A Chorus of Disapproval
Venue : Redditch Palace Theatre
Date : May 1999
Genre : Comedy Drama
Director
Dave Wilkins
Director
Paul Hughes
Director
Cast
Roger Warren
Dafydd ap Llewellyn
Tony Lacey
Guy Jones
Anne Cherry
Hannah Llewellyn
Sue George
Faye Hubbard
Adam Lee
Ian Hubbard
Peter Round
Jarvis Huntley-Pike
Mary Mellor
Rebecca Huntley-Pike
Beccy Key
Bridget Baines
Malcolm Carlton
Mr Ames
Sarah Moore
Lynda Washbrook
John Parkes
Ted Washbrook
Beryl Linforth
Enid Washbrook
Jack Parramore
Raymond Finnegan
David Key
Reginald
Karen Ashley
Sharon
Paul Hughes
Tony
Clare Marcus
Annie
Amanda Goose
Georgina
Joy Rodgers
Dorcus
Estelle Shutkever
Moira
Crew
Crew
Production Gallery
Production Reviews
No Disapproval
Trying to please everybody and finding it hard to say “No” makes the lead character in Alan Ayckbourn’s comedy a pleasure to watch.
And Tony Lacey’s portrayal of lonely widower, Guy Jones is both funny and entertaining. The storyline sees Guy joining the local light operatic society run by Dafydd Llewellyn, played superbly by Roger Warren.
The play focuses on the not-so-good operatic society preparing for a grand performance. But before long, handsome nice bloke Guy is having an affair with Dafydd’s wife, Hannah (Anne Cherry), and being lured into the world of wife swapping.
The audience is treated to a hysterical show which does have some serious sides to it.
The cast were superb and worked well together and a special mention must be made to bossy stage manager Bridget Baines, played by Beccy Key.
Becky Procter, Redditch Advertiser, 5 May 1999
Upstaged by the upstart
Members of the Wythall Theatre Company will have more thatn their acting skills put to the test for their latest performance.
The 20- strong cast will be put through their singing and dancing paces for Alan Ayckbourn's A Chorus of Disapproval - the group's largest production to date.
It features a play within a play as it takes a behind the scenes look at a cast preparing for a show.
And sees the company getting to grips with the music from the Beggar's Opera under the guidance of local musician Malcolm Carlton.
The company's own choreographer, Beryl Linforth, will be making sure everyone is stepping to the bat at Redditch's Palace Theatre.
The show hopfully does not venture too close to the bone when it takes a peak into the backstage tensions of rehearsing and staging an amateur musical.
Chaos ensues when a new member joins the Pendon Amateur Litght Operatic Society and rises to become the star of the show.
The new member innocently finds himself involved in a spot of wife swapping during hsi meteoric rise. But this is just the beginning and he also manages to have it away with the producer's wife, and gets caught up in a web of shady business deals.
Descrived as touching, poingnant and heatbreakingly funny, the play promises to be more than just an all singing all dancing extravaganza.
Tiffany Baylis, Local Redditch Paper, April 1999
Approval for Disapproval
As Alan Ayckbourn plays go, this is something a little bit out of the ordinary, and certainly challenging for theatre companies.
But the larger than usual Wythall cast rise to the occasion suitably, presenting performances to be proud of.
Those unfamiliar with the play could be forgiven for thinking they in for a big musical production as the opening scene presents itself - but the usual Ayckbourn fun and characterisation soon materialises.
The really friendly Welsh theatre company director Dafydd Llewellyn (Roger Warren) becomes increasingly more frustrated at his crew's inability to carry out the simplest of instructions - but this probably more a product of his inability to direct.
But he's so nice he's unable to get anything other than a bit fed up, even when he finds out his wife has had a behind the scenes liaison with hapless new cast member Guy Jones (well played by Tony Lacey).
Beccy Key is extremely scary as bossy Bridget Baines, while Anne Cherry gives a convincing portrayal of long-suffering wife, Hannah Llewellyn, although from the casting point of view the match between her and Guy seems an unlikely alliance.
Guy seems to have upset - somewhat unwittingly- just about everyone in the cast by the time the curtain falls on the first night, but it isn't terribly clear why!
Andrew Powell, Redditch Standard, May 7 1999
Smile for the Cameos....
This always reliable group rises rewardingly to the challenges offered by Allan Ayckbourn's amusing account of an amateur operatic society's efforts to produce 'The Beggars Opera'.
The direction of Dave Wilkins and Paul Hughes has yielded a show in which a slick continuity has been allied to an abundance of individual talents.
Tony Lacey, intermittently reminiscent of Mr Bean, brings an air of co-operative bemusement to his role as the new comer who inadvertently upsets people. His singing voice, as well as being pleasing, makes his promotion to the starring role believable.
Roger Warren's tunnel versioned show director is a desperate deadpan fund of chuckles, and Beccy Key makes the belligerent Bridget almost awesomely horrendous.
Sue Lister's unusual voice supplements her high-comedy achievements as Fay in a joyous gem of pre-seduction scene.
The production abounds in character for cameos, exploited to the full.
John Slim, Evening Mail, 6 May 1999