Programme for Taunton Thespians' production of Cold Comfort Farm

Programme
Tacchi-Morris Theatre
9th - 13th March 2010
Programme_pages.indd 1 02/03/2010 18:48:38

Acknowledgements
Alongside the people named as members of cast and crew, Taunton Thespians would like to
thank the following for their generous support in the making of this production:
For displaying Billboards: Mrs Tooze, Chelston, The Civil Service Sports & Social Club,•
Taunton, Yule Brown, Taunton
Wye Theatre Company, Hereford for the supply and loan of props•
Glenys Woodford for loan of The Tricycle•
Charlton Orchards for Graceless’s wooden leg•
Prockters Farm, Monkton Elm Garden Centre and the Merry Monk for prizes and photo•
shoot locations
Adrian Bridges for transportation of the exploding clocks•
Cast Members and other Taunton Thespians for loan of various props and costumes•
Notes – No Water Voles were hurt in the production of this play•
Taunton Thespians is a Registered
Charity, Number 800217

Director’s Notes
Welcome to the Tacchi Morris Theatre and the Taunton Thespians’ spring
offering – a stage adaptation by Paul Doust of Stella Gibbons’ wonderful novel
Cold Comfort Farm, which was first published in 1932 and which beautifully
parodied the many angst - laden classic rural novels of the early twentieth
century as penned by authors such as DH Lawrence and Thomas Hardy,
their pages all crammed with characters dripping with emotion, intrigue and
darkness.
I have two copies of the novel, a very old, much loved, well thumbed copy given
to me by my father many years ago and a lovely brand new copy given to me
by a dear friend for my birthday last year. It made me smile to see the contrast
between the condition of both these books when they were sitting side by side on
my bedside table. The old one: tatty, worn and battered by the ravages of time and the new one: clean,
smart and tidy. Just like the contrast between the Starkadders and Flora!
For those of you not familiar with the novel, I hope that the story is one you enjoy and makes you want
to go on and read the book one day after seeing this play. For those who, like me, love the weird and
wonderful characters contained within its pages, I hope you enjoy our efforts at lifting them from the
two dimensions of the written word into the three dimensions of the stage – and what a lovely open
stage it is to work on, too. You may also notice that one or two characters from the novel are missing, a
necessary and I think perfectly acceptable cutting process, which allows the stage version to flow.
Rehearsals have been thoroughly enjoyable and all the cast and crew have worked incredibly hard
and happily together to produce the finished result. Staging of this piece has been challenging as
the script requires lots of props, which are just as weird as the characters woven around them. We
have spent a few ‘Blue Peter’ days sticking, cutting and making various masks, interesting shaped
flowers, dried rodents and clettering sticks. Not to mention The Tricycle, wooden bovine leg and
scranlet maintenance classes! Due to the combined effects of laughter and sheer number of bodies,
we have managed to generate heat in our chilly rehearsal space. ‘Cold Comfort’ has been a very apt
title throughout this exceptionally cold winter; it adds an extra dimension to character work when you
can see your breath vaporise as words are spoken! My heartfelt thanks to everyone involved with this
production. I now release my grasp on ‘ee all!
Jane Burt
Director
Strobe lighting will be
used during this show

