Veryan Players

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Veryan Players is a group of AmDram enthusiasts and we’re always looking for new members, but it’s not just actors we need.

You will find a warm welcome if you would like to be on stage, behind the scenes, meeting and greeting the public at Front of House, helping hump staging and sets or turning your hand to lighting or sound. In fact, there isroom for ANYONE who would like to be involved IN ANY WAY. (That’s not ‘shouting’, on stage we call it voice projection!)

Many locals remember the Am Dram group which was set up over 50 years ago in 1957. After a period of inactivity in the 70’s and 80’s the Players came back to life in the early 1990s and have gone from strength to strength. However, we do have a problem. The keen, young members who got things going again are not so young any more, although just as keen.

It would be possible to put on a wider range of exciting plays if we could fill the younger, (fourteen to forty age range), roles.

Plays are usually put on in Veryan Parish Hall in the autumn and spring and most years at Portscatho Memorial Hall in the summer.

Some of our most recent productions have been ‘Murder in the Cathedral’, put on to raise funds in Veryan Church and the following year in Truro Cathedral; ‘Ladies’ Day’ was great fun and well received at Portscatho and ‘‘Allo ‘Allo’ brought the TV series to life at Veryan.

The one thing we do not do is pantomime – there are two excellent societies at Tregony and St Mawes who specialise in panto – (‘Oh yes they do!’).

If you would like to know more, contact one of the officers:

Shelagh Kester, secretary – 01872 501788 or:
shelaghkester@talktalk.net
Nicola Bush, chairman – 01872 501825 or:
info@theroselandnursery.co.uk
Doug Robins, treasurer – 01872 501618 or:
fatherdougrobins@talktalk.net

‘KEY FOR TWO’

Veryan Players’ latest production was a farce (intentionally!) which relied on fast action, slick timing and a demanding control of dialogue full of double entente. This was delivered with great aplomb by a well-cast team of experienced actors. The action centres around Harriet (Julia Pound in fine form and

some classy garments), a 1980s ‘modern’ girl with two lovers and a complicated diary. The unexpected arrival of her friend Anne, and, later, Anne’s estranged husband Richard, still in love

with Harriet, leads to ever-increasing confusion and conniving in order to avoid the inevitable confrontation, with husbands unwittingly having to masquerade as each other. The plot also involves

a drunken vet (John Veness in a characteristic ‘cameo’ role), a fictional mother and a halibut.

The brilliant set used every inch of the stage to great effect, and the play was superbly directed by Coral Pepper, with the usual excellent support from the skilful ’back of stage’ team.

Congratulations to all the cast – Peter Lloyd and Graham Webb as Harriet’s two lovers, Jackie Hancock and Nicola Bush as Mildred and Magda, their increasingly confused wives (and mention

must be made of Magda’s extraordinarily complex hair-do) and especially to Julia and to Louise Taylor (Anne) for their brilliantly sustained ‘double act’ as ‘matron’ and ‘sister’ of a nonexistent

nursing home. The howls of laughter from the audience as the action became madder and faster were clear evidence that the choice of this play, and the casting, were well justified. Coral says that farce

can be one of the most difficult of all the acting disciplines to pull off – well done indeed – another triumph for the Players !

Veryan Players’ Spring Production

We would firstly like to thank our Patrons who struggled through the ‘floods’ to our last night – it is fair to say that so many in both the company and the audience were anxious as the rain continued to hammer down that it did dampen the performance and the laughs a little.  Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable evening.

Our next production is entirely different and will really give the audience something to think about.  Our thriller Trap for a Lonely Man by Robert Thomas is set in an isolated chalet in the French Alps.  Newly wedded Daniel and Elizabeth Corban have quarrelled and she has walked out.  He is distraught and begs the police to find her.  When a strange woman arrives pretending to be his wife we are all left wondering just what is going on.

Come along to Veryan Parish Hall at 7.30 p.m. on THE LAST DAY OF FEBRUARY and 1st and 2nd March to find out.

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