Murder Mystery, Magical Gardens and Music...

Sunday was Sat Nav's (Gloria's) birthday, and this year she'd decided on something completely different - a Murder Mystery night.
Parts were allocated well beforehand and there was no cheating by us reading the clues/script before the night. Honest!
All party guests really entered into the spirit of the game and thanks to Kathy's Catering (Kathy have you ever come across Davinia's Catering at all? Sat Nav thinks that you and your assistant Judy should set up in the catering business) we ate extremely well.
The scene was set for Casablanca 1942 and it was a hard murder to solve. Only one guest got it right, or was it 2 - can't remember exactly too much champagne!

On Monday we spent an interesting afternoon in a magical garden where we had to solve clues, and riddles and try to avoid the water hazards lol!!! There was a labyrinth of tunnels, chambers, follies and surprises. The temple of the underworld, the eye of the needle, a huge pyramid made of translucent glass, paths and passages that lead nowhere, and extraordinary statues.
I opened a door and a skeleton nearly jumped out ...and I thought there is obviously a staff shortage here if they have to rely on the skeleton staff!
Talking trees, a little boy statue that peed on you, dragons and dungeons. Harry Potter and his friends would love this place.
We were in Forbidden Corner www.theforbiddencorner.co.uk with some of our friends - a great place to go. But we needed a place to meet up beforehand, and what better place than the Brymor Ice Cream Parlour www.brymordairy.co.uk. Ice cream par excellence!
We had to be agile on our feet here, not because the ice cream was cold, but because the wasps wanted some as well.


Last night (Tuesday) we headed up to Darlington Civic Theatre www.darlingtonarts.co.uk to the opening night of Dancing Queen billed as All Singing, All dancing, Biggest 70s Party Ever!
We met up with my sister, my niece and my sister's friend. The show started with Abba hits, and then moved on to The Bee Gees, Village People and more. It had an exciting cast of twenty singers and dancers. It was a full scale dance party, with dazzling costumes, outrageous choreography (how on earth the dancers managed to do some of those leg positions I'll never know) and amazing musical arrangements. We were all encouraged to sing along and dance in the aisles, and yes...I did sing - very loudly lol !!!

Masham Players Spring Production 2008

Our spring play for 2008 is the gentle comedy "The Bolt Hole" by Langton
Smith. This is a three act play set in an isolated farm house on Dartmoor
and has a cast of four women and five men.

The reading for the play was held in January and was well attended. Since
then rehearsals have been progressing steadily with a good deal of fun and
laughter. In addition to 'old hands' we are pleased to welcome a new
producer, Susan Rouse, plus four newcomers to the Masham stage.

We wish them all the best and feel sure that they will all enjoy their first experience of "treading the boards" at the Town Hall . . . and we all know what that feels like ;-)

Venue: The Town Hall, Masham, North Yorkshire.
Performance dates: March 13th, 14th, and 15th.
Curtain up at 7.30pm. sharp!
Tickets on sale from Marsden Pharmacy, Market Place, Masham, during normal business hours.

The Cat's Away

It's been a week of drama for Sat Nav and I. First the Magic of the Musicals, and then Masham Players (our local amateur dramatic society) were performing their autumn production of 'The Cat's Away' on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. This was directed by our good friend and fellow myspacer Brian, who described the play as 'a comedy of a misconstrued situation, misplaced intentions, an over-bearing mother-in-law, and broken garden ornaments!'

The first few rehearsals didn't go well at all, and we thought the play was jinxed. It certainly was a case of the cast pulling everything together at the eleventh hour. In amateur dramatics time is a huge commitment with everybody giving up their valuable time. One of the cast ended up on antibiotics two days before the opening night, another had a sore throat, but carried on valiantly. And the lines . . . well they just refused to be learnt :-) So much so that we thought we were going to have to send Brian for therapy lol!

Ticket sales for Friday and Saturday were very poor because Friday clashed with children in need and Saturday clashed with a musical event happening in the church, so in line with that Sat Nav (business manager) didn't bother to order any extra ice creams for Saturday night . . . big mistake as it turned out. But she is blaming Fiona for that because she talked it over with her and their decision was unanimous lol!

Thursday night we had almost a full house. I was usherette and sold ice cream with Sat Nav and Fiona. My, don't I live the high life. On Thursday nights the cast and crew prepare and serve the audience with an after show supper. You have to be quick on your feet and get out of the way of the stampede down to the supper room at the end of the show.

Friday night I am happy to report we had almost a full house too, I am happy to say that word had got around just what a great production it was. The cast and crew all signed a programme, and so did the writer Ian Hornby who had traveled quite a way to attend. Brian auctioned the programme for children in need and raised £30 which Sat Nav will be banking for them tomorrow. Ice cream sales went well, but going on past performances Sat Nav and Fiona still decided there should be enough. Wrong!

Saturday night sales started very slowly and then whoosh . . . almost a full house again and guess what? They ran out of ice creams. Sat Nav was mortified.

So congratulations to the director Brian who pulled it off in the end and to the cast and crew.

It makes me realize how much I miss treading the boards. Maybe next time. Whoops! I can feel a song coming on.

Masham Players Spring 2008 Production dates 13th, 14th, 15th March.