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Stella Dorothea
Gibbons:
A Biography
Stella Dorothea Gibbons was born in 1902, the daughter
of Telford Gibbons, a widely respected doctor in the Camden
and Kentish Town area of London. Despite many admirable
qualities, Dr Gibbons’ drinking, womanising and appetite for
emotional scenes – a characteristic of the Gibbons family –
made Stella’s childhood a difficult one.
Stella was close to her mother and brothers, but her
father and grandfather made her childhood miserable with
their self-dramatising scenes and emotional outpourings.
Telford was depressive, tyrannical and a drunkard and often
resorted to whiskey, and later laudanum, to deal with his
inner demons. He once threw a knife at Maudie, and had a
series of affairs with the governesses and maids he employed.
As a young girl, Stella Gibbons sought refuge in literature, and her turbulent upbringing was to play a
significant part in the creation of her most noted work Cold Comfort Farm.
She went to the London Collegiate School where she was a contemporary of the poet and novelist
Stevie Smith. After leaving school, and knowing that her spendthrift father would give her nothing to
live on, she attended a journalism course at University College, London, from 1921 to 1923. In 1924
she obtained a job with a news agency, the British United Press, from she was sacked in 1926 for a
miscalculation in the exchange rate which caused a temporary shiver in the financial markets.
The same year she was employed by the London Evening Standard where she flourished. It was there
that she was set the task of doing a synopsis of a novel called The Golden Arrow by Mary Webb, which
was being serialised in the newspaper. She thought the book absurd, and it was to inspire her parody of
the rural novel in Cold Comfort Farm some years later. In 1930 she was sacked from the Standard and
went to work as editorial assistant on The Lady magazine where she wrote her first novel, Cold Comfort
Farm, on trains going to and from the offices of The Lady and in spare moments during working hours.
By this time she had met her future husband, the actor and opera singer Allan Bourne Webb, whom
she married in 1933. They had one daughter, Laura. The success of Cold Comfort Farm (which won the
prestigious Prix Femina Vie Heureuse) prompted her to leave The Lady and devote herself full time to
writing and a quiet domestic existence.
She was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1951, and in 1959 her husband Allan
died. She published her last novel in 1970, but continued to write for her own pleasure, and bequeathed
her unpublished writings, including two more novels, to her grandsons Daniel and Benjamin. Up until
two years before her death in 1989 she would have “open house” on the first Saturday of every month at
which you could meet a wide variety of people, literary and unliterary, who were
drawn by her engaging personality, kindly and wise but not without the acerbic wit
which characterised her famous first novel.
The above and the piece on page nine were largely culled from the archived
writing of Stella’s nephew (Reggie Oliver), to whom we are indebted, and who
supplied the photograph from his personal collection, and the letter from Stella to
her sister (his mother) reproduced on the page seven.
He adds: If you’d like to know even more about Stella Gibbons, you can buy the
biography of her called “Out of the Woodshed” (Bloomsbury 1998) by Reggie Oliver
(that’s me!). You can order it from the Bloomsbury web site, or Amazon, or you can
buy a signed copy direct from the author. Contact authors@catharton.com for more
details on buying a signed copy.

TT On Tour 2010
10 Years of Open Air Theatre
This coming June, Taunton Thespians will take a classic play on the road for the tenth
successive year. Previous productions have been:
2001 Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
2002 The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare
2003 A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
2004 A Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
2005 Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
2006 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, adapted by Willis Hall
2007 Tom Jones by Henry Fielding, adapted by Joan MacAlpine
2008 The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
2009 London Assurance by Dion Boucicault
In 2010, we’re doing a Shakespeare once more – As You Like It. This year’s director is Ray
Court, who you will see this evening thumping his Bible as Amos Starkadder, and who has also
been thumping nails to create the set for tonight’s show.
As You Like It is one of Shakespeare’s funniest comedies, and has one of his best roles for a
younger actress – Rosalind – and some of the most famous speeches out there. Not least of these is
the Seven Ages of Man, delivered by the melancholy Jaques (pronounced Jake-wees...).
The Tour is a fantastic experience for any actor or backstage person, putting on a show for one
night at a selection of wonderful outdoor venues in Somerset –
Wednesday 16th June Frank Bond Centre, Bishop’s Hull
Thursday 17th June Glastonbury Abbey
Friday 18th June Rose Crown, East Lyng
Saturday 19th June Crowcombe Heathfield
Tuesday 22nd June Binham Grange, Old Cleve
Wednesday 23rd June Muchelney Abbey, Langport
Thursday 24th June Cleve Hotel, Wellington
Saturday 26th June St James’ Church, Taunton
Come along and have a go! Auditions are on the 29th 30th of March at our home base, The
Place in Wilfred Road, Taunton.
Any audition pieces will be posted on our web site at http://www.tauntonthespians.org.uk

In her
own words
This is a letter from Stella Gibbons
to her husband’s sister, Renée, written
in March 1931 while Stella was working
on The Lady magazine – and pinching their
notepaper! Our thanks to Reggie Oliver, (Renée’s
son) for sending us this letter and permission to
use it.

