Photos courtesy of Derek Osborne.
Barry has been a member of the Priory Players for some years, and has only recently embarked on acting roles, more usually doing jobs such as lighting, set construction and publicity.
The play was performed each evening on 16-18 September 2004 at the Priory Church Hall, Deeping St James. Entitled "Blithe Spirit", by Noel Coward, it is billed as "the classic comedy of the supernatural". It tells of Charles Condomine, a writer who is researching the supernatural for a book, and he invites a medium, Madame Arcati, and two friends, the doctor and his wife, to his house to have a seance.
Below L-R: Mrs Bradman the doctor's wife, Charles Condomine (played by Barry), his second wife Ruth, and Dr Bradman before the seance.
Below, the seance....
What is unforeseen is that the seance causes Charles' first wife Elvira to materialise as a ghost... Below L-R: Ruth the second wife, Elvira the first wife, and Charles. Charles can see Elvira, but no one else can, and he has conversations with her, which causes some mischief!
Below: Elvira causes a stepladder to be sabotaged, which injures Charles and causes the doctor and his wife to be called round again...
Below: Also the car's brakes are mysteriously sabotaged too, intended for Charles, but Ruth borrows the car and there is a fatal accident. Madame Arcati (on settee) tries to banish Elvira, but instead calls up Ruth's ghost too, and they spend ages hilariously trying to banish both of the ghosts...
They have a great "poltergeist" scene where all the ornaments go flying (thanks to fishing line attached) before both ghosts disappear.
Below: the cast, Barry in centre front row. (That picture of the knight on the horse, sure I've seen it on Derek's wall...)
Barry did very well, remembered all his lines, got the laughs, and held our attention all the way through. The Priory Players are always excellent considering their limited numbers and scope.
Well done Barry!
This page is only going on limited release, so as not to overshadow any material being placed on the Priory Players' own site (when Barry gets round to it).
Janette Walker, 21.9.04