A group of Banbury Cross Players joined forces to write, produce and direct a new play for our 50th Anniversary. The result was The Play’s the Thing, performed at The Mill Theatre in November 1995.
The Authors: Mary Braybrook, Dennis Howard, Chris Lawrence, Roger Pinkham, Elizabeth Riley, Linda Shaw, Heward Simpson, Paul Sleet, Mary Sullivan, Gerard Sullivan, Jeremy Turner, Nevill Turner.
Script Editor and Co-ordinator: Tony Neale.
The Cast was as follows:
MRS HODGES – Karen Stiff
CLIFTON WELLS – Dennis Howard
HARRY PURVIS – Roger Pinkham
CONNIE PLUMTREE – Linda Shaw
FELICITY PURVIS – Mary Braybrook
TIM STRINGER – Chris Lawrence
CYBIL FAWCETT-DANCER – Elizabeth Riley
REV LAURENCE PLUMTREE – Marc Griffiths
LESLIE POUND – Paul Sleet
NED BOLE – Jeremy Turner
SIR WILLIAM KNOWLES MP – Gerard Sullivan
NELLIE PARGETER – Karen Stiff
STANLEY WIGFORD – Chris Laurence
JEAN BUTTERWORTH – Paula Raine
This news clip was found and posted to Facebook in 2025. As some words have been lost from the left margin, here is an attempted transcription.
The Play’s The Thing
by Banbury Cross Players, The Mill.
HOTBED of intrigue, a suspected homosexual vicar, a lustful MP with a butch xx director, a typical amdram affair between two young lovers — that was the background-to the Merry Players of Bunbury in 1945.
New novelists are told to stick-to subjects they know well, and Banbury Cross Players are wise to base this one, a show devised entirely by themselves, on past experiences the amateur theatre.
The result was a heady mixture of The Masterson Inheritance complete with catchphrase — ‘I know what I know’; the take-off of The Archers by Karen Stiff, Jeremy Turner, Roger Pinkham: and Mary Braybrook’s glorious Agatha Christie denouement at the finale.
The story line? A-group of people set out take Coward’s Hay Fever — a good chance for Mark(?) Neale to use Coward’s gags as links — they make a hash of it, but with blackmail are compelled to try again. With minimal scenery, the use of furniture in a life of its own, and crazy phone calls, as hilarious.
But it was the acting that carried it off. Elizabeth Riley’s mad tap dance was forgettable, Dennis Haward’s effete xx was so languid, and Linda Shaw xx a little schemer. Chris Lawrence was an amazing young journalist for he would have the story of effective MP, Gerard Sullivan’s adultery immediately to the nationals, while Marc Griffiths’ cod vicar was stunningly good.
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