Programme for Taunton Thespians' production of Outside Edge

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Outside Edgethe classic cricket comedy by
Richard Harris
13–17 March 2012
Programme £2
Programme pages.indd 1 3/6/2012 12:12:54 AM

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We are grateful to the following:
for displaying billboards: Yule Brown, Taunton; The Crown & Sceptre, Taunton;
Richard Moore, Taunton; Mr & Mrs Tooze, Chelston
for promotional displays: Shops & other premises in Taunton and elsewhere
for deploying billboards: Mark Dawson
for financial support: Our advertisers
for transporting the set Webbers Removals
for loan of Cricket Equipment Paul Dimond; Rob Stevens; Emma Vicarage; Bridgetown CC
for the dartboard Mrs Jenny Fowler
for the antique bat Simon Spalding
for darts, helmet & payphone Stuart Lyddon
for beer crates John Weller
for franking service Learning South West
for the licence Samuel French Ltd
for printing services Express Print, Taunton
for all their help Members of Taunton Thespians
Taunton Thespians is a Registered Charity, Number 800217

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The play is set in the 1970s, when some vices were less frowned upon than
now, and some attitudes were very different to those of today.
The setting is in and around a slightly run-down cricket pavilion in a village in
Surrey, England.
There will be a interval of 20 minutes between the acts.
Please note that cigarettes are smoked during the performance
Taunton Thespians present
Outside Edgeby
Richard Harris
Act One
About 1.00pm on a fine summer’s day
Act Two
About 5.30pm, the same day

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In rehearsal

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About the Author
Richard Harris (b. London 1934) is a prolific British television writer, most active
from the early 1960s to the mid-1990s. He writes primarily for the crime and
detective genres, having contributed episodes of series like The Avengers, The
Saint, The Sweeney, Armchair Mystery Theatre, and Target. He has helped to
create several standout programmes, including Adam Adamant Lives!, Man in a
Suitcase, and Shoestring. Despite a career which has been largely spent crime
and detective works, in 1994 he won the prize for best situation comedy from the
Writers’ Guild of Great Britain for Outside Edge, a programme he had originated
as a stage play. Indeed, though the majority of his work has been for television, a
substantial amount of his output has been for the stage.
Harris began writing freelance episodes for British television in his mid-twenties.
His first sale was to Sydney Newman’s 1960 ITV series, Police Surgeon, for which
he wrote the final episode, The Bigger They Are. Though he wrote for the initial
runs of The Avengers and The Saint, much of the early 1960s was dominated
by his contributions to anthological mystery programmes like The Edgar Wallace
Mystery Theatre and situation comedies like Hancock. His attempts at comedies
in the early 1960s were largely collaborative efforts with Dennis Spooner. These
joint efforts did not establish either writer in the comedy genre, Instead, as their
two failed pilots for Comedy Playhouse proved, the duo were really more interested in writing dramatic works.
Despite his commercial failures with Spooner, he continued to collaborate with others during his early career —
perhaps most successfully in 1966’s Adam Adamant Returns!, whose pilot he wrote with Donald Cotton. By the
end of the decade, he had contributed individual episodes to no less than twenty series.
From the late 1960s onward, producers began allowing him to write a number of “first episodes”, effectively
making him co-creator of a number of projects like The Gamblers and Life and Death of Penelope. Although he
turned a number of ideas into initial scripts, he only occasionally received an on-screen credit. This is evident in two
of his most recent shows, both adapted from literature. In The Last Detective, he is recognized as having “devised
the series for television”. On A Touch of Frost, he is not — despite having written the programme’s first season.
Beginning in about 1971. Harris turned his earlier comedic ambitions towards the stage. The vast majority of his
comedic work, even if it later ended up film, derives from his career as a playwright. Throughout the 1970s, a new
play of his would be produced almost annually. Though the frequency of his stage work slowed in later decades, his
plays continued to debut into the early part of the 21st century.
Outside Edge opened at the Hampstead Theatre in London on 24th July 1979 and transferred to the Queen’s
Theatre on 11th September 1979. The cast was as follows:
• Roger - Richard Kane
• Miriam - Julia McKenzie
• Kevin - Ian Trigger
• Maggie - Maureen Lipman
• Bob - John Kane
• Ginnie - Susan Carpenter
• Dennis - Julian Curry
• Alex - Martin Wimbush
• Sharon - Natalie Forbes
In 1982 the play was adapted for a one-off television show, starring Paul Eddington as Roger, Prunella Scales as
Miriam, Jonathan Lynn as Kevin and Maureen Lipman as Maggie. The cast also featured Gary Waldhorn as Dennis
and Leslie Ash as Sharon. In the mid-1990s, Harris adapted the play into a sitcom on ITV, starring Robert Daws as
Roger, Brenda Blethyn as Miriam, Timothy Spall as Kevin and Josie Lawrence as Maggie.
Information from Wikipedia, the free online encyclopaedia

