The Players
Bridget Allen, Brian Beeston, Dorothy Bentote, Malcolm Bentote, Mark Brown, Pam Brown, Iris Castles, Katy Clifton, Estelle Dunham, Janet Ford, Pat Harper, Alison Higgs, David Higgs, Mark Kimsey, Stephen Kimsey, Arthur Plummer, Peter Taff, Tag, Ann Taggart, Blair Taggart, Amy Williams, Barbara Williams, Sue Worker

The Master and the Maid
Directed by Judith Howe

Excerpt from Private Lives

Act One
Put On Your Sunday Clothes
Strolling
Half Past Two
Charming weather
Dancing
The Master And The Maid (a melodrama)
Ascot Gavotte
I Could Have Danced All Night
The Street Where You Live
Wouldn't It Be Lovely
London Pride

Act Two
The Boyfriend
Getting To Be A Habit With Me
I Remember It Well
Room With A View
Excerpt from Private Lives
Summer Holiday
Singing In The Rain
Isn't This A Lovely Day
It's A Most Unusual Day
Summer Nights
Great Day

Programme Notes       [ Photographs ]

50 Years On - Before our production of Aladdin was staged this time last year, Judith asked for producers for this year - 1997. It seemed so easy then, in 1995, to say "Okay, I will produce a revue in the February." It seemed moons away - loads of time for ideas.

Then suddenly, only a couple of months before rehearsals to begin, panic, with a capital P. Margaret and I spent hours going through piles of music, mountains of scores until we eventually arrived at tonight's programme.

Janet looked aghast at the cast list; "where are all the tail coats?" "How can we find a top hat to fit Peter?" "Who has borrowed all the blazers?" Deborah and I worked at routines, by the dozen - "No, that won't work. Scrub it. Start again!"

Whew! We think we've cracked it. "That's it, let's stage it!" "No, haven't got enough room on stage for that!" "No, the audience will only see half the cast" - partly because they are all trying to hide at the back.

And the mutterings from them! Anything from "who on Earth thought up that routine?"; "Good, I can hide behind Malcolm, he's taller than me" to "Oh my goodness, she doesn't want us to do that again, now does she?"

Eventually we've arrived. We're all still friends - the stage crew are marvellous, the cast are marvellous. And have you noticed that the Box Office has become the Chef? What next, I ask?

Everyone who produces a show, at some time during rehearsals, says "that's it, never again." But who knows? At the end of the day this production belongs to The Players and the start of our 50th year celebrations.

Ann Sykes