Author! Author!  The Cup That Cheers was intended as a cunningly constructed spoof of 1930's crime fiction which plays with the clichéd conventions and stock characters of the English Murder Mystery - the remote country house, a gathering of shady characters, the half-witted police inspector and the plucky amateur sleuth - all thrown into a breathless story concerning mysterious ancient relics, sinister butlers, treacherous double agents, Gothic heroines, dreadful folksongs, more improbable plot developments than you can shake a stick at and cheap knob gags every other minute.
That was the theory, at least, in practice there was simply too much going on - the cast and audience were flagging by the final scene. So I've since streamlined the plot and removed a great chunk from Act II that, though funny, stopped the play dead in it's tracks - it's now fifteen minutes shorter and much the better for it. We live and learn Edgar

Director's Commentary  I chose it in the first place because I thought it was very funny but let’s not skirt around this - we had a ‘mare. The chief reason for this was that I was too nice and patient a director to a "guest" performer who decided to behave like a daft lad, and for this, my apologies to the rest of the cast. I feel no ill will toward He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, as we all make mistakes and, to his credit, he wanted to apologise to everyone once he realised he had let people down.
Anyway, David stepped in at ten to midnight and made a very good job of Hardy. It’s a pity, but I think that the abiding sensation amongst the cast afterwards was relief that we put it on without showing ourselves up too much. But I don't think we could have got it on at all without Val's contribution. Miranda joked that in the scene where Amanda slaps Jissom for being a cad, she was thinking of an ex. Don’t I know it! When I realigned my jaw each night, I wasn’t acting. And so began a beautiful friendship… I also remember the look on Ailsa’s face when I presented her with the Tibetan Anus Flute. Steve remarked that it reminded him of Mr Hanky from South Park. Sorry Ailsa! Andy

We Don't Want To Peak Too Early  You know you have those dress rehearsals where everything goes absolutely right? Well that's not the sort of dress rehearsal we had.

Quote, Unquote  All the "Jissom" jokes were decidedly unfunny. Nevertheless, I was glad to be involved with acting again, and will always remember this production as a "new beginning". Oh, and don't you just love the dress... (I didn't!) Miranda
I feel I was born to play Victoria. She is mad, bad and dangerous to know - actually she’s just mad. The gothic clothing, dark brooding moods, the moonlight that becomes her – it goes with the wild glint in her eyes Helen
I'd always wanted to play a dead body on stage? True. And I got to dress up in great old men's clothes which I wanted to keep but didn't. I could also make great jokes about dying on stage which no-one in the theatre has ever said before Steve
I will never forget Terry singing "I Gave My Love A Herring", the whelks, or the awful Thursday dress rehearsal where we couldn't see anybody or anything during the graveyard scene Sharon
What a hoot Terry

The Critics Rave  The theatre critic of the Hull Advertiser had this to say: "The Chameleon Players had a great time with their new production, The Cup That Cheers. The play followed the adventures of cockney tea-drinking sleuth Lily Punnet as she is plunged headlong into a melange of murder, mystery and drinks made from brewed leaves.
The plot was an insanely complicated mixture of death, destruction and killer whelks full to the brim with (mainly groan-worthy) gags. David Burton put himself about the stage for all he was worth as the incompetent Inspector Hardy, constantly trying to get off with the redoubtable Ms Punnet (Sharon Burton). Ailsa Oliver and Terry Fisher were a brilliant double-act and Helen Robinson coped fantastically with a series of speeches so verbose and archaic that they made the presenter of The Good Old Days look like Helen from Big Brother. On the other hand Matti Kiviniemi had only one line but he proclaimed it in so many wonderful ways during the course of the play. Andy Hodgson was the perfect butler (who may have 'done it' but I lost count after the riotous final act in which everybody turned out to be not what they seemed). Fantastic support was given by Mandy Timmins (very sophisticated in a suit) and Jenny Stewart; and Miranda van Rossum was radiant in her Chameleon debut".

No whelks were harmed during the production of this play