The ‘Director’s Debut Evening’ last Friday at the Woolstore Theatre in Codford proved to be a great success. A new venture, instigated by David North, one of the most accomplished actors in the Company, David had decided he would enjoy the opportunity to direct and came up with the idea to have two novice directors each put on a short play with a ploughman’s supper in the interval.

He had chosen a comedy by Paul Beard ‘Meat and Two Veg ‘for his debut, a very funny and clever play that perfectly captured the imagination of a rural community of keen gardeners. The simple set, a dining room of a retired couple preparing a supper for their neighbour whose wife left him abruptly a few months previously. The three actors in this play are well known for their versatility in a wide variety of roles and their immaculate comic timing.

Margaret (Christine Powell) is cooking a French meal, Coq au Vin and wants French beans from the garden. Arthur (Angus Bramwell) is her downtrodden husband, a keen and competitive gardener who is particularly proud of his runner beans and extremely upset by his wife wanting French beans. The conversation of runner beans several years old filling freezers and wives not using fresh garden produce obviously rang a bell with many couples. Enter Mike Walker as Albert, the two men immediately begin to compete as to whether bigger is better, whether smaller vegetables taste better and measure their beans, and almost come to blows. The content of compost heaps , Albert’s in particular come under discussion during the meal, and as Albert leaves to bring new seed catalogues to be poured over, Arthur makes a comment about Albert’s wife ‘s sudden disappearance and Margaret becomes convinced she had been murdered and this is why Albert keeps burning smelly bonfires every evening. The evening than turns farcical as Arthur is sent to investigate the compost heap and the shed and Margaret has to keep Albert busy using her womanly charms. This is a very funny fast paced play and in the hands of such skilful players it never faltered.

The second play, also directed by David North was John Mortimer’s ‘Knightsbridge.’ Another comedy of misunderstandings and double entendre as a young woman takes her older and more sophisticated boyfriend to meet her mother. Libby Thornton has performed at the Woolstore since she was in primary school and most recently played the good fairy Snowdrop in last year’s Pantomime -The Snow Queen. She gave a confident performance in her first serious role as Francesca, the naïve young woman dealing with strange telephone requests about viewing a double fronted chest.

Two well casted similar but very different comedies made for an excellent evening’s entertainment.

Romy Wyeth