Pirates Of Pinmill, The Stage

Eastern Angles uses its creative improvisation style to wring the utmost fun out of the spoof plays it presents at Christmas at its headquarteres, the Sir John Mills Theatre.

Ivan Cutting, administrator and  director, has written the script for this piece of nautical nonsense. The theatre is transformed by designer Fred Mellor into the habitat of the Miss Inclined, almost the sole surviving trading barge. The plot is, as usual, mostly irrelevant, except to give an excuse to present some marvellous characters, like Bob the bargemaster, similarly a relic of a great river industry, played burly and gruff with a twinkle by Sandy Macnab.

Janeena Sims is his niece Beth, a wildly adventurous lass with her head full of pirates and her arms frequently full of Jim the yachtsman, played by Patrick Marlowe. He also reincarnates as a riverside Plod, and works up a great rapport with the audience. Pat Whymark's original music supplies a mostly shanty-style score, sung by the cast with accordian played by Jules Davison, enthusiastic musician and also playing three cloned quayside urchins as well as Black-Eyed Lil, the pirates' familiar.

Greg Wagland is the smiling villain, Sir Gerald, MP and Cabinet Minister - beast to women, cheat on the river and all-round lying toad - obviously not an easy character to make believable, but it is a spoof after all.

Carol Carver