Martins Bank Players (North Eastern) - 1968 Goodnight Mrs Puffin

MARTINS BANK PLAYERS (NORTH EASTERN)

Martins Bank Players (North Eastern) in Goodnight, Mrs Puffin by Arthur Lovegrove

Staged: 15 to 17 February1968 at The Little Theatre Gateshead

At this point we must say goodbye to Martins Bank Players North Eastern, who have entertained countless audiences at the Little Theatre in Gateshead with a total of TWENTY-TWO performances since their inception in 1936. As well as being the final performance of the group, it is also beset with problems, which Martins Bank Magazine seems to attribute to the decision to stage it being made on Friday the Thirteenth!

Fortunately, the Players are rewarded with full-houses on each of the three nights that the play is staged, and it appears that everything went really well, much to the delight of the company AND its audience. Of all the shows and entertainments put on by the various Martins Bank acting and singing groups, “Goodnight Mrs Puffin is alone in having not one single production photograph published with its review in Martins Bank Magazine. This presented us with a problem, as the action of the play cannot usually be conveyed by words alone. The solution we settle upon, until photographs are found, is to show individual images of some of the actors, taken from their staff records, or previous performances…

The ill-luck which dogged Goodnight, Mrs Puffin by Arthur Lovegrove from the time of the original decision on the production—made on a Friday the thirteenth—was absent from the Little Theatre, Gateshead on February 15, 16 and 17. The intention was to put on the play in November, but illness overtook producer Colin Shuttleworth and they had to enlist the experienced aid of Ken McGinn, a non-bank man who had never heard of December balances and was amazed to find his cast unable to turn up at rehearsals because of the four-letter word work. However, all difficulties were eventually overcome and the company were rewarded by full houses on each of the three nights—pleasure deferred is keenest?

Michael Blaylock

The enthusiastic audiences were treated to a most enjoyable entertainment, lots of laughs and a happy ending to send them out into the snow with a warm glow. The play opened with Ethel Fordyce, played by Margaret Crump, soliloquising over wedding invitations with exactly the tone and expressions one could imagine oneself using in similar circumstances. In came her two daughters Jacky and Pamela, played by Virginia Lee and Patricia Brown with charm and grace, followed by their brother the irrepressible Nicholas. This part was taken by Anthony Knight, a born comedian, who can raise a laugh with one eyebrow.

COCKNEY PREDICTIONS

When Jacqueline Buglass, as the maid, brought in Mrs Puffin we met the central character of the play and in this role Nora Wilkie was superb. A loud, bouncy Cockney with cheeky wit, Nora might have lived within the sound of Bow bells all her life. Her very appearance spoke of Clapham (Junction, not Common) and from whatever under-the-stairs recesses that battered old green hat came, property mistress Gwen Surtees had ransacked to good effect. Mrs Puffin announced that she had come to warn the Fordyces not to waste money on the wedding as it would never take place. She had dreamed of the family and of her meeting with them and was able to tell them with uncanny detail exactly what would take place next, even to the entry of Henry Fordyce rubbing his hands and saying ‘Well, well, well! Seasonable weather we're having’. Enter Alf Grummett on cue, rubbing his hands... Later, with a remarkably accurate kick when crossing his legs, he demolished one of his wife's best cups and the whole tea service ended in fragments on the floor as Mrs Puffin had predicted, from which disaster poor Mrs Fordyce never fully recovered.

HYSTERICS?

By this time Nick was a confirmed Puffin fan, even consulting her when his mother threatened to go into hysterics. Upon hearing that hysterics were not scheduled he relaxed, and indeed the smelling salts were not needed. Jacky was also in favour of learning more of the dream, and of telling her fiancé Victor Parker, a steady, reliable and serious young man played by Malcolm Binns. But Henry, counting on a business partnership with Victor's father on the strength of the wedding, wouldn't hear of it. And no wonder. When we met Parker senior, a red-faced, bristly-moustached, irascible gentleman, we could understand why. This part was admirably taken by Michael Blaylock, who resisted any temptation to over-play what could have been a ‘hammy’ part.

'SWEP ORF 'ER FEET’

The last member of the cast to make his appearance was Gordon Steadman as Roger, an American friend of the Parkers. His appearance fulfilled Mrs Puffin’s prediction that Jacky would be ‘swep orf er feet’ by someone from over water whom she couldn't see very clearly. The curtain came down as she shrieked dramatically ‘My Gawd, it’s ‘im!’ with the Wedding March playing as Jacky and Roger moved towards each other. That sensible fellow Victor, whose horn rims were quite the best-polished in the business, was able, with the connivance of Mrs Puffin, to bring about a satisfactory conclusion by transferring his affections to an already enamoured sister Pamela, thus ensuring that the business as well as the nuptial bonds between the two families would not be broken. Ayleen Read as prompter had a silent time, but stage manager Jim Lindsay and his assistant Derek Bates were obviously on their toes to make sure that everything went off without a hitch. The frequent laughs interrupting the dialogue, plus the loud and prolonged applause, were proof that the audience appreciated the hard work and talent that went into three very enjoyable evenings.

Margaret Crump

Patricia Brown

Ayleen Read

Malcolm Binns

Alf Grummett