Evening of Drama

The Arts Centre plays host to the brilliant Settlement Players  for an evening of drama.

Three plays: David Henry Wilson's comedy  "How to Make Your Theatre Pay", Gillian Plowman's award-winning "Close to Croydon" and Lynn Brittany's comedy "Failed Investments".

"How to Make Your Theatre Pay" features Rouse, a Council official, who is visiting the theatre run by Mike Pemberton-Hawkesley, his mission to save the Council money. His brainwave is to turn the theatre into a storage facility for files; Mike is outraged. Mavis Dinwiddy intervenes and the hilarious absurdity of the situation, compounded by Rouse's very idiosyncratic verbal style, is maintained right up to end of this surprising and enigmatic play. A thorny problem for every theatre company, but the solution offered by the bureaucrat in this play will make your head spin.  A witty and somewhat surreal comedy. 

In "Close to Croydon", Hugo, a PR consultant on his way to an important meeting, and Martha, a Museum Education Officer with a case full of liberty bodices, are trapped in an overturned railway carriage following a rail crash, waiting tensely to be rescued. A touching relationship begins to develop between them, as they amuse each other, annoy each other, tell stories, jokes and secrets, sing songs, and play word games. Just as rescue seems likely, however, . . . All through our own lives we touch lives with other people, sometimes for a very long time, sometimes for a moment.  Some of these moments are memorable and this warm, funny story is the story of one such brief collision. 

"Failed Investments" focuses on a group of women who have come together simply because of where they live. With the aid of liquid refreshment, tongues loosen and all sorts of issues are brought out into the open in this witty and amusing comedy.