The Bench Production
This play was staged under Bench Theatre's original company name of Theatre Union, at their theatre in West Street. It was actually the building in West Street, Havant where most of the Company's early plays were staged, which was called the Bench Theatre (after its prior use as a magistrates' court). The company's name was changed gradually by word of mouth and general usage between the years 1973 - 1977 when reviewers, and then members themselves, gradually stopped referring to Theatre Union and started calling the company of players 'Bench Theatre'. The new Company name of Bench Theatre was adopted in to all the promotional literature after they moved from the old theatre (which had been their home for nearly 7 years) in to the Old Town Hall building in East Street.
Cast
| Tom | Peter Corrigan |
| Shirley | Jen Jones |
| Henry | Brian Montefiore |
| Terry | Malcolm 'Spokey' Wheeler |
| Karen | June Jacques |
| Mum | Eve Moore |
Crew
| Directors | Mo Burness David Spackman |
| Stage Management | Ray Osborne David Lings |
| Special Effects | Tony Byng |
| Lighting and Sound | Tim Mahoney |
| Make up | Noella Mills |
Director's Notes
Whilst the play is written in a farcical manner, Mum's malevolence permeates the whole action. A woman of undeniable charm, she has three sons whom she has lacerated with her warped love, and it says something for man's resilience that they are as normal as they are.
Henry, her first-born, has managed to find an ersatz love that cannot humiliate him any more. Terry, although married, still clings to his mother hoping for a miracle to happen. Tom, in his hatred, is prepared to sacrifice everyone to achieve his victory over Mum. And so as the family is unwillingly brought together to celebrate Mum's wedding anniversary (regardless of deceased Dad) revolt is in the air.
Mo Burness and David Spackman
Reviews
The NewsAnon
Mother who spins a web of hate
No comedian's act is complete without a few digs at that comic-tragic figure, the mother-in-law. She is sometimes hilarious and sometimes pathetic but the creature conjured up by Havant's Bench Theatre players is no joke - she is cruel, venomous and hateful. Eve Moore as the mother who spins her three sons around her little finger and treats her daughter-in-law with calculated contempt, uses every trick in the book to turn husband against wife and brother against brother. She is the kind of woman who says: "Do you mind sitting elsewhere? I find B.O. unpleasant", to her son's fiancee at their first meeting.
The Anniversary' by Bill MacIlwraith, started its run at Havant last night and without a doubt it is one of the Bench Theatre's best yet. The starting plot of the play wraps around the audience involving them in all the characters, all well-chosen and well-directed by Mo Burness and David Spackman, two founder members of the theatre. Family life centres around Mum, who runs the family building business as well as her three sons. Each year there is a special party to celebrate Mum's wedding anniversary, despite the fact that father died several years ago. Each year there have been the same rows and old hatreds flaring up, fanned expertly by mother, but this time the family revolts against her hold.
Peter Corrigan, Brian Montefiore and Malcolm Wheeler play the three sons. June Jaques plays the wife of one of the sons and Jen Jones plays the unfortunate newcomer to the family circle as the future fiancee of one of the sons. The play continues until Saturday.
The News, 2nd October 1973
