Kindly Keep It Covered

Overview

Roland Dickerby uses the insurance payout his new wife received, on the death of her first husband, to buy and run a health spa.

As you may expect, things do not go quiet as planned. The action really takes off when Julia's first husband decides to return from the dead! Oh help!

The play runs from the 9th to the 12th of November
At the Kingsley Theatre, Redditch
Tickets cost £7 or £7.50
Performances begin at 7.30 p.m

Marcus Brider, Various

Editorial, Plenty of laughs in store as 'body' loses its grip on the part.

The trouble with getting a shop-window mannequin to play the part of a body is that sometimes it's not very good at it. Members of Wythall Theatre Company, preparing for next week's production of Kindly Keep It Covered, have discovered that their body is apt to shed an arm, a leg or even its head at unpredictable moments.

Estelle Shutkever, for the group, says, "They're all prone to come off - and as this thing has more costume changes than some of the cast members and spends a lot of time on a trolley, we're not too sure whether in the middle of things there's going to be a limb dropping on the floor."

While group members are wondering how farcical a farce can be allowed to be, there is also an air of uncertainty about the fountain that features in the health farm setting, and which is suppose blow bubbles at the end of I Freeman's play.

Estelle says, "The technical rehearsal should be mayhem "We've got the fountain we're not sure how or if it work."

The production runs at Kingsley College Theatre, Redditch, Wednesday to Saturday

Unknown, Birmingham Mail, 4 November 2005

Review

FARCE is a hard thing to get right and even harder for amateur groups but occasionally you are lucky enough to witness a polished performance that brings non-stop laughter and top quality entertainment.

And Wythall Theatre Company certainly pressed the right buttons in this production of Dave Freeman's Kindly Keep It Covered.
And judging by the response from fellow audience members, I was not the only one to be impressed.

Set in Roland and Julia Dickerby's health farm, bought with the insurance money from the death of Julia's first husband Sidney, the play quickly descended into chaos, as expected, including the classic dummy appearance, Sidney's return from the dead, and one health farm resident's ongoing hunt for food.

A small cast of highly professional actors put on a slick performance with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. Even the newest members who saw their debut in the show worked brilliantly together and managed to impress.

Special mention must go to Adam Lee as Roland Dickerby John Parkes as Mr Hooper, Ed Parrott as Sidney, and Paula Eaves as irrepressible mother-in-law Olivia De Vere, who all kept the audience amused with their well-delivered punchlines and great Fawlty Towers-style scenes.

All in all, a great night's entertainment. Well done Wythall Theatre Company, when's the next show?

Redditch Advertiser, 17 November 2005, Redditch Advertiser

Farce too Serious

IT IS hard to believe that this was written by Dave Freeman, author of A Bedfull of Foreigners, one of the funniest farces I have seen.

It takes about half an hour to get moving and the laughter does not really begin until John Parkes makes his entrance as a very hungry inmate of the health farm that is the setting for the action.

He is very amusing - a condition he fortunately maintains for the rest of the evening.

The plot has the obligatory complications, with a woman's supposedly
dead first husband turning up at the spa she runs with her second one.

Doors open and shut on cue and there are lots of assumed identities and running about, but the play itself never gets into galloping mode.

Adam Lee and Ed Parrott are the increasingly desperate husbands, with Sue George in strident form as their wife.

Paula Eaves clearly gains in confidence as their plumy mother-in-law. Abby Stonehall is an exuberant Vanessa. And Tammy Dale is an instant hit on arriving as a puzzled police sergeant

John Slim, Birmingham Mail 11 November 2005

Editorial, 'WYTHALL Theatre Company presents a frenetic farce at Kingsley Theatre next week.'

Kindly Keep It Covered is set on Roland and Julia's health farm, bought with the insurance money from the death of Julia's first husband, Sidney, who then resurrects himself to plague the couple.

Using disguises - from secret agent to head waiter to French doctor - Sidney creates mayhem which adds to the havoc that already exists at the health farm.

Wythall Theatre Company was formed in 1958 and performs plays across Birmingham and Redditch at venues including the Palace Theatre, Midlands Arts Centre and studio and pub theatres.

The group presents a range of material from comedy to thrillers, drama, farce and one-act plays and, as well as entering festivals, has won more than 20 awards in recent years.

Kindly Keep It Covered, by David Freeman, runs from Wednesday, November 9 to Saturday, November 12.

Unknown, Redditch Advertiser, November 2005