​Apart from our usual facilitator Keith (this month cast in the role of narrator), our group comprises women, so we decided to read a play with all parts for women!
 
The play, suggested and directed by group member Gwen Barnes, Dinkum Assorted, is set in Australia, not too far from Sydney, during World War 2. 
 
An American Air Force base is close by, and even though the men do not appear in the play they are very much part of the story, as is Rita the goat, who is their mascot.
 
The women all work in a biscuit factory which produces plain and creamy biscuits.  The conversations between them are often humorous.  Much fun is created when the women all assemble for ARP – practice for the possible air raids.  The goat being captured to give it ‘freedom’ also gives some laughs.  When the women hear that the factory may close, the cranking up of the old cooker to impress the owners with a new army biscuit, leads to hilarity also.
 
There is also pathos. The crusty elderly woman who is the boss’s tea lady is not accepted by the group, as is the newcomer - a stylish young woman who has personal problems to deal with.  Another young woman cannot accept that her husband will never be coming back and struggles to cope with her life. 
 
It will be interesting to see how the problems of all of the women are resolved!
 
There is a lot of action in this play. It is listed as a musical, but most of the songs are sung at a Christmas concert at the end of the book.  Who knows?  If we have time, we may try to sing some of them to tunes which we already know.  Could be fun!!
 

​Over two sessions, the Play Readers met to read Peter Coke’s splendidly funny play: Winter Glory. Following as it did from his earlier plays, Breath of Spring, Midsummer Mink and Autumn Manoevres we meet the fabulous Dame Beatrice Appleby and her lodgers Nan, Hattie and The Brigadier.
 
The attempts of these do-gooder retirees to put a pathetic pet out of its misery and to help an aging actress fade away at “the peak of happiness” do not go according to plan and they (spoiler alert!) dispatch themselves heavenward as well in the most hilarious of ways.  Such fun for the Play Readers giving us a chance to use funny voices and accents, to get carried away with hysterical over acting and to bark out orders like a retired military gentleman whilst simultaneously keeping track of the intricacies of a well-crafted comedy.  Nothing a bit of “nerve tonic” wouldn’t fix!
 
Our next play will be an Australian one. During war time U.S. soldiers are stationed next to a country biscuit factory staffed by women…So bring your Aussie accent and knowledge of war brides. We can’t promise biscuits but... rumour has it there may be music.