Audiences at Morpeth venue enjoy a different type of performance from Players

Indeed, it was a complete change and even treading the boards on stage was different as three of the group – Lena Walsh, Sharon Saint-Lamont and Charlie Tomson – acted out a trio of monologues by Alan Bennett surrounded by the audience being on all four sides ‘in the round’.

On opening night, the evening had a relaxed and restful atmosphere about it too as the three took it in turns to deliver segments from their respective monologues – ‘Lady of Letters’, ‘A Chip in the Sugar’ and ‘Bed among the Lentils’.

Lady of Letters is a story about Irene Ruddock (played by Lena Walsh) who lives alone, has no friends and fills her days writing letters complaining about everything, which eventually leads to her serving a prison sentence.

A Chip in the Sugar is about Graham Whittaker (played by Charlie Tomson), a middle-aged bachelor who has had treatment for a mental illness.

Bed among the Lentils is about Susan (portrayed by Sharon Saint-Lamont), a vicar’s wife who is suffocated by the expectations forced on her by her position and by her husband’s over-zealous parishioners, whilst she is also an alcoholic.

The Morpeth St George’s Community Players are a superb group who perform two plays a year on a regular basis. Their standards are very high and very rarely do they disappoint.

This latest offering – whilst it was something completely different – was nevertheless delivered with sincerity and panache and was enjoyable.

The trio, who were ‘on stage’ for a total of more than 100 minutes, required the odd prompt but they should be applauded and commended after learning their respective and exhausting scripts.

Lena doubled up as director with Sue Rutherford as prompt. Robin Heron was responsible for the design and layout, whilst Stephen Burn was in charge of lighting.