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Cold Comfort Farm
Cold Comfort Farm was published in 1932 and its success was immediate and long-lived; its
legacy over-shadowed all Stella Gibbons’ other writing while she was alive and after her death.
The novel satirises the works of authors such as Mary Webb, whose writing Stella
encountered whilst working at the Evening Standard. Webb’s The Golden Arrow was ripe
stuff, and it so happened that one of Stella’s tasks on the Evening Standard was to summarise the plot
for readers who were joining the serialisation late. The ‘Story So Far’ was always full of incident: “Eli
becomes enraged with his daughter because she has decked herself out with cheap finery for the benefit of
Joe and in his fury cuts off Lily’s long golden hair. She fires at him with a rook rifle, but misses...”
The task of précis is not calculated to endear one to any novel, even a novel to which one is
sympathetically disposed, and Stella did not find The Golden Arrow sympathetic. She found it
ridiculous. “The large agonised faces in Mary Webb’s book annoyed me”, she wrote in Punch
in 1966. “They were over life-size but they were also silly, and I did not believe people were
any more despairing and passionate in Herefordshire than they were in Camden Town.” The
world of Webb’s novels was peculiarly confined. Little or nothing of life beyond the Shropshire
countryside intruded. Stella began to wonder how the grim, outlandish characters of Webb’s
suffocating rural milieu might fare if confronted by a brisk, smart, sensible young lady from
London. This was the germ of Cold Comfort Farm.
A critical element which went into the creation of Cold Comfort Farm was Stella’s own family.
Stella began to realise that it was a trait of the Gibbons family as a whole not simply to be prone to
melodramatic scenes, but to take pleasure in them. She detected an element of pretence in their passion,
and it was this which made her the enemy pretentiousness throughout her life. The conclusions Stella
drew from these experiences animated Flora in Cold Comfort Farm. In Stella’s comic fantasy, the
Starkadders were changed into saner, more fulfilled human beings.
Once motivated, she observed: “The book seemed to write itself. It dashed itself onto paper;
sometimes on the backs of envelopes, sometimes on office paper, in office time, in a dark little
den, to which I had been gently relegated because I made the other two in the main office laugh
so much that we couldn’t work. Sometimes while I was on my way to work or coming home in
the Underground; in those days there were quite often men sitting down who offered a girl a
seat. Thus protected, I wrote; using a little suitcase or the back of my library book as a desk,
and often laughing to myself.”
In 1934 Stella Gibbons accepted the Prix Femina Vie Heureuse at the Institut Français in London for
Cold Comfort Farm. Stella attributed much of the success of Cold Comfort Farm to ‘coming at exactly the
right time.’ Punch wrote: We have suffered too long from that school of novelists whose roots run so deep
into the sad soil that their thoughts have grown consequently limited to the inevitability of gloom and
reproduction; but at last we are revenged by Miss Stella Gibbons, who has arisen to mock with devilish
skill at ‘a certain type of much read, earthy passionate novel; the kind of story in which peasants have
babies in cow sheds and push each other down wells’.
Stella’s invention of parody rural words has often been imitated. Rambling Sid Rumpo,
of the radio classic Round the Horne, with his repertoire of moolies, gander-bags and
nadgerings, was obviously a near relative of the Starkadders. He was a great favourite of
Stella’s, and she was delighted when she heard that Kenneth Williams was going to read
Cold Comfort Farm on the radio.
What gives the satire of Cold Comfort Farm its depth and lasting quality is that
Stella is not merely mocking the superficial failings of a literary genre, but attacking its
underlying assumptions. She takes some of the stereotypical characters of the rural novel
– the tyrannical matriarch, the religious bigot, the mystic simpleton, the farmyard Don Juan – and,
by revealing unexpected sides to their characters, imbues them with life. Cold Comfort Farm is a comic
encyclopaedia of the fads and fancies of the period, and it is remarkable how many are still with us.
In 1966 she wrote: “Cold Comfort Farm is a member of my family; he is like some unignorable old
uncle, to whom you have to be grateful because he makes you a handsome allowance, but who is often
an embarrassment and a bore.” However, the book became an A-level set text in 1978, and Stella
consequently received a large number of letters from eager and appreciative young students. It was these
that finally reconciled Stella to “that book”. One of the last things she said to me on the subject was: “You
know, after all, it is something to have made so many people laugh.”

