LGP events at the Village Hall

click Lacey Green Productions for all events.

Hallmark August 1998. 'The Roman Invasion of Ramsbottom!' Report by Madeline Cleaver.

Well, it ‘appened! T’ Roman Invasion of Ramsbottom was also T’ Lacey Green Productions’ invasion of t’ Village Hall instead of t’ barn down t’ road. To accomodate a large company in a major show the stage had to be rather large and the audience reduced, so the show was spread over two weeks of three evening and one afternoon performances. The problem with that is the “putting it off’ syndrome or “I'll wait and see, there’s plenty of time”. We chose to go on the first night and it would have been good if at least another 20 had done so, as there was no question of “warming up” and “getting into the swing as the week went by”. There were no hitches, the show was absolutely ready for performance, displaying great verve and obvious enjoyment by cast and audience.

We saw familiar faces and some not so familiar, but all gave a great performance, with a few outstanding. The problem of sharing parts - good in itself to give experience to some - is that I could not judge everyone in every part they played. However, knowing the director, there would still be a good performance from everyone. Ann Gosling played Gracie Trotter, who won the hero, for most performances, but Thea Stallwood and Cathy Sayer had their chance to take that part, while Ann took Cathy’s part one evening and Marcus Ridge played Lamborghini instead of Ray Gosling for two performances. I saw Ann in her main part, which of course came up to my expectations.

It is so nice to see families involved and see how they progress from show to show. We saw Karen Gosling bossing her dad, in their parts of course, while Katie Brookhouse has often had the chance to “put down” her father and, boys and girls, it’s all legit., in the name of art, - what are you waiting for? Ray Gosling was, as usual, very funny as Julius Brutus and Fred Howard, leader of the Cloggers did well with maintaining a North country accent, which is difficult for a southerner. As Lamborghini he made a good Elvis too but having enjoyed his parts in several shows and plays it would be good to see him in a large, straight part. James Moorcroft carried his part well through the whole play and was also Musical Director, which meant that with the whole family involved one way or another, the Moorcrofts must have been taken over by the R.I. of R. Linda, while not taking part in the show, spent a long, nerve-racking time playing the music for Mike Robbins to record and then turn into the “orchestrated” version used in the show and, like most mothers, needed to be much involved because husband and three children were taking part. If a mother takes a part as well as husband and children, who still need looking after, life must seem very full. Other mothers helped in other ways, costumes, make-up and so on, and at the end of the run everyone would be pretty exhausted but no doubt had a great deal of fun.

If it is not possible to mention more than a few names, I do have to mention outstanding people not only noted by me but mentioned to me by others, such as Rachel Panter as Renata Bolom, her secretary Bimba (Mari Cheesman) and especially Tasmin Ridge as Plonka the wine waitress but particularly as Little Lil the local milk stout drinker in the Roman’s Return.

The Production and Direction team did sterling work as always, and the whole company can be congratulated on their hard work and talent, which we all hope resulted in a sum raised which was satisfying to all concerned. I hope other teenagers went to see the show and will be tempted to take part in future, particularly the fellows. There’s talent there lads, in all senses of the word!

Click 2009 LGP 'It Runs in the Family' for more