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Open 7 days a week:
Lunch from 12 noon - 2pm•
Restaurant closed 3pm - 6pm•
Dinner service 6pm until 9pm, close about 11pm.•
Dogs welcome in the bar
Pre-theatre dinners for Tacchi Morris on request
Peter & Val Mustoe took ownership mid September 2011
Introducing exotic meats into our menu when available
The Monkton Inn, Blundells Lane, West Monkton.
Tel: 01823 412 414 or 079 000 80442
Email: peterval2009@hotmail.com
Web: www.themonkton.com

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Outside Edge - Director’s Cut:
Five Day Test
While driving home from a recent rehearsal, listening to a therapeutic blast of Mozart’s Jupiter symphony
on the radio, it struck me like a cricket ball on the bonce how similar directing and conducting are. As
an erstwhile woodwind soloist in many orchestras, I had the luxury of occasionally shining and also the
enjoyment of participating in the rich harmonies found in full orchestral scoring. A conductor (a rôle I
have never been offered but one I would quite like to try) aims to pull together all those disparate solo
performances, quieten some down, exhort others to even greater effort and sit hard on the inevitable bum
note.
A director has much the same job to do, especially in a play like Outside Edge which is, par excellence,
an ensemble piece. Every team member has their shining moment, but the overall effect, if I’ve got it
right, should be of a close-knit company pulling together, timing their entrances, speeches and actions
to perfection, and bringing the entire enterprise to a triumphant and harmonious finish. No room for any
Corporal Joneses in this outfit…
Speaking as an actor, I think Outside Edge, with its nine magnificent roles, offers wonderful opportunities
for thespians (with or without a capital ‘T’) to hone and display their comic timing, accents, physical comedy,
ability to handle ‘business’, interaction with others and teamwork. It is a superbly written play which requires
the entire cast to work closely and seamlessly together.
As a novice director, on the other hand, it offers multiple stumbling blocks, as I’ve discovered when
approaching the directing crease for the first time. Why is it that a cricketer has mysteriously drifted stage
left and is now blocking a critical piece of action? Why are those two speeches always delivered on top of
one another? What do you do if an audio cue of a loud appeal doesn’t materialise and the actor doesn’t
therefore come out with his or her line? And how can you produce enough volume from your actors to stifle
the irritating if appropriate creaking of the ancient rostra forming the basis of our cricket pavilion?
And of course, the perennial question all directors ask themselves
(unless they’re rich, famous or cavalier enough not to care): Will the
audience like it?
We hope so. The cast members (who have endured with
commendable equanimity my petty nitpicking for three months), crew
(who have helped realise my vision of this pitched battle with the British
Railways Maintenance Division, Yeading East) and I thank you cordially
for coming along and we now throw down a marking-up glove with the
timely challenge: How’s that?
Jane Edwards

