Our love and support for local amateur dramatics continued throughout 2025, with several visits to local BLODS hall. Our latest visit in October was to watch their final production of the year.

 

 

 

A Bunch of Amateurs, written by Ian Hislop, promised to be a fun packed evening. The tale of a struggling Hollywood Actor, gets the call to play the lead in the Stratford Players production of King Lear.

 

 

Believing the company to be based at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford Upon Avon, his world comes crashing down as he discovers he has signed up to perform with an amateur dramatics society in Stratford St John in Suffolk!!

The luxury accommodation he anticipated, turns out to be a room in a B&B run by a member of the am dram society. Although the villagers welcome him into their midst and are delighted to have a “star” of Hollywood, playing at their local theatre, having thought he’d be playing alongside other big stars, he is devastated to discover the cast are amateurs attempting to save their theatre from becoming part of a new housing development.

He is a rude, arrogant American with no time for manners and an air of being too big for such a lowly theatre. He attempts to cancel his contract and return to the US, to no avail.

Reluctantly he joins the cast at rehearsals. His estranged daughter flies in from the states and they are reconciled. As she also joins the cast, his huge ego and vanity are quashed as he is humbled by his enthusiastic co actors.

The story is hugely funny as he is brought down to earth, by not only his fellow thespians, but by his daughter, learning some truths about himself and his over inflated ego along the journey.

The experience is a turning point in his life. As he re discovers his more pleasant self, he also discovers his inner King Lear, giving a wonderful performance.

The play is a masterpiece of innuendo, laughter, and humility. The performances were terrific and possibly the best am dram we’ve seen.

We came away totally uplifted.

The following month, we took our first steps into the world of BATTS, another local am dram society, to watch their latest production.

Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, would not normally be on my radar, as I don’t like even the thought of blood and gore. However I put my big girls pants on, joining the Besties and our Goddaughter for the show.

 

 

Oh my goodness, I’m so glad I did. Battle Memorial Hall, isn’t as intimate as BLODS hall, but the tiered seating gave us a magnificent view of the stage, the orchestra and the choir.

I didn’t even know the story 😬, but it was cleverly told and I was very soon up to speed. With limited props, the stage both above and below, were easily transformed between the barbers, the Judges’ house, the prison and the bakery.

Having escaped from a penal colony, after 15 years, Benjamin Barker returns to London in search of his wife and daughter. He meets his former landlady, who recognises him and tells him his wife has died and the Judge has adopted his daughter.

A qualified barber, he sets up shop, calling himself Sweeney Todd, in a room above his former landlady’s now bakery and tries to entrap the Judge in to visiting the barbers and attempts to kill him. Being enraged when this fails he takes out his anger on men in general, by slashing the throats of some of his clients.

When his landlady discovers this, rather than hand him in, they go into business together, where (as the price of meat is so expensive) they use the flesh of his victims to fill her pies 😳🥧.

He finally gets his prey and kills the Judge, but then unwittingly kills his wife, who had been incarcerated in a mental institution and not died as his landlady had told him. His rage at her lie means that her fate is then sealed and she is flung into the furnace they have used to dispose of unwanted parts of bodies.

The drama concludes as Sweeney Todd meets the same demise as his victims, with a slit throat.

Despite the gravity of the story, it was wonderfully told. The acting was great both in the spoken word and in the singing. The cast all had fabulous singing voices, filling the auditorium, encompassing the audience and drawing us into the tale.

An unexpectedly brilliant evening.

We look forward to seeing more productions from both these talented Am Dram groups in 2026