“Regina Monologues” The Stag Theatre Company 19th June 2010
Take a good venue; add some nice food, a good play, six brilliant actresses and you have a recipe for an excellent evening. This recipe I tasted last week and it was delicious, just delicious: The Stag Theatre Company’s production of Regina Monologues.
A play about the wives of Henry the 8th, brought up to date and into modern times, so if you know your history about the ginger man with a huge sex drive, you will know the roles of each of his wives. But even for us that didn’t, these actresses brought out the character of each one and made it easier for us.
I was humbled by these six ladies; they didn’t deliver lines to each other, didn’t touch each other, didn’t look at each other - this on its own needs a great deal of concentration and stage craft and showed in each one of their performances.
Produced in the round, with good mood lighting, it was difficult to fault this production in any way. Sandra Barfield (Director) took Cathryn Short, Clair Carr, Elizabeth McCreadie, Jo Othick, Lynn Short and Sophie Kisilevsky as the six wives and gave them direction that needed to be seen and, if not seen, heard on three sides of the hall. This in itself is difficult, but Sandra attained this with her excellent direction. Various comedy songs were slotted into the piece which I felt were not needed, but that is only my opinion. A little gripe, minor, but distracting at times, were the sound of heels on the bare floor - perhaps carpet tiles would have alleviated this.
Thank you very much Stag Theatre Company for inviting me to cover for your usual NODA representative Doreen Gregson. I am so happy she went on holiday so that I was able to witness a very well directed play, performed to a professional standard by six talented ladies - a rarity in the amateur theatre these days.
Gordon Harris
District 5
NODA South East
A play about the wives of Henry the 8th, brought up to date and into modern times, so if you know your history about the ginger man with a huge sex drive, you will know the roles of each of his wives. But even for us that didn’t, these actresses brought out the character of each one and made it easier for us.
I was humbled by these six ladies; they didn’t deliver lines to each other, didn’t touch each other, didn’t look at each other - this on its own needs a great deal of concentration and stage craft and showed in each one of their performances.
Produced in the round, with good mood lighting, it was difficult to fault this production in any way. Sandra Barfield (Director) took Cathryn Short, Clair Carr, Elizabeth McCreadie, Jo Othick, Lynn Short and Sophie Kisilevsky as the six wives and gave them direction that needed to be seen and, if not seen, heard on three sides of the hall. This in itself is difficult, but Sandra attained this with her excellent direction. Various comedy songs were slotted into the piece which I felt were not needed, but that is only my opinion. A little gripe, minor, but distracting at times, were the sound of heels on the bare floor - perhaps carpet tiles would have alleviated this.
Thank you very much Stag Theatre Company for inviting me to cover for your usual NODA representative Doreen Gregson. I am so happy she went on holiday so that I was able to witness a very well directed play, performed to a professional standard by six talented ladies - a rarity in the amateur theatre these days.
Gordon Harris
District 5
NODA South East