The Right Time And Place  This replaced another Peter Barnes two-hander about a pair of female wrestlers, also to have featured Joanne and Sharon. They were really up for it, too. Young girls. In spangly leotards. Fighting. We could have attracted a whole new audience. Not to mention the embarrassment potential of the photographs!

Quote, Unquote  Peter Barnes is an acquired taste with odd rhythms of speech. A member of the audience was concerned about me losing my shoe (part of the plot) and asked if I got it back okay. Joanne gave excellent performances in two contrasting roles Sharon
Loved the play and enjoyed having blacked out teeth - a change from being a tart Joanne
The merits of the other pieces were outweighed by the indescribable tedium of Sisters David
If any of you think that Janette and I practised at home for the hopping crutch, aaarh Jim-me-lad sketch well... ok, we did for a bit, until the neighbours called the police out. What can you do with three ranting juvenile geriatrics and a few stuffed parrots except batten down the hatches, splice the mainbrace and hoist the Jolly Roger. And then Leonardo, why didn't anyone tell me to take off that stupid white beard? This was a Pythonesque sort of play but I think by the time it came on the audience were either asleep or so bemused they didn't know what to make of it. Nice try but a bit too fringe Jonathan

Was I In That One?  As this was his last play it is an appropriate place to salute the stalwart efforts and singular talents of Dave Barber. Always reliable and not afraid to get stuck in with set building, Dave specialised in crusty Colonels and other authority figures who said "Dammit, Sir!" a lot. Whenever he forgot a character’s name he would address them as "my dear" or "dear sir".  He was also responsible for the phrases "The audience won't notice" and "Was I in that one?" We still see him in the audience chuckling quietly to himself (and that's during the serious plays). Rehearsals aren't the same without you, Dave.

Director's Commentary  A bit of a labour of love for me, this, as I put together four short plays by one of my idols Peter Barnes. The first three were intended for radio, so the fact that we pulled off stage versions of them remains a minor miracle. The Real Long John Silver ended up with Dave, Jonathan and Jeanette all hopping about the stage as pirates. The Right Time And Place had Joanne and Sharon both standing on a ledge threatening suicide, and Sisters (about which David is WAY too scathing) had Jenny, Ailsa and Val all playing sisters visiting each other in a hospital ward.
The night finished with Leonardo’s Last Supper in which myself, Neal, Joanne and Jonathan capered around a medieval set, which had been liberally garnished with massive bones supplied by Jenny. Naturally enough for a Barnes play; it all ends up with death and destruction. This was a great experience for me, and gave a huge number of Chameleons some really challenging roles to have a bash at Ray