Welcome to Bats Over Bleedham Market, the15th Christmas show from Eastern Angles at the Sir John Mills. After last year's success with Parson Combs we have invited Julian Harries straight back to provide this year’s extravaganza. Once again he has come up with one of his delirious stories and plugged it into our local surroundings with the dexterity of a native of these parts. Because, you know he’s not actually from these parts. You didn’t? Well, let me fill you in.
We rescued him from a houseboat on the Thames, when I cast him in 1990 in Peddars Way, a weird and wonderful tale linking the ancient trackway with the gold of the El Dorado. Needless to say Julian strutted the stage in fine Elizabethan style and even mastered the concertina for his salty sea dog moments. At that time our tours straddled Christmas and Julian made a fine Sherlock Holmes in our Mystery of the Missing Carol, where, ahem, I played his sidekick Dr Watson. Also in the cast was a perky Pat Whymark, as usual doing the music, but also playing a rather sprightly maid. Quickly realising that hanging around with the musical director got you the best songs and the possibility of a berth in Woodbridge, before you could say, “I think this is a three pipe problem, Watson”, he and Ms Whymark were ensconced in Woodbridge with a family in tow. After attaching elastic to his britches, which he extends as far as Southwold and Hornchurch, we have let him loose to appear regularly in our Christmas shows, then to write them, and now to write and direct with astounding success.
There’s a couple more old troupers in this show as well, whose pedigree extends almost as far as Julian’s. Greg Wagland, who usurped me as Julian’s Dr Watson many years ago, has notched up the most appearances for Eastern Angles of any actor. I should warn you that he trained as a teacher the other year and may appear in your children’s classroom. You might want to keep his snapshot as an aide memoire in case you confront him at some parents' night and think, “I recognize those fangs!”
Similarly Claire Vousden arrived way back in the mists of the early ‘90s as a Margaret Thatcher look-alike for our Hereward modern-dress show. She then played Harriet Vane in our Lord Peter Wimsey spoof and has been vamping it up for us ever since. She inveigles her way back here with rumours of a father in Manningtree, but we are suspicious. Memorise her features too in case the contraband smuggling of exotic garden shrubs from Mistley ever hits the news. You may even catch her again in our David Copperfield which returns to the Wolsey in April.
Between them these three stooges have notched up over twenty-five appearances for us and are still waiting for me to buy them a drink. You think I’d fall for that one? So keeping my hands firmly in my pockets I move on to the veritable bambini in this show, Simon and Jo, who we embrace for the first time. Well, I would have, but for those awful teeth. As aspirants, I know they will look up to their colleagues, noticing but never mentioning their sometimes snow flecked mountain peaks, but will have no compunction about treading on their toes to overtake them if they can and grab the limelight.
Fast becoming our long-running sponsoring equivalent is Ensors. As Chartered Accountants they have to be awarded some kind of bravery medal for sponsoring a show about blood sucking. But they’ll probably have to wait for it until the actors have got their drinks. This being the third year of their championship of our Christmas bonanza, they should have known better. Word is they have a new chief partner, a veritable innocent in the ways of thespian PR launches. Oh what can we set him up with? As the Wise Men said, watch the Star!
Ivan Cutting - Artistic Director