Express Print Ad
Down on the Farm with
Adam Lambsbreath

Cold Comfort Farm,
by Paul Doust,
adapted from the novel by Stella Gibbons
ACT I
Scene 1: The Kitchen at Cold Comfort Farm
Scene 2: The Same
Scene 3: The Cowshed
Scene 4: The Kitchen
Scene 5: The Kitchen and Ada’s Room
Scene 7: The Meeting Place of The Quivering
Brethren
Interval of 20 minutes
ACT II
Scene 1: The Gardens at Hautcouture Hall
Scene 3: The Cowshed
Scene 6: Howling Church
Scene 7: Cold Comfort Farm

Cast in order of
appearance
Flora Poste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charlotte Briggs
Judith Starkadder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nikki Court
Aunt Ada Doom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cynthia Jones
Elfine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elaine Rawle
Rennet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chloe Stepney
Mrs Hawk-Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nicola Dawson
Reuben Starkadder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charlie Dorr
Amos Starkadder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ray Court
Sneller . . . . . . . . . . . Dennis Carter (Tues/Weds) Stuart Lyddon (other perfs)
Urk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tony Leach
Richard Hawk-Monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tom Cooney
Adam Lambsbreath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Burbery
Mr Earl P Neck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mike Leach
Seth Starkadder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jack Horwood
Charles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Northey
Dandelion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Catherine Vicarage
Jacob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maria Coe
Ensemble
John Burbery, Tom Cooney, Nicola Dawson,
Karen Kerslake, Mike Leach, David Northey,
Mary Paker, Carrie Vaughan, Christine Stepney,
David Waring, Angela Widgery

Backstage
Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jane Burt
Stage Manager: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bryan Hallett
DSM: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Keith Gibbons
Producer: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Martin Jevon
Assistant Producer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Northey
Set Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jane Burt and Ray Court
Set Construction . . . . . . . . . . . Ray Court, Terry Wood and members of the cast
Prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tony Venn
Props . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dinah Rawle, Emma Vicarage, Amy Parker
Make Up Hair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amy Parker, Rhian Pugh
Wardrobe Mistress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nikki Court
Wardrobe Assistants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kirsten Whyte
Chaperone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Emma Vicarage
Photographer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Wood
Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Wilmott
Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Graham Reeks
Backstage Crew . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Gilbert, Amy Parker, Swannie, Emma
Vicarage, Abi Vickery, Matt Webber
Choreographer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Graham Barrett
Musical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tony Leach Angela Widgery
Cast Dressers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kirsten Whyte,
Annie Bowles, Jane Emmott and Jane Dyer
Front of House Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arthur Cummins
Front of House Team . . . . . . . . . . . . Members and Friends of Taunton Thespians
Materials Sourcing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Burbery and David Northey
Publicity . . . . . . . . . Rene Kilner, Michael Gilbert, Ron Roberts, Jane Edwards,
Carrie Vaughan
Poster design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Matt Webber
The Ladies of the Sukebind . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charlotte Briggs, Jane Burt, Nicola
Dawson, Swannie, Angela Widgery
Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Webbers Removals
Programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Gilbert

Charlotte Briggs - Flora Poste
Having been in several Taunton Thespians’ productions,
I’ve been lucky enough to play a variety of different women. In
Daisy I loved being meany toady Monica and now I get to be
very bossy! Flora likes everything to be “tidy and pleasant and
comfortable” and sometimes it’s a wonder the Starkadders don’t
just throw her out, but I think they soon realise, as I did, that
Flora has a kind heart. Hopefully I manage to show you all
that, and you find some of her advice from the Higher Common
Sense as useful as I have, especially about when to call for tea!
Cynthia Jones - Aunt Ada Doom
In recent years I have played a variety of eccentric old ladies
including a Grand Duchess, an aristocrat, an alcoholic and even a
ghost! All were great fun to play, as was the part of a rather long
in the tooth vamp. Aunt Ada Doom is something else as she rules
the roost and treats her family terribly, her dreadful behaviour
resulting from a traumatic incident in her childhood when she
“saw something narsty in the woodshed”. In my experience it is
unusual to have the opportunity to play a part that allows you to
shout, scream and go completely over the top, so of course I am
relishing it.
Ray Court - Amos Starkadder
My last appearance with the Thespians was as the bombastic
Sir Anthony Absolute in The Rivals. This time I play Amos, a
bombastic ‘Blood and Thunder’ preacher. I seem to see a pattern
in this. The Director says that I have the voice for it. I have no
experience of such a preacher personally nor within the church
that I attend. However, in my youth there was a Lay Pastor, who
used to put the fear of God in me. I won’t tell you his name, but
a little bit of my performance is based on him.

