Booked! Premiere success in Rusper

Our local amateur dramatic scene is alive and well - there's always something going on - but one company in particular stands out.

Lights & Bushels (think about it...) not only puts on high-class productions, full of originality and flair, but has a distinction that puts it well ahead of the others - all its material is written in-house, none of its plays are off-the-shelf.

This originality gives the company a very special edge, and it's all thanks to Kathryn Attwood and Barry Syder, the creative forces behind the company who in recent years have come up with nine productions.

These include Mad Shelley, based on the Horsham-born poet's early life, and Lady Susan and The Watsons, two Jane Austen-related open-air productions put on in the grounds of Horsham's Arun House, itself a one-time a local Shelley home.

While these were written by Kathryn, My Second Best Bed (about Shakespeare's will) and A Trip to Scarborough, (described as 'a shameless adaption of Sheridan's riotous comedy') were written and directed by Barry.

And now we have Booked!, another original play, again written by Barry Syder, directed by Kathryn Attwood and performed in Rusper Village Hall on the evenings of June 15, 21 and 22 to full houses and appreciative audiences. Arguably one of their best productions,  it was full of inventiveness and wit and professionally put together - an all-round classy production.

Set in the 1930s, the play tells of a planned book festival which in the end never materialises, due to an invasion by Mosleyite blackshirts who succeed in wrecking things on the mistaken assumption that the arty gathering was in fact a heavily disguised communist rally.

It all sounds a bit scary, but in fact it's great fun, with a cast of authors - splendid caricatures of famous novelists of the day - all gathering together, with the support of a formidable local lady, to defeat the uncouth opposition's strong-arm tactics. 

The quality of acting was first class, a great team effort. While it's always invidious to single out any one performance, I must say on the way home I kept coming back to the image of Sue Goble’s doom-laden Victoria Fox, a formidable figure dressed from top to toe in black, her glass never more than a quarter full, if that, and Angela Sheahan and Denise Robinson, gloriously over-the-top as “special friends” Hermione Hattersley and Rebecca Bailey. Barry Syder's Quentin Tremblade was a lightly disguised cantankerous Evelyn Waugh.

In a nice touch Lisa Falkner, in good voice and under the stage name Constance Trill, provided a charming song and dance act during the interval.

With creative direction, attractive costumes and an all-round sense of style which covered all production areas, programme included, Booked! gave the audiences a night to remember.

Original work sμch as this deserve everyone's support, so look out for Lights & Bushels’ next offering - and catch it if you can.

Brian Slyfield