Search Results for: Lyndhurst Drama

January 1954. Switch on the wireless. Mild Winter. Tune in. There is Under Milk Wood. Still dealing with the repercussions of war, and in a society that remained cocooned within tight local structures and values, imagine being lyrically transported to the village of Llaregyb. The dreams, the day, the dusk, the night, the voices. These are our neighbours. This is their reality. We know them, they know us. Curtains twitching. Conversations over hedges. The crucible of the local pub. The cacophony of communities surviving the drudge of day in, day out. Wales. Under Milk Wood is notoriously difficult to do.

A bunch of amateurs do A Bunch Of Amateurs. Nothing amateurish about this performance. It’s always a delight to review for Lyndhurst Drama and Musical Society as the venue, the welcome and the quality adds atmosphere to a fun night out. Though, for once, I would prefer to attend when the thermometer rises above 10C. The play is a stalwart on the Hampshire circuit. It resonates as it’s all about a spirited woman trying to save what she loves from falling foul of modern times. In this case a rather backward old fashioned theatre company populated with the usual characters

I’ll hold my hands up. A lot of Ayckbourn’s later plays often feel that they have been rushed. Life of Riley, from 2010, doesn’t have a relevant world view (even for then) keeping itself preoccupied with characters that are slightly augmented versions of middle-class tropes that wouldn’t be out of place in the decades preceding it. As Directors say, “All very accessible” and enduringly popular. For me, however, the idea that an unseen dying George has a messianic pull on three women all locked into marriages / relationships with unprepossessing men may make for good comic atmosphere, but my 2021