Written By
Dodie Smith
Where and When
14th – 16th March 1985 @ The Allendale Centre, Wimborne
The Plot
Dear Octopus is the family from which none of its members are either able or quite willing to escape. And on the occasion of a golden wedding anniversary the children and grandchildren gather to reminisce and acquaint each other more fully with their activities. The life of this English family is shown in terms of the chatter of the youngsters, the careers and nursery memories of the middle-aged and the sense of the swift passing of the years, the sweetness of an old nurse, the minor frictions and abiding loyalty of brothers and sisters, the feast-day toast and the benevolent tyranny of the grandmother, Woven throughout the proceedings is a love story between fenny, companion to Mrs. Randolph, and Nicholas Randolph.
Cast
- Bill Harvey – Nicholas Stevenson
- Fenny – Carolyn Woodward
- Scrap – Vicki Haslem
- Nicholas Randolph – David Green
- Gertrude – Yvonne Goodman
- Dora Randolph – Margaret Pope
- Edna Randolph – Pam Feltham
- Hilda Randolph – Muriel Brooks
- Laurel Randolph – Maria Foreman
- Charles Randolph – Joe Brooks
- Margery Harvey – Jan Stevenson
- Flouncy – Tracey Hare
- Kenneth Harvey – Peter Brooks
- Hugh Randolph – Tony Feltham
- Belle Schlessinger – Joyce Eidmans
- Cynthia Randolph – Tina Barnes
- Nanny – Barbara Trebilco
Creative Team
- Director – Raymonde Grenville
- Stage Manager – Spencer Hare
- ASMs – Sarah Wartnaby, Andrew Thomas and Hugh Brasnett
- Properties – Joyce Eidmans
- Wardrobe – Rosemary Woodward
- Lighting – Roger Grenville
- Sound – Muriel Brooks
- Prompt – June Goulbourn
- Music – Elizabeth Anthony and Mike Stubbs
- Front of House – Daphne Young
Gallery
Review
It Was A Real ‘First Night’
Dodie Smith’s Dear Octopus is a play which is not often put on by local amateur groups because it involves a fairly large cast and also calls for children to take part. But such are the ambitions of Wimborne Drama Club, whose talents have increased greatly over the years, that they could take this in their stride and put it over extremely well.
Notwithstanding the problems of a play requiring a cast of 17, Wimborne had to cope with the dreadful flu which laid their cast low one by one, so much that the first full-length run-through involving everyone was the first night itself. Even then some of the cast appeared with temperatures round the 101 degree mark with shivers abounding; yet had we not been told we would never have guessed it. It was an excellent show, perhaps one of the best the club has done.
Again the club brought new faces to the Wimborne stage and what with its strong backbone of regulars the club now has such strength in depth it’s pretty well equipped to deal with anything.
Lively start
In the past Wimborne has been a little guilty of slow starts but this time that was anything but the case. The superb acting of Margaret Pope as grandmother Dora Randolph set the scene for a lively beginning. She was on stage for almost 40 minutes, had the bulk of the lines to deliver and each one came with great presence and authority.
She was strongly supported by Carolyn Woodward, Pam Feltham, Jan Stevenson and Joe Brooks, a foursome whose acting ability has been more than proved in past productions, and again they were in good form. David Green, Muriel Brooks, Tina Barnes and Joyce Eidmans were in equally as important roles and all contributed to the overall success of the production.
Yvonne Goodman made a very promising start as a newcomer to Wimborne, bringing considerable experience from previous societies. In the lesser roles were Maria Foreman, Peter Brooks, Tony Feltham and Barbara Trebilco, while the children’s parts were taken by Nicholas Stevenson, Vicki Haslam and a very bright Tracey Hare.
Bouquet
It was good to see such family involvement in the Wimborne Club in which Joe and Muriel have been stalwarts for quite a few years now. In this production it was a case of Muriel getting her own back on husband Joe, and thoroughly enjoying it too. Muriel has often taken character parts in the past and on occasion has had to play Joe’s mother, something she did under considerable protest. This time she was his stage daughter, with her own son Peter playing her brother-in-law.
Any successful production always has its producer to thank and Raymonde Grenville, producing for a third time, deserves a bouquet.
Programme
