurice Thompson as ‘Dame Dotty Dimple’ and Chris Nash as ‘King Crumble’

Alan Rees performing ‘The Monster Mash’ with the young cast members

(L to R) Dame Dotty Dimple, Queen Apricot, King Crumble and Tess Greaves as ‘Princess Charlotte’

Finale.

The first half described London at the time of the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. Lively songs, dances and sketches all set the scene; culminating in The Great Fire of London in 1666.

(L to R) Bob Constable as Narrator; Rachel Mallett, Vanessa Whitney-Hart, Jo Burston, Helen Roberts, Sarah Hyett, Marie Bird, Margaret Bolton, Sylvia Wilson, Geraldine Faulkner, Pip Edwards and Lawrence Pegrum as market traders and citizens.

Bob Constable as Narrator.

Marie Bird as ‘Doctor Dipsy Doodle’ - a quack selling ‘plague remedies’

Song and dance; ‘The Great Fire of London’ - Laurence Pegrum as the ‘blue flame’ and cast as ‘living flames’

‘The Rhyming Diary of Mrs Pepys’ by Carolyn Kain. This bawdy tale, written entirely in rhyme, explains the hedonistic lifestyle of Charles II.

(L to R) Sarah Hyett as Samuel Pepys and Vanessa Whitney-Hart as Mrs Pepys

‘The Rhyming Diary of Mrs Pepys’

(L to R) Pip Edwards as the Duchess of Portsmouth and Marie Bird as Nell Gwynn

‘The Rhyming Diary of Mrs Pepys’

Jo Burston as King Charles and Marie Bird as Nell Gwynn

‘The Rhyming Diary of Mrs Pepys’

Mrs Pepys, Samuel Pepys and Sylvia Wilson as Catherine of Braganza

‘The Rhyming Diaries of Mrs Pepys’

Geraldine Faulkner as Frances, Lady in Waiting to Catherine of Braganza, played by Sylvia Wilson.

‘The Rhyming Diaries of Mrs Pepys’

Samuel and Mrs Pepys; Geraldine Faulkner as ‘Britannia’.

(back row L to R) Helen Roberts as Old Ma Gwynn, Nell Gwynn, Duchess of Portsmouth.

(front row L to R) Margaret Bolton as King’s Mother, King Charles and Catherine of Braganza.

Chris Nash as Narrator, Laurence Pegrum, Helen Roberts, Jean Miller and Alan Rees as ‘Londoners’

Debbie Attrill as Phileas Fogg and Marie Bird as Passepartout

Passepartout, Inspector Fix (Pip Edwards) and the British Consul (Lawrence Pegrum).

Egyptian sand-dancers, Sue Cook and Sarah Hyett

Alan Rees charming a snake in Suez!

Helen Roberts and Jean Miller as Arabian dancers

The train from Bombay to Kholby.

Passepartout, Sir Francis Cromarty (Laurence Pegrum), Fogg and the train conductor (Alan Rees).

Indian Mahout (Helen Roberts), Fogg and Kiouni, the elephant (Rachel Mallett), prepare to journey to Allahabad.

Passepartout and Indian kidnappers (Sarah Hyett, Vanessa Whitney-Hart and Pat Cowgill), negotiate for the release of Princess Aouda (Margaret Bolton).

The Court in Calcutta.

Judge Obadiah (Vanessa Whitney-Hart); Clerk (Rachel Mallett) and Policeman (Alan Rees).

Inspector Fix, Passepartout, the Pilot of the ‘Rangoon’ (Jean Miller), Fogg and Princess Aouda, enter the port of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong

Chinese dragon (Sarah Hyett and Pat Cowgill)

Narrator, Sailer (Alan Rees), Fix, Princess Aouda and Fogg, weather the stormy sea on board the ‘Tankadere’.

Train from San Francisco.

Passepartout, Colonel Stamp Proctor (Alan Rees), American citizens (Helen Roberts and Vanessa Whitney-Hart), Fogg, Conductor (Pat Cowgill), Engineer (Laurence Pegrum).

‘Up, up and away in my beautiful balloon’

Fogg, Fix, Mudge (Lawrence Pegrum), Aouda and Passepartout

Fogg, Fix, Passepartout and Aouda commandeer the ‘Henrietta’ from Captain Speedy (Helen Roberts)

The Gentlemen of the Reform Club (Sue Cook, Sarah Hyett, Vanessa Whitney-Hart and Rachel Mallett) lose their bet with Fogg!

The Allotment by Gillian Plowman

Lorna (Jo Burston), Norah (Margaret Bolton) and Belle (Debbie Attrill)

Daisy (Marie Bird), the new probation officer and Marcie (Sylvia Wilson)

Daisy, Marcie, Norah and Belle (not to mention the mildly disturbing scarecrow in the background!)

A short play by May Hill Young Players, Directed by Jo Burston. All proceeds were donated to Gloucester Young Carers.

Directed by Jo Burston

Tara Preston as Rumpelstiltskin surrounded by his Gnomes

Debbie Attrill as ‘Chancellor Scrimp’ and James and May as ‘Cash’ and ‘Carry’

Katie plays ‘Rosamund’, Callum as ‘George’, his real-life brother Uaine as ‘Prince Gerald’ and Maddie as ‘Marigold’.