Photographs from Judith’s Album

Nikki Court - Judith Starkadder
Only seven weeks ago I was cavorting about the
stage as an impish ‘Genie of The Lamp’ in Aladdin.
In total contrast I now find myself playing a
character which has been an interesting challenge,
very different from the roles I am usually cast in.
Judith is a trapped, lonely, unfulfilled wretch who
is ignored by her husband and besotted with her
youngest son (although his morals are something of a
disappointment!) They say ‘variety is the spice of life’
and this is what I love about performing: the infinite
number of different characters we can be allowed to
inhabit, just for a while.
Jack Horwood - Seth Starkadder
I have always had an interest in theatre and have studied
GCSE Drama as well as A Level Theatre Studies which
has developed my acting and theoretical knowledge and has
introduced me to the works of William Shakespeare, Willy
Russell, and Tennessee Williams. This is my first performance
outside of the academic curriculum and I have thoroughly
enjoyed the rehearsal process and working with Taunton
Thespians. When I’m in the audience seat I enjoy watching
musicals such as Wicked, Blood Brothers and Billy Elliot,
comedians such as Russell Howard and Rob Brydon, and of
course my favourite leading lady Lotta Funchal!
Charlie Dorr - Reuben Starkadder
My first real experiences of theatre occurred when I was 9 and
10 and a member of the Boston Youth Theatre (which sounds grand
until I clarify that it was Boston in England). Since then, however,
I have taken part in very little drama at all, although from time to
time I used to think about getting involved. Finally I joined Taunton
Thespians last May and got stuck in to the summer production of
London Assurance – coming on stage with a violin in my hand a few
times and doing a bit of stage managing (which was a bit of a challenge
to say the least, but a great way of appreciating how plays are put
together). Last autumn I got my first lines – playing Mr Scoblowski,
a Russian music teacher, in Daisy Pulls It Off and got credit for the
number of accents I could recite in one show.
Reuben is a bit of a step up for me, in terms of the number of lines
and the time spent on the set. It’s been great playing someone who,
while he is seen as being a very cooperative and helpful character, is
also quite emotional and a little complex, when it comes down to it.

Chloe Stepney - Rennet
I have been a member of the Taunton Thespians for the last
eight years and have been lucky enough to have been a part of
many productions since then. This is the second time I have been
in Cold Comfort Farm, the first time being with the Bradford
Players. I have had a lot of fun playing the part of Rennet, and
luckily I did not have to practise being doused in water until the
dress rehearsals, otherwise I think I would have frozen as due to
the very cold weather and lack of heating, it really has been COLD
comfort farm at rehearsals!
John Burbery - Adam Lambsbreath
Over the years with the Taunton Thespians I have
played many different characters, but none quite like Adam
Lambsbreath. As soon as I read Cold Comfort Farm I knew that
as a septuagenarian this was the only part I could conceivably
play. In order to become Adam Lambsbreath I have allowed
my usual designer stubble beard and crew cut hairstyle to
remain untrimmed since auditioning for the part last November.
Consequently I now look like a rather untidy mixture of Terry
Pratchett and Santa Claus (with apologies to both these eminent
characters).
A day out on a sunny, February Saturday for the publicity
photo shoots at Prockters Farm and Monkton Elm Garden Centre
ended with a tasty meal at The Merry Monk. The friendship and
camaraderie among the cast has been an excellent example of
Thespian teamwork. I am also the Membership Secretary of the
Taunton Thespians, so if you fancy joining in the fun give me a
call (details elsewhere).
Elaine Rawle - Elfine
This is my first production with Taunton Thespians
and I am delighted to be playing dippy, proto-hippy Elfine
Starkadder. I have been known to write the odd poem myself,
but my bird watching skills are not what they should be. I
doubt I would be able to recognise a Marsh Tiggett if one
landed on my nose. Never mind, I will endeavour to dance and
prance about the stage, trying to avoid a wholly unsuitable
suitor and the wrath of Grandmother Doom. When not
running around in smocks I can be found painting, crocheting
and making jewellery.

