Double Act drama group 
Corfe Castle Village Hall, Corfe Castle 
Anne Waggott 
23 November 2024
Wartime preshow radio-style music, along with appropriate period posters dotted around the village hall walls and a ‘NAAFI Café’ sign over the serving hatch, all combined to perfectly set the tone for this original WW2 production, set in a Wareham pub during 1942. Written and directed by Peter Smith, this was a collaborative collection of fictional characters depicting real life factual local events, with a dash of dramatic licence thrown in for good measure. There was so much content in this narrative story – some references that only local audience members would truly appreciate – that it could have diluted its effect, but it was a very fitting tribute to the unsung heroes and ‘ordinary folk’ living through the turbulent events of the Second World War.
The production elements were excellent right from the start, particularly bearing in mind the limitations of village halls compared to large theatres. The initial preshow music faded, with a scratchy voice in the background, barely audible before becoming louder… was it a backstage mic inadvertently left up…? No, rather a cleverly devised sound effect merging into more preshow wartime music as the prelude, an integral introduction to the narrative to follow, and a careful reflection of the “careless talk costs lives” posters in the hall, pre-empting the underlying themes of the play. What lengths would individuals go to during a war to maintain safety and ensure they came out on the winning side; what secrets were being guarded; and who exactly could you trust when even your nearest and dearest are hiding secrets?
The preshow announcements, again in the mode of a serious BBC radio announcement, and the spine-chilling air raid sirens and sweeping searchlights, were another excellent production element that captured the atmosphere brilliantly from the start. David Watson, Rob Schofield and Peter Smith all deserve commendation for the lights and, particularly, sound throughout the evening.
Stand out performance for me was by Nick Jubber as David Paget, a scientist working at the hub of the well-kept military secrets nearby. He was totally immersed in his character throughout, inhabiting the role, and his clipped public schoolboy received pronunciation was perfect for the era.
Peter Smith (Ted Truman) made for a very natural pub landlord, completely at ease as he went about his landlord duties, whilst still putting his family to the forefront of his activities. Sonia Smith’s portrayal of Ted’s wife, Doris, was deeply likeable and full of delightful maternal qualities, with vocal and facial expressions perfectly suited to the character.
There was strong support from Katie Holloway as the Truman’s eldest daughter, Susan, Lindsay Dixon as David’s wife, Cynthia, Karen Stevens as Mavis, an Arne local, and Hilary Watson as Doris’ old schoolfriend, Lizzie, while Mary Newcombe (Jane) and Rafe Jubber (Jack) were both loveable and impishly irreverent as the Truman’s youngest children.
Despite a few interjections from the prompt, it was performed at a good pace that kept the audience engaged and entertained; I’m not sure if this was supposed to be a dark comedy as much as a sympathetic piece of historical storytelling, but sections of the audience did find humour where I found it surprising that they did in an “explosive thriller” that I found very moving. Of course, humour was not totally out of place amongst the characters and the bursts of song during the play were reminiscent of stories my father would tell me about impromptu ‘shows’ in the air-raid shelters when he was a boy.
I had no idea that the Isle of Purbeck played such an integral role in in the development of aircraft detecting radar, and I found the facts interwoven throughout the play to be absolutely fascinating. I’m not local to the area, so some of the geographical references lost their meaning to me, but I could tell that the more local audience members really appreciated these citations.
As with all community theatre groups, there was a mixture of abilities among the actors, but overall, this was a thoroughly insightful, thoughtful and provocative story being performed with careful consideration and empathy, and an excellent example of the value of community theatre.
With a running time of almost 3 hours, including a 20 minute interval, this wasn’t a short play and would perhaps benefit from some selective tuning, but This Secret Isle is a brand-new play which deserved to be seen and cherished for the fine piece of “locally based factual community productions” that it is.
