St Mabyn's got talent

St Mabyn Peace Memorial Hall took on a life of its own when the new St Mabyn Players presented their Christmas Comedy Extravaganza on 8th, 9th and 10th December. The show was a sell out for each performance. What's more, each show ended with a standing ovation and extremely enthusiastic requests for an encore from a very appreciative audience. The hall was very imaginatively transformed into a cabaret style venue for the occasion, and was further enhanced by audio and lighting engineer David Hudson's magical lighting effects. The newly renovated stage, artistically painted by Mike Haywood, is now a perfect backdrop and David most certainly did it justice.
Director, producer and performer, Tony Dickinson, who masterminded the production, has worked extremely hard and tirelessly with the Players for many months to ensure that their first show would be memorable. The Players are a small but loyal and dedicated group who have all been totally committed to fulfilling their promise of a lively and fun filled evening, and this is exactly what they achieved - probably to a far greater extent than they expected!

The short play in the first half of the programme was a very well received comedy by well-known writer, David Tristram, followed by musical comedy acts that revived some old favourites in a way that has quite likely never been done before! Who would have guessed that, when Jean Endean danced as a beautiful black swan in Swan Lake, she would later be joined by some very dodgy looking characters whose feathers and footwork left a great deal to be desired.

When Angela Bunney, Anne Edwards and Jean Endean performed Three Little Maids from the Mikado, it soon became obvious that these were not going to be the beautifully attired ladies in Kimonos that Gilbert and Sullivan had in mind. Sadly, the budget would not run to beautiful kimonos. However, our Three Little Maids were in perfect harmony - if not a little knock-kneed!

Tony's hugely comical version of Delilah was a real showstopper. Beverley Flint was the temptress who drove poor Tony mad, whilst Eric Clews was busy with 'Judy Allwind' who doubled for Beverley as her silhouette in the window. Eric seemed to be quite seriously smitten with our 'Judy' and was getting up to all sorts of capers behind Tony's back; the result was hilarious. David Masters and Colin Hyde did a grand job as Masters of Ceremonies with the onerous task of filling the gap between acts with their comical banter.

During the Saturday show, there was a 'surprise' performance by Laura Brown from St Mabyn Stores, who wowed everyone with her amazing belly dance and beautiful costume.
Well done, Laura, and very many thanks - our audience loved it!

It would be impossible to acknowledge everyone individually who helped to make the Extravaganza such a success but their support was invaluable and very much appreciated.
However, Alex Fielding and her team deserve a very special mention for managing to cater so efficiently for such large numbers; it was a daunting task. Guy Brindle excelled at multi tasking as well as carrying out his nerve-wracking duties as front of house and stage manager, and Anne McDermott and Yvonne White deserve an award for their wardrobe and make up skills.

All that remains to be said is that you will undoubtedly be hearing more from the Players
before long - after they have recovered from the Extravaganza, of course!
Audrey Cooke
People in the photo are from left:  Beverley Flint, Jean Endean, Angela Bunney and Anne Edwards.