Tuesday 20th July to Saturday 24th July 1993
Directed by Members of Bench Theatre
A mix of solo performances given by members of Bench Theatre.
If the man on the seat next to you is a Master of the Galaxy, what might he be thinking of you? This short play is from a series of 8 monologues called 'Barnes's People'. First published in 1989, this play was originally produced on radio and performed by Alec Guinness.
This striking piece was first performed by Henry Woolf on TV in 1973. In this ghostly, wistful reverie a solitary man is besieged by memories of old times when he and his 'best mate' were both lovers of a black girl who transferred her affections from one to the other. But in Pinter nothing, fortunately, is straightforward. A reflection on past events that might have happened, that did happen and that should have happened.
The year of Our Lord 1350, and the town of Havant still has no Mystery Cycle - but Brother Thomas means to change all this. 'Adam and Eve', 'The Three Shepherds' and 'The Three Maries' are three further tales which are "believed to be a genuine forgeries" and which first came to the notice of the people of Havant after Bench Theatre's 1984 production of the memoirs of a certain Brother Peter de Quincy of Westbourne Abbey.
Derived from Euripidean Tragedy. In a howl of rage Medea kills her own children in the painful awareness that they are the link of a chain which society hangs around the neck of women. A Medea for our times. This is a Medea abandoned and in despair, but who comes to realise that she is a victim of centuries of male oppression rather than a pawn in the hands of the Fate.
One is unmarried, one thinks she has failed, one is Mother to the Earth and one never was. This series of monologues was written in 1982 and shows a quartet of women revealing their very different responses to motherhood. These four finely drawn pieces are usually played by one actor, but in this case, Bench Theatre is able to show the formidable talents of two of its long-standing female members.
The Janitor "knows how to fix things", but how is he going to fix the monsters in Tommy's head? This chilling monologue touches on Vachss' recurring themes of abused children and those who commit the most heinous of crimes. This play was published in 1991 in Antaeus, a quarterly literary magazine - a reworking of a story Vachss originally had published in the early 1970s.
These plays were staged at Havant Arts Centre, East Street Havant - Bench Theatre's home since 1977. Benech Theatre went on to stage Medea again in 2002 as part of the 'Female Parts' set of monologues.
Edward Charles Lilly | David Penrose |
Man | John O'Hanlon |
Brother Thomas | John Scadding |
Medea | Catherine Bates |
Directed By | Vincent Adams |
Ruth (as unmarried mother) Naomi (as mother who never was) | Nicola Scadding |
Miriam (as failed mother) Deborah (as mother earth) | Ingrid Corrigan |
The Janitor | Alan Jenkins |
Directed By | Andrew Caple |
Director | Members of Bench Theatre |
Lighting | Andrew Caple |
Sound Recording | John O'Hanlon |
Poster Design | Pete Woodward |
Front of House | Sally Hartley |