Hull Bloody Truck  Our only production on Spring Street Theatre’s main stage due to the difficulty of actually getting a booking there. With their administrator not returning our calls or simply being "unavailable", Mary had to sit in the theatre foyer for three hours and practically rugby tackle him to get us this slot. By the time we came to put on our production, Mary had left the group and Yvonne had taken over the directorial reins presenting us with this stolid Northern comedy.

We Don't Want To Peak Too Early  This was the first play we rehearsed at Lonsdale Community Centre and we were persuaded to put on a final dress rehearsal for the local gimmers. So, one Sunday, we performed the play to absolute silence. Had they all died? Were the paramedics going to burst in, brandishing their defibrillators? It was like being at a wake and, although we were later told that they’d all enjoyed it, we have never repeated the experience! And as luck would have it, our camera jammed during the dress rehearsal at Spring Street leaving us a bit light on photographs for this play. So there's some pictures of THAT Sunday too!

Mmmm, Herring The herring were the catalyst for the entire plot and Rafe certainly loved them ,but everybody else was thoroughly sick of the sight (and smell) of them. Especially as, by the time we got to the dinner scene in Act I, they had already gone stone cold in the dressing room. Natalie didn’t have to touch hers but the rest of the Crompton clan weren’t so lucky and had to tuck into the slimy, bony mess with varying degrees of enthusiasm in what proved to be a stern test of our acting ability. Now that’s suffering for our art!

Quote, Unquote  I haven't been able to look a herring in the face since this one! Although it had a bit more meat to it than Post Horn Gallop, I remember being disappointed after the reading, feeling it was just a ragbag of dated Northern clichés. Monty Python's Four Yorkshiremen sketch sprang to mind. But the audiences really enjoyed it and, I have to admit, it was more fun to perform than I expected. After I'd begged Yvonne not to cast me as the colourless Arthur, that is.
For all their national reputation, Hull Truck made next to no effort to make us feel welcome. After all they could have been doing yet another revival of Bouncers, Teechers or one of a number of interchangeable John Godber plays rather than sullying the stage with amateurs. The one exception to this was their stage manager, who couldn't do enough to help. Their other staff we dealt with were, to put it bluntly, obnoxious wankers. So after this diatribe you can probably guess what was on the week after us? Bugger me if it wasn't bloody Bouncers! David

Was I In That One?  Or Gud’buy To Jane(t). Previously a member of the Chameleons defunct predecessors, she had appeared in their final play, an ill-fated production of Gosforth's Fete (or should that be ill-feted?) Recruited to the Chameleon Players first meeting in January 1985, Janet was a talented performer and an invaluable member of the group during our first year. So much so, that it's hard to believe she was only with us for three productions. She left Hull to take up a high powered teaching position in Harrow.

The Critics Rave  A rare review in the Hull Daily Mail mentioned "the considerable pleasure of this production". Sheelagh was "well cast" as Daisy and Janet played Betsy Jane "to the hilt". Natalie was singled out as being "most convincing as a 50's adolescent". Mike "adopted a good tone for Wilfred’s conciliatory efforts" and David provided "good contrast as the more rebellious Harold". But they also noticed "a lack of complete confidence between characters and moments of hesitancy and awkwardness beyond the bounds required for the parts". And Gordon wasn’t gruff and tyrannical enough for them. Oh well, can’t please ‘em all.