Nicola Dawson - Mrs Hawk-Monitor
Last Thespians’ season, I was busy backstage as director
for Black Coffee (Brewhouse March 2009) and as stage
manager for Daisy Pulls It Off (Tacchi Morris November
2009) so it was a thrill to be offered the role of the aristocratic
Mrs Hawk Monitor. (And her demi-cousin thrice removed
Chastity Starkadder.) One of them even gets to dance with
heart-throb Seth.
Rehearsals during winter months are always something of
an endurance challenge due to the sub-zero temperatures at
the Thespians’ premises. So we’ve been very grateful for the
dancing practice. And the many layers of clothing required
for quick changes. And the quivering.
Tom Cooney - Richard Hawk-Monitor
The first time I acted I was just five years old. I enjoyed it
then but I didn’t get another chance until I was 21. Since that
time I have been involved in as much acting as possible, every
chance I get. I spent a year in L.A., and studied Cold Reading
with John Ennis, Meisner Technique with Justine Visone, and
Scene Study with Unknown Theatre. The second time out I
went to the Improv College. I am currently happy to be playing
Richard in Cold Comfort Farm.
Tony Leach - Urk
As an actor, taking that intensive, gruelling journey to the
heart and centre of the character is never easy – finding that
inner ‘truth’ in order to construct a living, breathing character
from the inside out – a journey from conception to birth, birth to
death, countless hours of intensive workshopping endured in a
foetal position listening to dolphin sounds. None of this, however,
was necessary for the part of Urk as I just put on a funny voice
and scratched myself – to the great satisfaction among my fellow
cast members and director who enjoyed watching me make a
complete ass of myself and were always forthcoming with new
and improved ways I could look disgusting! I also played the
organ (no jokes, please). I have thoroughly enjoyed this latest
Taunton Thespians’ instalment, thanks to all involved!

COMING SOON...
Now offering handmade pies (hot crust, cold slicing pies and
dessert pies), ready meals, pasties, quiches, soups and lots
more.
Party/buffet and other requests made to order.
Winter opening hours:
9.30 a.m. – 5.00 p.m.
Tuesday to Friday
(Sat. early closing 4.00 p.m.)
CURRENTLY RUNNING IN MARCH
Exhibition from local sculptor
Melanie Deegan
PROCKTERS FARM SHOP
01823 413427
For fresh traceable produce, locally
sourced and carefully selected.
TASTING DAY
on
Saturday 27th
March
Abbeyfield Somerset
Residential Care Home Apartments
Singles and couples
Comfortable en-suite rooms
Attractive communal areas
Quiet gardens and sitting areas
24 hour care from experienced, caring staff
Day Care and Special Dementia care service available
A higher standard of residential care
Heron Drive, Bishops Hull, Taunton TA1 5HA
(off Silk Mills Road)
01823 334238 www.abbeyfieldtaunton.co.uk
Registered Charity No.24866R
Pleased to support Taunton
Thespians at the Tacchi-Morris.
A warm welcome and fabulous,
home-cooked food, freshly
prepared from local produce,
await you
Monkton Heathfield, Taunton, TA2 8NE
Tel. 01823 412213
Email: merrymonk@btconnect.com