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CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSSCRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS
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CRICKET CALYPSO
De West Indians have come to town
To hit de ball all over de groun’
De English, dey struggle wid might an’ main…
To get de Lord to send down de rain.
Clive Lloyd de captain takes all de pressure,
Lookin’ like an absent-minded professor.
De way to dismiss a man of his class is
To get short-leg to breathe on his glasses.
De vice-captain’s Somerset’s Richards Viv,
De greatest Antiguan dat ever did live.
To catch him you’ve got one chance in a million;
Put all your fielders inside de pavilion.
Gordon Greenidge is only in clover
If he can reach 50 in de first over.
Des Haynes smiles bright as de sun in de sky,
But if you run him out, he’ll have a good cry.
De English complain dat Kallicharan
Don’t look like a proper West Indi-an.
An’ Lightnin’ Bacchus is anudder man
Dey wish was playin’ for Pakistan.
Collis King hits as hard as a ragin’ lion,
An’ de fielders could do wid gloves of iron.
Derek Parry takes wickets, as much as you need,
But can’t play in Tests ‘cos he’s de wrong speed.
De wicket-keeper’s a source of worry –
Should it be D. Murray, or should it be D. Murray?
Poor Lawrence Rowe’s suffered more dan a little –
Two hours in de field means two weeks in hospital.
De fast bowlers’ union is very strong,
When dey strike, negotiations don’t last long.
De sight of Croft causes many alarms,
He bowls like a windmill wid six arms.
Malcolm Marshall runs like Olympic sprinter,
An’ de batsman’s bat turns into a splinter,
An’ Holding runs from so far in de deep,
By de time he arrives, de batsman’s asleep.
Roberts frowns like he’s feelin’ too sick to play,
But de batsman’s de one dat limps away,
De English say Big Joel’s bowlin’ ain’t cricket –
He leans down de pitch an’ drops de ball straight
on de wicket.
De West Indians have come to town
To hit de ball all over de groun’
I wish de whole worl’ learned to play
Cricket de Caribbean way.
David Henry Wilson, 1980
About Taunton Thespians
The Taunton Thespians have been providing live theatre for and by the people of Taunton and
surrounding area since 1928, when Ian Hay’s Tilly of Bloomsbury was staged for 3 nights at the
Lyceum Theatre (now a block of flats at the end of Station Road). The Thespians' home is “The Place”
in Wilfred Road, Taunton.
Every year the Thespians entertain thousands of people by:
Staging two major productions at the Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre•
Participating in drama festivals in other theatres around Somerset•
Putting on in-house productions for members•
Spending two weeks on the road with a touring production every summer•
We also provide Murder Mystery evenings for parties and fund-raising events around the area, and
are developing our outreach activities further.
To see what's happening in amateur drama in Taunton, come along to a Club Night. There's no
charge, and you're very welcome. Just drop along to The Place at 7.30pm on the first Wednesday of
any month from September to May.
If you do fancy joining us, there’s plenty to do, and it doesn’t have to involve getting up on stage.
Actors and actresses are always welcome, of course, but we do need people who want to design and
build our sets, sort out costumes, do makeup and hair, all sorts of things. Membership is only £12 a
year, and it’s just about the most fun you can have for a pound a month!
For more details call John Burbery on 01823 442118
or email membership@tauntonthespians.org.uk

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The Boys
Bob Dennis Roger Alex
Kevin
Alan
Coles
Brian
Lewis Richard
Stenner
Adam
Smith Stuart
Lloyd

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Maggie
Ginnie
Miriam
Sharon
Jane
Leakey Lucy
Monaghan Rachel
Buttell
Hayley
Watson
plus a special guest appearance
by Maat Ward as Charles
The Girls

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Backstage Team
Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jane Edwards
Producer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Polly Bray
Stage Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Gilbert
DSM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Keith Gibbons
Set Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ray Court
Set Construction & Painting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ray Court, Di Rawle,
Mark Dawson, Pauline Tilley, Angela Widgery, Jane Edwards, Rachel Buttell,
Stuart Lloyd, Lucy Monaghan, Conor Gilbert, Nicola Dawson and Swannie
Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Will Bower
Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dan Crowther
Props . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Northey & Jane Burt
Costume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charlotte Briggs & Kirsten Whyte
FOH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nicola Dawson
Prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rene Kilner
Original Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tony Leach
Graphic Design & Programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Gilbert
Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Dawson
Publicity Team . . Ron Roberts, Rene Kilner, Nicola Dawson, Jane Edwards,
Rachel Buttell, Dona Bullion, Michael Gilbert

