News from Priors Players - Read FryghtBite's excellent review:
FryghtBite – the real business
FryghtBite must be the funniest show ever produced by Priors Players. Written by Tony Styles, with the company’s current skills in mind and with the intention of encouraging new blood & fresh young talent, FryghtBite was devised as a gothic pantomime – Fun to Chill the Blood. The audience is transported to Transylvania in the company of Belgian Vampyre Hunter Claude Watteau (Derek Kane), the intrepid Vicar of Dunley (Hilary Jones), dreamy Katrina Nicebody (Amber Thacker); gold-digging Essex girl Kylie Wineglass (Jane Snow) & finally a young precocious cricket-loving orphan Scootie (Harry Tanner).
Horrid things start to happen when the group first meets its tour guide, sinister Eager (John Dixon) eating flies and “day-lighting” from his main job as right-hand man for the evil Count Dracula (Hugo Wurzer). It is a dark & windy night and the local hostelry, Jugular Inn in Transfusion village, is suffering from the credit crunch. The inn’s genial proprietors Arthur & Martha (Allan Hitchcock & Laura Wurzer), are therefore keen to welcome the newcomers to join solitary guest Peter De Wolfe (Jonathon Tinkley). By happy coincidence, they arrive the evening before Count Dracula’s annual moonlit Cricket Match and Ball at which the Count traditionally picks a new bride. Good timing as young Scootie is keen to show off his batting skills and Kylie Wineglass is on the look-out for “a simple multi-millionaire aristocrat” to marry.
At the Count’s castle, preparations are well under way. Ghastly ghoul Helga (Cydni Green) is finalising details with her catering associates Spick and Span (Olly & Izzy Woodhouse) who augment their daytime job as maids at Jugular Inn by diligently acquiring “cadavers without palaver” by night for the grisly banquet menu. So why is Count Dracula so listless? Is his Bloody Mary not strong enough? What is this strange phobia he has about horses?
The plot thickens. Can zombies, ghoulies, ghosties, long legged beasties and things-that-go-bump in the night survive the fierce light of day? Will the Vicar of Dunley need her ample power of exorcism? Perhaps Claude Watteau’s more sensitive anti-vampyre equipment will suffice? Why does Peter De Wolfe behave so strangely when the moon shines? What caused Ms Nicebody’s mood swing? Will Kylie get a double-page spread in Hello! Magazine? Might Eager’s loyalty to the Count waver? Were there really only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? There is a deathly hush as Scootie practices his perfect cover drive….
FryghtBite’s first public performance was at St Mary Bourne Village Centre on Friday 15 May.
It maintained Priors Players’ traditional high standards for stage sets, costumes & make-up (well done Chrissie Henderson) backstage management & front of house friendly efficiency. But hit a higher level when it came to on-stage performance. Young actors (Amelia Anstess, Maddie Christy, Amie-Jayne Clarke, Libby Clarke, Ramsey Dawson, Jack Fish, Charlotte King, Niamh Mathias) were all impressively spooky as the chorus of zombies and ghouls. Caspar Dickinson and Zak Hirst were also very effective in their first roles for Priors Players. Emma Whitehouse, Mary Childs, Jane Meaney, and Jonathan Tinkley are welcome new faces. Particularly exciting is the emergence of younger local talent as shown by the Woodhouse sisters in their demanding comic roles as Spick & Span and Cydni Green who was exceptional as the Count’s bossy housekeeper Helga. She confidently & calmly established her role of black brooding malevolence in contrast to the irritatingly self-absorbed Scootie. Harry Tanner (Scootie) showed perfect comic timing, was word perfect and managed to convey the ambivalent sense of not-so-sweet innocence mixed with a sportsman’s hardheaded insensitivity. These are talents to watch.
Among the adult roles, the exceptional performances were by John Dixon as Eager – alert to every comic innuendo and ready to help out his Master Count Dracula (Hugo Wurzer) when the going got tough. Hugo’s Count was a masterpiece – with expressions ranging from lust, listlessness, lethargy, and then terror….as he met his match (No – I will not give the plot away) and Jane Snow as Kylie Wineglass – the Chigwell barmaid on the make – out-essexed any Essex girl or WAG. Hers was a fabulous comic performance – one of a long line and one of her very best for Priors Players.
Perhaps, however, the real star of the whole show was the script. FryghtBite gives everyone the chance to develop their talents on stage. It is full of witty tribute and references to other literary works and authors – Bram Stoker, Agatha Christie, Charles Newbolt, Hello magazine, Rocky Horror Show, Alfred Hitchcock, Enid Blyton … even Shakespeare and the Bible - and it is very very funny if you like pantomime with a twist. This is a play which could become a classic for amateur and professional productions. It is home-grown and was premiered with home-grown talent. If you didn’t catch it in St Mary Bourne on 15 & 16 May, you should try to find it elsewhere.
Who are we?
Prior’s players has been a part of the cultural life of the Bourne Valley since the early 1960s. That is approximately 45 years of high drama, comedy, reviews and musicals produced and performed by local people for local people.
Though an amateur dramatic society we believe in a high degree of professionalism, quality and challenge. Recent productions include A Man for All Seasons (performed in our 12th C church), Twelfth Night, The Cherry Orchard, 'Allo 'Allo, The Herbal Bed and Glorious.
We are also a sociable company and have staged musical reviews and events including Mid Life Crisis, Stages of Love, a masked ball, and a tribute to Diana Evans (a founder member and a former member of the Ballet Russ).
Not just curtain calls
Priors Players not only perform but also promote theatre in the Bourne Valley by bringing people together in the context of theatre - this includes readings, enjoying other amateur group’s productions and visits to professional theatre.
Our official photographer
www.burlisonphotography.co.uk
Tel 01264 738385
Our Village Centre
www.communigate.co.uk/hants/stmarybournevillagecentre
Our Parish Council