Mike Leach - Earl P Neck
Most of my theatrical experience dates back to my 20s and
includes directing Peter Shaffer’s Black Comedy and my own
Twenty Minute Macbeth, and playing Biedermann in Max
Frisch’s The Fire Raisers, Birdboot in Stoppard’s The Real
Inspector Hound, The Court Envoy in Genet’s The Balcony
and a whole load of parts in, shall we say, avant-garde works
by my fellow students. I returned to the boards last year after
a 23 year gap, and enjoyed it so much that this will be my
fourth production (and fifth accent) in twelve months. Getting
to be in Cold Comfort Farm is a great treat as I have loved the
novel ever since first reading it aged about 14 – next year can
we do Three Men in a Boat?
Catherine Vicarage - Dandelion
At the age of ten, this is my sixth show but the first with the
Taunton Thespians. In the last four months I have gone from
being a pirate and a devil in Wellington Operatic Society’s
Transport of Delight with the NODA review saying “the
youngest who sparkled her way through act one with enough
enthusiasm for the whole company!”, to a singing and dancing
bee in Wellington Pantomime Group’s Snow White. I have
enjoyed my début with the Thespians as I get to be cheeky on
stage. I love panto and musicals, and also love to dance.
David Northey - Charles Fairford
The story of Cold Comfort Farm is no stranger as I had in
my younger days played the part of Seth with the Bradford
Players. I remember quite vividly Judith shouting “Seth, Seth”
every time I entered the set; now as the years have moved on
I am now in the more sedate and responsible role of Charles.
Although Charles has seen action during the First World War
as a fighter ace he is now looking to spend the rest of his life
with Flora who means so much to him. In addition to playing
Charles I have had fun locating some of the more quirky items
for the set, such as exploding clocks, a tricycle, a yoke and
cards of glamorous film starlets of the 1930’s. I managed to
locate a group in Hereford who put on the production a few
years ago and still had all the props including the sukebind;
after some logistical planning, all the items were transported
without incident to Taunton and can now be seen on the set.

A Handful of Quivering Brethren
Angela Widgery
I have been a member of
Taunton Thespians for many
years now and have appeared
in a variety of productions.
My most memorable ones
were The Hollow, Ghost Train
where I had to get drunk,
Two Gentlemen of Soho where
I played a fellow (which
reached the National Finals in
Woking last year) and Daisy
Pulls It Off (I was pianist). The last was also
performed in Gambia last November which was
such an exciting experience. Rehearsals and
performances took place outside in 34 degrees.
We were made very welcome. I am just a country
bumpkin in this one.
Christine Stepney
This is my first performance with the Thespians and I am really enjoying it.
COLD, it’s certainly been that at rehearsals during January and February.
COMFORT, there has been this from other welcoming members.
FARM, we have been lucky enough to have our publicity photos at Prockters Farm.
I have been involved in productions at Hemyock for the last 20 years both on stage
and backstage. The latest a few weeks ago as the pantomime horse, and now a cow
and one of the Quivering Brethren, where next?......
Mary Paker
I have thought about taking part in amateur
dramatics for ages but only recently joined the
Thespians, in good time for beginning Cold
Comfort Farm. I had no idea what to expect; when I
turned up for the first time it wasn’t long before the
guys had me mucking in to transform The Place
into our rehearsal area for the coming months!
It’s been wonderful to see the development of the
characters, I’ve found myself
getting quite lost in the plot
and trying to decipher the zany
use of language. I am certainly
intrigued as to what Ada Doom
actually saw in the woodshed
that was so very naaarsty! I
hope the show will be a success
with the audience and look
forward to future productions in
the pipeline...
Karen Kerslake
I joined the Taunton thespians in January
2009, because a friend thought it would be a good
idea. It was my first sojourn into drama; never
having acted or even read a play before. I was
lucky, following my first audition, to be selected
to play a waiter in Two Gentlemen of Soho which
entered the County Drama Championship. In the
autumn I was in The Crimson Cocoanut which
was performed in the Ten
Parishes Festival, and helped
with props in the summer
tour of London Assurance. My
most recent part was of an
English teacher in Daisy Pulls
It Off. I was lucky enough to
be in the cast of that which
went to Gambia. How right
my friend was!
Carrie Vaughan
Well, yer ‘tis – my second
venture with the Thesps. Last
November it was a great pleasure
to work with in Daisy Pulls It
Off as Mademoiselle, the crazy
French mistress. We were then
over the moon to be chosen
to take Daisy to the Gambia,
what an honour, the first
English company to play there!
Rehearsing in 35 degs, and at
night performing the show in only 29 degs! I wish
rehearsals for Cold Comfort Farm could have been
more like this!! After 34 years with Taunton’s very
own Wayfarers, I decided to hang up my wand
and now find myself a very rural and dim-witted
Starkadder! Oh well. C’est la vie.Enjoy .
David Waring
A new recruit to the Quivering Brethren – David has joined Taunton Thespians following a Physical
Theatre workshop and a many years in Panto with Bradford Players.

