I may not be a distinguished reporter from the BBBBC (British Bells and Baubles Broadcasting Corporation), but I was live at the scene of Belper Players’ “Seasonal Tales”, performed for one night only at Strutts Community Centre. The evening promised festive jokes, heartwarming tales and a complimentary mince pie – and the group delivered on all these promises, and then some!
The Selection Box featured a range of scenes and monologues, beginning with a short scene called “New Boy”, which saw a new Father Christmas recruit getting mocked for his accent, which was much too posh to be from “up north”. Further laughs followed, with “Santa Court Unawares” featuring Santa put on trial for breaking and entering, and “Coffee Shop Christmas” allowing the group to poke fun at the complicated offerings in hipster coffee shops.
The “Year One Nativity” turned the audience into a year one class, whilst their teacher barked orders at them and took everything far too seriously. The biggest laughs of the night came thanks to a purposefully lacklustre reimagining of the Cinderella pantomime (and seeing Roger Whiting as the Fairy Godmother was a particular treat!). As for Cinderella himself… it would be appropriate to describe his performance as “alright”.
Things took a more serious turn with the short play “Kindness”, which gave me flashbacks to my time as a Christmas casual at the post office, as the workers struggled to meet the Christmas rush. Action then turned to the children’s ward at the local hospital, where secrets about the post office workers came to light as they tried to ensure that letters from Santa arrived with the children in time for Christmas.
Monologues included readings of poems from Rudyard Kipling, an excerpt from a book by Dylan Thomas and a rendition of “Twas the Night Before Christmas”, which kept getting interrupted by (highly appropriate) sound effects.
Throughout we were treated to appearances from Dobbin the pantomime horse, who finally got their opportunity at the end to perform a mini-standup routine, before the rest of the cast appeared with a final performance of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. According to cast members, they had purposefully under-rehearsed this section in the hope of causing the most chaos possible – and if chaos was the aim, then they certainly achieved it, with the stage strewn in feathers, eggs, handkerchiefs and more by the end of the song. I particularly appreciated the handing out of Swizzels Drumsticks to accompany the “12 Drummers Drumming” – genius!
Overall, this was a fun evening suitable for all the family, that definitely got me in the Christmas spirit. The Belper Players insist that each piece is a “work of heart”, and it couldn’t be more true – it was plain to see how much work had gone into each sketch, and the enjoyment from the players on the stage made this an entertaining evening for all.
Tom Morley, December 2024
Broken Legs Blog 