by Alan Ayckbourn
2nd - 4th November 2006
Directed by Imogen Roberts
Auditions were held for the Autumn production on 28th June and Director Imogen Roberts was delighted to find that more people actually turned up than there were parts.
After much deliberation she has cast the four characters as follows:
Greg (young and bemused): William Lovett
Ginny (lovely but secretive): Patricia Choffel
Philip (suave and frustrated): Robert Peacock
Sheila (charming and long-suffering): Liz Lewis
The play was produced by Iain King (so no stress in the King-Roberts household then…)
Synopsis
Greg met Ginny only a month ago but
wants to marry her; Ginny won’t accept until she has persuaded her former
married lover to stop harassing her with chocolates and flowers – and to
secure some compromising letters. Greg meanwhile is intrigued by a pair of
slippers in the bedroom that aren’t his. Sidestepping questions about the
slipper, Ginny proposes to see her parents, who are unaware of Greg’s
existence. She leaves and Greg finds a note of the address and decides to
follow her. Unfortunately, Ginny is not going to see her parents, but her
ex.
Greg arrives at Philip and Sheila’s house in Little Pendon, in advance of Ginny. He meets the couple, whom he assumes are Ginny’s parents, and all have a conversation at odds with each other, leaving each other none the wiser who everyone else is. A bewildered Sheila then meets Ginny and has no idea who she is either.
By the second act, everyone is at cross-purposes: Ginny is convinced Sheila is aware of her and Philip’s affair; Philip believes Sheila has had an affair with Greg and that he wants to marry Sheila; Greg is confused by Philip’s attitude to him and his proposal.
Ginny, finally able to speak to Philip, persuades him to pretend to be her father and he not only agrees to let Greg marry Ginny, but that he should also take his ‘daughter’ off on a holiday abroad.
Sheila, previously unaware that Philip has been having an affair but cottoning on to the situation, manipulates Philip’s plan and changes it into a honeymoon for Greg and Ginny. Greg and Ginny leave with Greg not realizing who he has actually met.
Philip realizes Sheila has worked out what happened, but he is more interested about a pair of slippers in the house that aren’t his.
And Sheila’s not revealing whose they are either….