Written by Elizabeth Addyman
Directed by Ann Penn
Players reach new heights in drama
It says a great deal for the patience and skill of the producer, Lyn Evans and director Ann Penn, that the spring production by the Medstead Players was such an outstanding success, since only two of the cast had any real stage experience.
It was a good play, well balanced and dramatic and the audience were on tenterhooks until the end of the last act.
The Secret Tent, an apt quotation but an unimpressive title, is a tense drama by Elizabeth Addyman, of love, deceit, murder and mystery, all delightfully staged in the lounge of a country cottage. Attractive alcoves and ancient leaded windows created an air of comfortable affluence which was disturbed by the children's toys and household muddles that littered the floor in the opening scene.
As all the action of the play took place on the one set, curtains were dispensed with, and it was possible for furniture to be brought to the foot of the stage to give more space for the actors.
The play opens on a peaceful domestic scene, with father, John Gregory, at work on his toy-making hobby, prior to an evening out with the boys. John was inspired to join the Players after watching their recent pantomime, and he took the leading part with remarkable self-confidence. He was most convincing as the easy-going family man, though not quite so good as the irate, cuckolded husband, but it was a most impressive first appearance. Unseen children could be heard chattering in their bedrooms off stage — a charming touch of realism which appealed to all the ladies in the audience.
John's wife, Kathy Whitcher, has been seen briefly in Aladdin — she was the pretty young wife with a secret past and a villainous brother, whom she shelters to provide the plot of the play. This is a difficult part which she steered cleverly between love and sugary sentimentality.
Pam Kercher has had a wealth of experience on the amateur stage and the part of the rather distrusting mother-in-law with a heart of gold came easily to her.
Another newcomer was Dianne Nicholls as the fussy, gossiping old busybody with her sharp nose in everybody's business. This was an unpleasant, tricky character to portray and Dianne tended to exaggerate it.
Phil Diment played the village 'idiot', whose hesitant mouthings gave a clue to the mysterious happenings. It is not easy to avoid ridicule with such a part, but Phil on the stage for the first time, walked the knife edge with great sincerity.
Ron Whitcher was shrewd, tactful and all that the well-trained police inspector should be.
I felt that Sue Walker, as head of a remand school for delinquent girls, should have shown a rather more forceful character, but possibly it is the motherly type whose velvet glove conceals the iron hand.
The sound and visual effects by Mike Overy were outstanding. The rain could be heard pattering down gently in the second act and could be seen trickling down the casement window most realistically. Car doors slammed and engines started up at the right moment, and the lights went on and off at the touch of a stage switch.
The house was well filled for each performance, which was most satisfactory, as this is one of the best performances that the Players have put on.
With Stan Whitcher as stage manager, the deliberate policy of giving more scope both to the performers and to the
production team has certainly paid off, and must be a source of great satisfaction to the officials.
At about 10.15 p.m. on Saturday, 23rd April the floodlights finally dimmed at Medstead Village Hall and "The Secret Tent", our Spring production was put to bed. Thus ended 9 weeks of intensive rehearsals and much toil and sweat behind the scenes.
The title is a quotation from Psalm 31 and refers to the: sanctuary afforded by a happy home. The play is a tense drama written by Elizabeth Addyman, and was first performed at the Strand Theatre in 1953. The play opens on a happy domestic scene, Chris Martyn preparing to attend an old boys reunion and his wife Ruth to visit the cinema with a friend whilst her mother-in-law, Naomi, baby-sits. When Ruth fails to return home, the police are called in and a body is found. Chris has the traumatic experience of having to identify his murdered wife. As Inspector Thornton discovers the only witness is the village idiot who saw Ruth with another man. As the play progresses the tension mounts as Chris is confronted with unexpected revelations about his wife's murky past. As Chris tortured himself with guilt and bitterness against his dead wife, Ruth returns! Chris mistakenly identified the wrong body! He subsequently refused to accept Ruth's claim to loss of memory and, in a memorable scene, Chris assaults Ruth after failing to break her story. It is Inspector Thornton who finally establishes the fact that Ruth had been shielding her violent brother, a hardened criminal who had been involved in a local armed robbery and who was thought to have murdered his accomplice to the robbery. It is only when Ruth realises that her brother is not the murderer that the truth unfolds. But Chris still cannot accept Ruth back because of the revelations of her past and especially an illegitimate child. However, it is Naomi who pours the proverbial oil an troubled waters and as the play ends, there is the reconciliation between husband and wife.
Of course, I am biased, but I thought that the Players did full justice to a very good play. With five virtual newcomers in the cast, it meant that the task of the new director, Ann Penn, was all the harder but I thought that she and Lyn Evans, as producer, achieved another good production. From the players, our newcomers in particular, did a smashing job and the Players are now in the enviable position of having so many fine actors and actresses to call upon for future productions. Whilst I would like to congratulate all the players involved in "The Secret Tent" an honourable mention must be made to Mike Overy's set design and special effects which added an exciting new dimension to the play.
[Mike Clapham]
Cast:
Christopher Martyn - John Gregory
Ruth Martyn, his wife - Kathy Whitcher
Naomi Martyn, his mother - Pam Kercher
Miss Mitcham-Browne - Dianne Nicholls
Ernie Briggs - Phil Diment
Inspector Thornton - Ron Whitcher
Miss Pearce - Sue Walker