13

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Alan Coles - Bob
Although I have been
performing in Taunton
and around Somerset
for nearly 20 years in
musicals, operettas and
even operas, this will
be my first ever play.
It’s going to be strange
without anything to sing,
but a relief not to have to
dance.
Thanks must go to Jane
Edwards, our director, firstly for persuading me to
even think about auditioning for a part I am strictly
far too old to play, for subsequently casting me and
then patiently moulding a performance over the
last 3 months.
Enjoy the show, but please don’t laugh quietly; I
might take it personally.
Richard Stenner - Roger
I find it quite hard to
believe that nearly 36
years have passed since
heading up the cast in
the first major play to be
staged at the Brewhouse
Theatre in April 1976.
Since then, I have been
on and off the boards
in numerous societies’
shows in and around the
county.
Outside Edge is only my
fourth appearance with the Taunton Thespians in
which I play Roger Dervish, the impossible Team
Captain and equally impossible husband to long
suffering Miriam – hardly a “perfect match” in
more ways than one.
Never having been a member of any 1st, 2nd
or even 3rd Eleven, the notion of me heading a
cricket team to victory is laughable to say the least;
however, this is theatre, where anything is possible!
Lucy Monaghan - Ginnie
Everybody watching
this play will be able to
observe an aspect of
themselves, or indeed
their other-halves, in
a character. Ginnie
- a sarcastic, vain,
emotionally unstable
young lady – is a complex
character, to which I was
able to relate to in some
ways (I won’t say to which
characteristics I immediately related), but which
took me some time truly to understand. I now see
facets of Ginnie in everyone and want to defend her
as a passionate, insecure and witty woman. I hope
all these layers of Ginnie become visible as the
story progresses.
Rachel Buttell - Miriam
Miriam is a dream role.
Although she comes
across as uptight, tetchy,
brittle, I think she's shy
and although uneasy
talking to people, she's a
helper/supporter who
dreams of a Saturday
when the teas go without
hitch and everyone gets
on together. I wonder
what she would be like
if she had a husband who appreciates her and
could give her a cuddle now and again. Completely
different from my relationship... I've been very lucky
to have a boyfriend who has helped me learn those
lines - although he has started calling me "darling"
a lot, and expects me to make him tea all the time!

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Brian Lewis - Dennis
Having joined Taunton
Thespians in 2011 I was
delighted to be Assistant
Stage Manager for both
The Good Doctor and A
Murder is Announced.
However, there’s nothing
quite like a spot of acting
and I am very excited
to be performing in
Outside Edge; it’s my first
acting appearance at
the Tacchi–Morris Arts
Centre and also my first appearance for Taunton
Thespians in a full length play.
I enjoyed the two readings of this play more than
any other so far and I have high hopes that the
audiences will also find it hilarious.
Stuart Lloyd - Kevin
This is quite a departure
for me, having previously
only taken part in
pantomime and musical
theatre.
For years I have enjoyed
watching Thespians’
productions, but this is
the first time I have taken
part. I have seen Outside
Edge on many occasions
and as it combines two
of my favourite things,
comedy and cricket - how could I resist?
It is a great opportunity for me to play Kevin, who
unfortunately shares a lot of my character traits.
Those who know me well could only agree!
Jane Leakey - Maggie
I am thrilled to be working
with the Thespians
once again since playing
Jacie Triplethree in
Alan Ayckourn's Comic
Potential, for which I
won the Best Actress
Rose Bowl Award. I
am a puppeteer, writer,
teacher and director
and work with Fat Cat
Theatre Company. I
have worked at the Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden (model room) and performed stand-up at
the BBC Television Centre. When not performing,
I am a wildlife photographer and work with
endangered animals: gorillas, chimps and monkeys
in Cameroon and elephants in Thailand. I can't wait
to work with rescued cheetahs and baboons in
Namibia later this year