Marigold and her stage Mum, Philippa Bucket (Maurice Thompson)

The Court Physician attends to King Alfred (Chris Nash), whilst he is entertained by the ridiculous court jester, Laughalot (Marie Bird)

The KNight of the Square Table

(L to R)

Sir-Plus-to-Requirements (Helen Roberts), Sir Spender (Sarah Hyett), Sir Render (Margaret Bolton), Sir Prise (Sarah Parry) and Sir Spicious (Will Wallace)

Song ‘I’m starting to worry about ghosts’

ghost (Chris Nash), Philippa and Laughalot

Marigold makes a dodgy deal with Rumpelstiltskin

Directed by Maurice Thompson, Produced by Richard Pett

This version is set in 1920s Chicago, just for a change!

Jack played by Racheal Greaves and Puss played by Marie Bird

A villager (Chris Nash) listens raptly to Mystic Meg, played by Lynn Heron

Fairy Apprentice, Phoebe played by Alana; Fairy Priscilla played by Sarah Hyett; Evil Fairy Pernicia, played by Sarah Parry and Evil Fairy Apprentice, Roxie, played by Maddie.

Jethro and Jasper, played by Margaret Bolton and Nell Heron.

To help Jack, Priscilla upgrades Puss and Phoebe gives Puss his magic boots.

Killer Rabbits (Sue Cook and Chris Nash) sneak up on Jethro and Jasper

King Wally, played by Ted Heron

Queen Wendy, played by Tessa Hart

The Royal Page, Bobbie, played by Helen Roberts

Puss tell Jack his cunning plan….

The Ogre, played by Sylvia Wilson

Jack and Princess Arabella, played by Jo Burston

Following a scriptwriting workshop, several of our members decided to write their own short play-lets. We wanted to group them together and so we came up with the theme of ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’. Each play represented one sin, with God and the Devil betting on how things would play out. Each death was followed by a Check-in at the pearly gates - to see whether the final destination was Heaven or Hell.

Tara Preston played the Devil and Richard Pett played God.

Gluttony

A party guest (Sue Lawrance), is oblivious to what’s unfolding. Sarah Parry has been gluttonous throughout the afternoon tea and Marie Bird has had enough! The race for first dibs on the Turkish delight is on!

Sue Lawrence and Sarah Parry look on in horror as formerly timid Marie Bird stuffs Turkish delight into her face……and then discovers they’re laced with rat poison! Sarah Parry’s character subsequently is run over by the ice cream van she spots immediately afterwards…..

Nell Heron is the Check-in Assistant, advising Sarah of her options! Up….or down!

Lust

Nik Jason, Marie Bird, Jo Burston, Margaret Bolton, Debbie Attrill and Sarah Hyett.

Wrath

Will Wallace, Jo Burston and Sue Lawrance

Sarah Hyett, Nik Jason, Debbie Attrill, Margaret Bolton and Sarah Parry

Envy

Marie Bird as Jack, Jo Burston as the Princess and Maurice Thompson as the Giant

Sloth

Helen Roberts and Simon Miller

Greed

Madelaine, Maurice Thomson and Will Wallace

God and the Devil reflect.

A heavily adapted version of the famous Shakespeare comedy. Freezing cold rehearsals but great fun. Directed by Richard Pett and Produced. by Maurice Thompson.

(L to R)

Demetrius (Sue Lawrance), Egeus (Richard Pett), Hermia (Lucy Wallace), Theseus (Maurice Thompson), Hippolyta (Sarah Parry) and Lysander (Margaret Bolton)

The Clowns

Snout (Sarah Hyett), Flute (Phoebe Wallace), Snug (Jan Langford), Bottom (Jo Burston) and Quince (Chris Nash)

Puck (Marie Bird) and Oberon (Maurice Thompson)

Lysander and Helena (Nell)

Titania (Sylvia Wilson) and Bottom - as an ass (Jo Burston)

How to deal with scene and costume changes with no curtain!

Tilly Heron

Ah - the Wedding!

A War Revue Directed by Chris Nash

A poignant evening of songs and sketches to remember both World Wars.

(L to R)

Helen Roberts, Pip Edwards, Richard Pett, Audrey Toomey and Marie Bird are citizens, before the beginning of WWI.

A WWI Nurse reading a letter from her brother in the Army (Marie Bird)

Music Hall entertainment WWI

Richard Pett and Marie Bird

Richard Pett, Maurice Thompson, Marie Bird, Audrey Toomey and Roger Acland perform a ‘Dad’s Army’ sketch

The finale.

June 23

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June 23

Dorrie as the 'Dame' - Granny Gertrude, Paul Wirth as Heinz and Marie Bird as Minerva.

Simon Mills as Bob the Builder. Toby, Ali & Bess as the Three Little Pigs.

Chris Antonius as wicked 'Fairy Berry'

Fairy Berry threatens to eat Gretel, played by Etty Milford.

Daddy Bear (Paul Wirth), Mummy Bear (Sarah Hyett) and Baby Bear (Toby Arnold) have a serious discussion about porridge.

Goldilocks (Marie Bird), Red Riding Hood (Daisy) and Granny Gertrude (Dorrie) test the porridge!