Review: Nantwich Players new season starts with Talking Heads

The Nantwich Players new season starts with the well-known and loved ‘Talking Heads’ monologues by Alan Bennett, writes Claire Faulkner.

The Players are performing six plays spread over the next two weeks at their Love Lane theatre in Nantwich.

Three plays will be performed between September 5 and 10, followed by another three between the 12th and 17th.

In the first week, The Players bring to the stage a bitter sweet mix of comedy and tragedy.

Poignant mini dramas which highlight social issues rarely mentioned in theatre and shows us humanity from all walks of life.

In ‘A Lady of Letters’ directed by Jerry Park, Avril Allman plays a wonderful ‘Irene’, a curtain twitching neighbour who obsessively writes letters complaining about almost everything and everyone that comes into her life.

‘Bed Among the Lentils’, directed by Sandie Laughlin, tells the story of ‘Susan’ played brilliantly by Janan Chopra.

‘Susan’ is a vicar’s wife in an unfulfilled marriage who eventually finds comfort in the arms of Mr Ramesh, a green-grocer from Leeds.

The third play, also directed by Laughlin, is ‘A Cream Cracker Under the Settee’.

Helen Gresty plays ‘Doris’, an ageing but fiercely independent widow who is fighting against being put in a care home.

In a heart-breaking performance, Gresty shows the audience the private and sometimes painful memories and lost dreams of the dusting obsessed ‘Doris’.

A strong and powerful production ‘Talking Heads’ is showing at The Nantwich Players Theatre from September 5 to 19.

Next week, The Players will be performing ‘Her Big Chance’, ‘A Chip in the Sugar’ and ‘Soldiering On.’