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Adam Smith - Alex
A lifetime ambition
fulfilled; this is the
first time I will have
performed as an actor,
ever. I am half terrified,
half excited, and half
something else entirely.
The entire cast and crew
have been wonderful to
work with, everyone has
been very supportive
and I can't describe how
much I've learnt during
the past few weeks, about myself and the ways of
theatre. I'd like to think that this is the first of many
plays that I'll be a part of in the near future! Fingers
crossed...
Thank you, everyone.
Maat Ward - Charles
One of the drawbacks of
being in a play (especially
a good one) is that you
can’t be in it and watch
it at the same time. With
Outside Edge, I feel I’ve
done just that – due to a
few scheduling conflicts,
I’ve stood in for five
characters (I’m hoping to
complete the set before
curtain up), but my actual
part is small enough that in many rehearsals I’ve
had the privilege of just settling back and watching
an excellent bunch of actors pull together a very
good show – one that just gets sharper and
funnier every time I see it.
Hayley Watson - Sharon
It's always a real treat for
an actor when they get
to experience a play, with
which they have enjoyed
previous involvement,
from a different angle. A
few years ago I played
Maggie, and am now
playing Sharon, a fun little
cameo with lots of angst
and social awkwardness
which has certainly
allowed me to do just this.
I've also greatly enjoyed the role as sadly, after
almost two years, several 'major productions', a
good dose of murder mysteries, one summer tour,
and a drama festival entry, Outside Edge marks the
end of my run with the Taunton Thespians due to
me relocating.
A big thank you to everyone for the part they have
played in making my journey with the Thespians a
thoroughly enjoyable one!

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ordsords
andand
adiesadies
On Tour 2012 Present
dream on...dream on...
Auditions at The Place,
WIlfred Rd, Taunton,
19th & 21st of March, 7.30pm
Terry Pratchett’sTerry Pratchett’s
comic fantasycomic fantasy

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This production is entered
for
The Phoebe Rees Awards
Founded by Phoebe Rees and run by the
Somerset Fellowship of Drama, the competition
is open to amateur drama societies and groups
in Somerset. Plays are adjudicated by members
of the Fellowship’s committee who also run
an annual Original Playwriting Festival and the
county’s first round of the All England Theatre
Festival, and organise drama training.
The Rose Bowl Awards
Founded by the families of Walter Hawkins
and John Coe, this is now funded through the
Quartet Community Foundation, with individual
awards sponsored by the Bristol Evening Post.
Amateur operatic and dramatic productions
throughout former Avon, Gloucester and
Somerset are assessed by GODA qualified
adjudicators
Taunton Thespians are members of NODA
The National Operatic and Dramatic Association (NODA), founded in 1899, is the main representative
body for amateur theatre in the UK. It has a membership of some 2500 amateur/community theatre
groups and 3000 individual enthusiasts throughout the UK, staging musicals,
operas, plays, concerts and pantomimes in a wide variety of performing
venues, ranging from the country's leading professional theatres to village halls.
Members have access to a wide range of benefits.
NODA aims
To give a shared voice to the amateur theatre sector•
To help amateur societies and individuals achieve the highest standards of•
best practice and performance
To provide leadership and advice to enable the amateur theatre sector to•
tackle the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century
Murder Mystery evenings
Are you looking for a fun evening to raise money for your school, local community or favourate charity?
Or are you simply interested in running a lively, fun social event? Do you have access to a hall or meeting
room? If so, why not book the Taunton Thespians to run a murder mystery evening for you. Thespians
will supply actors to perform an entertaining who-dun-it right in front of your eyes and will involve the
whole audience in solving the mystery. These evenings work very well when combined with a supper.
Dates are available in the autumn
For availability, fees and further details contact treasurer@tauntonthespians.org.uk
or phone 01823 270249.

19

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Programme for Taunton Thespians' production of Outside Edge

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Programme for Taunton Thespians' production of Outside Edge