Simon grew up in a poor Jewish area of the Bronx. Growing up in a broken and violent home, Neil found refuge in cinemas, hence his interest in comedy. Simon began writing comedy scripts for Sid Caesar, Mel Brooks and Phil Silvers’ ‘Sergeant Bilko Show’. There followed plays and books, most with strong autobiographical background. In 1991, he won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1991.

This Melville Theatre Company’s delightful production of ‘Barefoot in the Park’ can be seen at the Melville Theatre, on the corner of Stock Road and Canning Highway in Melville.

The hilarious 2 and a half hour performances are at 8.00 pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights until 17^th September. There is one matinée, at 2.00 pm on Sunday 11^th.

It is an open stage. The single room acts as the sitting room, dining room, kitchen and storage area. The set constructors (Paul Bray, Trevor Dhu, Rex Gray, Lloyd Hamer) have done well as the script requires a short staircase, pot belly stove, a skylight and a rain effect. When the play begins the flat is empty. There are the pale green walls, a set of stepladders and piles of dust sheets.

In the brief interval at the end of scene 1, the apartment furniture and props had to be installed. Considering the number of items to be moved, three-piece suite, tables, screen and props, the stage team were most speedy and efficient. Well done stage manager, Paul Bray, and his assistants, Trevor Dhu and Erin Gray.

Aaron Smith’s lighting design took us through the various weather patterns and time of day. The lighting was smoothly operated by Vanessa Gudgeon, who also controlled the sound – with accurate sync on phones and light switches.

       After her 6-day honeymoon in a luxury hotel, the passionate, free-spirited new bride Corie (Georgina Hamer) is still filled with romance and so excited about starting a new life in their New York, tiny 5th-floor rundown apartment. There is no lift – just a never ending staircase. Her boring husband, solicitor Paul Bratter (John Gray) trusted Corie to take out the lease, and has yet to see the minute bedsit.

     The door buzzer goes; it is the telephone installation man. After a few minutes, this tall, heavy-set man, Harry Pepper (Paul Bray) staggers through the front door. Another victim of the 5 flights of stairs. He is soon followed by another wheezing delivery man (Trevor Dhu), with a wedding gift from a relative.

     The first telephone call comes from Corie’s widowed mother, Mrs. Ethel Banks (Sharon Menzies) who wishes to call around, see the flat and offer some ‘smotherly’ love. When the eccentric, randy neighbour, Victor Velasco (Rex Gray) who lives in the attic upstairs pops in, Corie thinks that perhaps he would be ideal for her lonely mother. However, the special meal for four turns out to be a nightmare for everyone. Adjusting to married life isn’t so easy!

Director, Trevor Dhu, has squeezed every ounce of humour from this play script. The cast had great chemistry. Georgina was excellent as the besotted, fawning wife, and John wonderful as the boring, straight-laced husband. Sharon was great as the mother-in-law that we all dread getting. Rex was at his best as a wonderful aging letch, who thinks that he is still the Casanova of his youth. The two amusing cameos, Paul and Trevor warmed the audience up on the cold night. There was very good pace, plenty of movement and slick delivery of the lines, and yet at times I found myself the only one laughing aloud. Dare I suggest the audience had a problem?

In the ecstasy of her marriage, Georgina performed a short ballet routine that was choreographed by Trevor and Georgina, both of who are professional dancers. This added an original and pleasant touch.

At 50, the play is slightly showing its age. There are a couple of comments that are now politically incorrect, but neither of these points detract from the story, and it has retained its humour well.

This was a full house, so don’t rely upon tickets at the door. Congrats to all.

With the photos taken by Terry Logan, a professional photographer married to one of the models, the 2000 WI calendar was released in April 1999. By Christmas, it had sold 88,000 copies raising half a million pounds. The proceeds were used to fund new laboratories in Leeds University, specifically for lymphoma and leukaemia research.

The script of this production seemed to have been updated, with quite a few differences from the previous versions that I have seen.

You can see this very funny and bold 135-minute production by the Stirling Players at The Stirling Theatre, Morris Place, Innaloo. Evening shows commence at 8.00 pm on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights until the 12^th of December, with a 2.00 pm matinee on Sunday 29^th November, and another on 6^th December.

The Yorkshire hills about 20 years ago. The set is the interior of the community hall, an old fibro building with cream walls.

        It is evening in the Yorkshire Dales’ village of Knapely. In the church hall, the ladies of the Women’s Institute, led by Chris (Sharon Menzies) are finishing their Tai Chi class, whilst Cora (Jenni Glassford) is left to sing the organisation’s anthem ‘Jerusalem’ alone. They are awaiting the arrival of Brenda (Julie Holmshaw), possibly their most boring guest speaker ever, her visit being organised by finicky Marie (Joan Scafe).

     During the meeting, Annie (Charlotte Weber) is updating her friends with the progress of John, her 54-year-old very sick husband (Alan Bascombe).

     The visits to the hospital involve long periods sitting on plastic chairs, so Chris and her husband, Rod (Paul Cook), suggest that they raise money for a settee for the waiting room. Marie is keen to have a change from the usual plum jam and sponge cake competitions, with the same old judge – the supercilious, Lady Cravenshire (Julie Holmshaw) – and instead to sell a calendar with beautiful photos of Wharfedale bridges. Chris utters ‘Boring’ and suggests a spicy calendar of photos produced by, and of, the girls of their Chapter.

