Mix a wedding with a 1920s flapper girl and a father of the bride who 'imagines' he sees a girl named Polly, and what have you got? The latest production by the Taunton Thespians at the Brewhouse, that's what! Brilliantly written by Ray Cooney and John Chapman, the production tells the story of bride Judy Westerby and her wedding day. Of course, there's her 'troubled family', especially her father Timothy Westerby who, after a couple of knocks to the head in a number of small accidents, certainly brings a twist to this apparent ordinary tale. Overall, the cast were well picked and there were no weak performances. A couple to mention especially includes the bride herself (played by Kate Guest). Although the character strangely didn't have too much to say out of the play, she played her crucial part well, and demonstrated some excellent characterisation skills. For example, when she was talking to her mother about the wedding in the very first scene, the character was suitably excited about the event and 'dreamy' to the whole experience of being married to the love of your life. The father of the bride (played by Clive Linthorne) was also brilliantly played. I especially liked how the character changed his tone of voice, gestures and posture to fit in with every time he got a knock to the head, which therefore changed his 'moods'. I also liked how the character controlled the stage at all times - I wasn't in any doubt that this character was indeed the father. Finally a special mention should go to Adrian Lynch, who played best man Bill Shorter. This character was confident, excited and suitably fitted in with the chaos that went on in the production. This character also helped to speed up the production in some cases when it was sometimes going sluggishly.  | | Jason Carter as the groom's father, Harold Babcock |
It was clear that director Sylvia Fellgett has put a lot of hard work into this production, and she should be congratulated on this immensely. If I have one quibble, it would be to say that the first act seemed to go a lot slower than the second act, as it seemed to drag on in some places. This could be down to the script slightly, and because act two didn't have to set the scene of the whole situation (unlike the first act). It certainly got down to business, and was a pure delight to watch. The set for the production (built by Ray Court) was suitably brilliant for the production. It consisted of a box set (three walls of a room presented on stage). The test of all box sets is whether, when an actor closes a door, the set wobbles or not. Thankfully, it didn't and showed once again the truly high standard of production the Thespians have set. A special mention should also be said about the props (organised by Helen Witcomb and Lucy Tozer). In the room, where the action was taking place on stage, there were numerous props that filled up spare gaps. These were picked very well. I especially liked the sofa (that was used by a lot of the characters). This was well chosen - it didn't distract the audience away from the main action on stage with its loud colours, instead it enhanced the action on stage. Both sound and lighting (provided by Matt Redstone and Kevin Stratton) were simplistic, yet perfectly enhanced the action on stage. If I had only one thing to say about lighting is that some moments in the play (for example when the father and Polly kissed), the lighting changed. However before I had known it, the lighting had changed back to the original design, again! There were lots of moments like this in the production, and if these different lighting designs were held on for a little longer, even just a couple of seconds, I think this would have added to the effect of the production. To conclude, the Thespians really struck gold with this production, and they should be really proud of their achievement. If I had one thing to say, it's that the script was a bit light on the ground - some scenes really didn't seem to push the play on at all and were a bit boring in parts. But, ultimately, well done and thank you for a wonderful production. A Taunton Thespians production is something that you don't want to miss! Taunton Thespians' next production is Jane Eyre, which will be touring around the county from 20 June to 2 July, 2006. | 
