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 The Argosy
Players in: Sit down a minute Adrian by Jevan Brandon-Thomas
Staged:
10 to 12 December 1959 at Crane Theatre Hanover Street Liverpool
The Argosy Players choose comedy for their Winter 1959 performance. As we bring you these pages of information
about the many many performances staged by ALL of Martins Bank’s Amateur
Operatic and Dramatic Societies, it is somehow reassuring to note that
although television, the cinema and going to the pub are all distractions in
the 1950s and 60s, people still want to go to the trouble of staging quite
elaborate live theatre and music, AND that there is an appreciative audience
for this. One thing we didn’t
expect to see in 1959, in one of the photos from the production of “Sit down
a minute, Adrian” shown below, is what appears to be a blow-up doll in a
coffin(?!) Thank goodness then, that
Martins Bank Magazine seems to make no mention of it in their critique, which
is published in the Spring 1960 Edition.
As usual you can expect a good deal of praise, and a fair measure of
criticism for the efforts of the Argosy Players…
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 “Sit
Down a Minute, Adrian”, a comedy by Jevan Brandon-Thomas, was the play
chosen by the Argosy Players for their winter production at Crane Theatre,
Liverpool, on December 10th, 11th and 12th, 1959. The play is a family play
portraying a father, mother and their three teenage daughters, whose love
affairs are so incomprehensible to the father that he never fails to
misinterpret what is going on. The well-intentioned blunders he commits
create the complications which make the play funny. Gerry Furlong, an outside
friend who very kindly agreed to help the Company out by playing the part
of the father which they were unable to fill from their own members, made a
very good effort with his interpretation of the part, but he never quite
got away with it, the result being that the play as a whole tended to lack
that punch and sparkle which the dialogue deserved.
Pamela Gilkes, Val Tilley, Valerie Lever, Marshall Hesketh, Valerie
Parish and Tony Wood.
The part of the mother, played by Valerie Parish,
was brilliantly portrayed in a performance of quite outstanding merit. She
kept the play going and the measure of success it enjoyed was largely due
to her. The three daughters were played by Valerie Lever, Val Tilley and
Pamela Gilkes. The youngest of them knew exactly where she was going and
what she wanted out of life and Valerie Lever played the part with
enthusiasm and a real sense of fun. Val Tilley played the part of the
daughter who falls in love with the foreman of the factory, and her
emotional outbursts were very well simulated. Her subsequent love affair
with her father's secretary was also made to appear as inevitable as it was
natural: she can fall in and out of love most convincingly.
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Gerry Furlong, Valerie Parish, Sidney Costin, and Val Tilley.
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Jean Boothman, Tony Wood and Gerry Furlong.
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Pamela Gilkes is a newcomer to the Society and,
although she had one of the smaller parts, her calmness and confidence even
when casually announcing her surprise marriage were exactly in keeping with
the requirements of the part. Her husband, the psychiatrist, was played by
Marshall Hesketh with ease and assurance. Tony Wood, who took the part of
an ex-commando secretary, looked rather young and hardly tough enough for
his stated background, but he managed to behave as a good secretary despite
the attempts of the youngest daughter to disrupt his work.
This young man should be a great asset to the
Society. Sidney Costin, who produced
the play, took the part of the foreman, portraying it strongly, with an
excellent Lancashire accent. Bryan Isaac and Jean Boothman played the parts
of the next-door neighbours. They looked rather young to be the parents of
a teenage daughter, as stated in the dialogue; a fault to be laid at the
door of the make-up man.
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Marshall Hesketh, Barbara Moss, Tony Wood and Bryan Isaac.
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Otherwise, they played their parts well and Jean was particularly
deserving of commendation for taking over the part at a few days' notice,
due to the illness of Shelagh Cowan. Barbara Moss played the part of the
housekeeper, but was dressed as the maid, a contradiction which could have
been corrected by means of a slight alteration to the programme. A special
word of thanks is due to Elwyn Williams, the Stage Manager, assisted by
Valerie Barrett, who was also responsible for the box office arrangements,
and to Audrey McPherson who once again acted as prompter.
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 M
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