     Attractive Celia (Jennifer McGrath) is keen on the calendar idea; however, it was not until they explained to the vicar’s daughter, Cora that they meant nude photos that the panic started. Ruth (Dale James / Gail Lusted) said she had misunderstood and refused to strip. Thankfully, Jessie (Janet Brandwood) uses large gauge knitting needles for her hobby.

     Annie found that one of the hospital porters, shy Lawrence (Milos Dragic), was a keen and capable photographer so he was ‘volunteered’. Ruth found a professional makeup girl, Elaine (Becky Barton) who was renowned for her generous free help.

     The girls had to face the National Conference of this staid organisation and put forward their case. Then, to their horror, another photographer, Liam (Milos Dragic) arrived to take promotional pictures.

I saw this play on the opening night, so the tensions were high. For the cast with an average age of around 50 and of all different figures, a great deal of credit must be given for them possibly having even more courage and pluck than the original calendar ladies, who were only photographed – not live. Then Dale, the poor director, – most capably – had to stand in for one of the ‘girls’ who could not appear on the night.

This cast has a tremendous laisse-faire attitude, getting down to the nitty-gritty and showing the audience what fun the original group must have had in the process. The audience was extremely supportive, with very positive comments during the intermission.

I realise how very difficult it is for so many theatrical groups to get set designers and builders. It involves a great deal of hard work and is often a thankless task, but I was a little disappointed with the set. The serving hatch had disappeared, but the cast did well without it. However, it was the lack of pictures and posters that made the community hall look stark, even some of the photo boards on the auditorium wall could have been borrowed, and would have made the set look more realistic and ‘lived in’. For the scene on the hill, one production of this show had, at each side of the proscenium arch, artwork showing the rolling hills of the Yorkshire dales. Then at the end of the play, the rear wall split to reveal a stunning panorama. I appreciate that this was extraordinary. Another show had trelliswork with flowers in front of the stage, so I was a little disappointed when the group appeared to sit on a blanket on the floor in the middle of the community hall, with no sign of vegetation anywhere. Perhaps a few pot plants on the stage apron and the hall in the darkness behind? Had the group been fortunate and rich enough to have the new LED lighting, then the blues and greens of nature would have been more easily displayed. Having said this, the final floral scene was spectacular.

A couple of actors were called upon to perform two different characters. Julie Holmshaw was wonderful, capturing different accents, stances, her walk was different and the costumes were markedly dissimilar. There was no doubt that she portrayed two different people. However, the other actor, although performing admirably, did cause some confusion to the audience who thought he was the same person on both occasions.

The direction of the play was wonderful; Dale always does a great job, with a good pace, plenty of fun and emotion. The cast managed to conquer the Yorkshire accent very well, even toffee-nosed Celia came out with a wonderful ‘gob full’ of vernacular.

Except for the aforementioned minor technicalities, the cast captured all of the emotions from sadness to hilarity with skill. Sharon Menzies was outstanding, her enthusiasm boosted the other players and the fun flowed through. The audience loved it.

This was an entertaining show, and if you haven’t seen ‘Calendar Girls’ in the past, try and catch it, you will have a most enjoyable night, saucy (but no real nudity). At Stirling, you can always be assured of a warm welcome.

The two-hour performances of this extremely funny comedy (not a farce) can be seen at the Melville Theatre, on the corner of Stock Road and Canning Highway, Melville nightly on Thursday, Friday and Saturday until 6^th December. There is one matinee; it is on Sunday 30^th November at 2.00 pm.

The scene is the present day, in the Thursby’s sitting room. The set is a sumptuous room with French windows (designer Joan Scafe, built by Peter Bloor and Ross Bertinshaw).

The walls are ice green, the furniture a white three-piece suite, with antique oak table and mirrors. In the centre of the room is a casket and wreaths on a trestle.

     The highly popular TV comedian, Dave Thursby, has died and his friends are gathering in his house for his funeral. The first to arrive is Dave’s scriptwriter and best friend, curmudgeon Harvey (Peter Bloor) who has kept him top of the ratings for a decade. With Harvey is his long-suffering wife, Vi (Sharon Menzies) who is trying to get her squeamish husband to look into the open coffin and pay his last respects to Dave.

       Harvey whispers to Vi that only a day or two earlier, Dave had confided in him, admitting to a rather delicate subject that could blow their careers to pieces.
       One of the TV executives, Kevin (Andrew O’Connell) and his production secretary, wife, Jane (Tatiana Dalin) have helped Dave’s leggy wife, Laura (Jennifer McGrath) arrange the private funeral – for close friends and relatives only. Just before the service begins, a rather tarty looking woman, who no one seems to recognise, appears at the house, she is Kay (Andrea Von Bertouch).

The Melville Theatre is renowned for its quality drama productions, but recently they do not have many comedies under their belt. I was therefore a little dubious as to how good this production would be, as Chappell’s comedy is a specialised genre and takes particularly good comedic actors to carry out the dry humour.

The highly experienced director, Joan Scafe, has chosen a wonderful cast and led them skilfully through all of the twists and turns. The teamwork was magnificent and every joke delivered with subtlety. This must have been one of Peter Bloor’s best performances.

The lighting design and set painting was by courtesy of the Jensen Clan, with sound and lighting operated by Sue Lynch.

Plenty of surprises and fresh humour in this family comedy. Very well acted and certainly worth seeing.