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 aimsTo 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.

Rita Adams
Patricia Attrill
Annette Balaam
Michael Barry
Tony Tessa Beaven
Matthew Botten
Penny Bradnum
Polly Bray
Charlotte Briggs
Harriet Brine
Dona Bullion
John Carol Burbery
Jane Burt
Jason Carter
Sasha Collard-Jenkins
Tina Cook
Thomas Cooney
Ray Nikki Court
Jon Cozens
Kim Crooks
Arthur Cummins
Mark Nicola Dawson
Charlie Dorr
Anne Dowsey
Jane Dyer
Jane Edwards
Sylvia Fellgett
Terry Finn
Olivia Gentile
Keith Gibbons
Michael Gilbert
David Maggy Goodall
Charles Grace
Stephanie Grafton
Ken Anne Hague
Bryan Hallett
Jennifer Hancock
Lynn Henden
Jean Hole
Jack Horwood
John Howe
Rosemary Humphreys
Sally Jago
Alison Jenkinson
Linda Jevon
Martin Jevon
Cynthia Jones
Karen Kerslake
Rene Kilner
Michael Leach
Tony Leach
Jane Leakey
Peter Lewis
Jessica Linden
Michael Linham
Clive Linthorne
Rebecca Livermore
Stuart Lyddon
Josephine Mann
Hilary Marshall
Verity Martindill
John Audrey Meikle
Beryl Morris
David Northey
Mary Paker
Imogen Papworth
Amy Parker
Gemma Payne
Marck Emily
Pearlstone
Martin Peters
Rhian Pugh
Elaine Rawle
Dinah Rawle
Joy Reason
Graham Reeks
Laura Richmond
Ron Jacqueline
Roberts
Vivienne Sharland
Robert Smith
Richard Stenner
Chloe Stepney
Katherine Stone
Nigel Stuart-Thorn
Susan Swan
Vera Sweeting
Stuart Symonds
Pauline Tilley
Susanna Tookey
Christine Vaughan
Caroline Vaughan
Anthony Venn
Abigail Vickery
Thelma Wander
Margaret Way
Matt Webber
Angela Widgery
Pete Wilmott
Bethanie Winter
Katherine Winter
Helen Witcomb
Taunton Thespians
President – John Meikle
Vice Presidents – Margaret Way, Thelma Wander, Ron Roberts
Coming Soon
Wednesday 17th March – Open Evening to discuss the Summer Tour
Saturday 20th March – Taunton’s performance arts societies are staging a Brewhouse Benefit Show
Saturday 27th March – Somerset County Drama Festival, King’s College, Taunton
Monday 29th Tuesday 30th March – Auditions for Summer Tour production of As You Like It
Wednesday 16th – Saturday 26th June – As You Like It On Tour across Somerset
November 2010 – Next autumn’s public production is a joint venture with Street Theatre. Two Alan
Ayckbourn plays, GamePlan and RolePlay, use the same setting. Taunton Thespians will present
the former, Street the latter. Each production will be done night about at the Tacchi-Morris and
Strode Theatre, one week here and one week there. Watch the press for further details and audition
announcements.
Joining us
If you’re looking for something to do that is huge amounts of fun, gives something back to people
and doesn’t cost a fortune, come and join us! Full membership of the society is only £12 a year. For
more details, check out our web site at www.tauntonthespians.org.uk or call the Membership Secretary,
John Burbery on 01823 442118. As well as everything listed above, we have a Club Night on the first
Wednesday of every month from September to May at our home base, The Place in Wilfred Road,
Taunton. And you don’t have to want to act; we have a huge wardrobe which needs caring for, sets need
building, shows need lighting, makeup needs to be put on, props need to be made... all sorts of things.

If you are thinking of buying or selling in the area,
contact us first
Estate agents – valuers – Auctioneers
Residential, Commercial
Development Surveyors
Letting Agents Property Management
Winchester House, Corporation Street,
Taunton TA1 4AJ
01823 332121
www.wilkie.co.uk
www.rightmove.co.uk

Programme for Taunton Thespians' production of Cold Comfort Farm

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Programme for Taunton Thespians' production of Cold Comfort Farm