Director's Commentary  Directing is a big responsibility. I said I was never going to do it again, but the group needed me to take on the role again and, besides that, you forget the pain once it's over. Where There's a Will was loads of fun, as well as having nice cameo roles which gave everyone a chance to show off their skills, it was a director's dream as I got to kill off the entire cast!! The play opened with Andy and Mandy in a full-spate row, hurling ornaments and yelling obscenities at each other. In common tradition, many of these objects proved to be totally impervious to any damage whatsoever! Once again we had to recruit a cast member from elsewhere. Unfortunately, this person also had a budding career as a performer elsewhere, and so was unable to be in the play for the first performance. (Please note tact and diplomacy being employed)
Luckily, David was prepared to step in to the breach. Fondest memory is the laughing corpses at the end of the last night - Andy and Mandy's characters had succeeded in killing each other, and had collapsed on the settee, but then Andy got a tickle in his throat which meant he had to cough, and as a consequence, Mandy got the giggles, which made Andy giggle........ Professionalism???? Nope!!! This was the other one where the author turned up. Scary! Ailsa

Was I In That One?  On the Friday night Steve Jackson had "another engagement", only he didn't tell us until the week before. Ailsa wasn’t best pleased and Steve’s days were numbered. So David had to learn the part in three days and play Peter that night. Jonathan had already carried David into the cupboard once as the dead Vicar so, as he carried David into the cupboard as the dead Peter, he said "He's as heavy as the Vicar!" That line got a huge laugh and a round of applause!

Quote, Unquote  A play where a vicar turns up! Asking for money for the Church Restoration Fund. Groan! I had hoped that Ian Hornby would play with this cliché and wink knowingly at the audience. But he didn't. My initial idea was to play the vicar as an Ian Paisley style firebrand demanding money with menaces but I couldn't sustain the accent, so I gave him unrequited homosexual feelings for Derek instead. Now that's what I call subtext! At least I got to die horribly. (Twice on Friday). I suggested the infamous ad-lib to Jonathan at the interval and it got a bigger laugh than any of Mr Hornby's lines! David
I really enjoyed this. It would have been even more fun if we’d known about the shorter version, which stripped out all the ten minute domestics. Favourite moments? Ducking all the missiles Mandy hurled at me, while shouting "Hah! Missed!" Not-so-favourite moments? Trying not to laugh while being leered over by David’s vicar. Being The Incredible Coughing Corpse on Sunday night. I tried not to, Ailsa, I swear Andy
Bloody sausage rolls! Bloody Steve Jackson pissed us all off. Funniest bits were the bits we added – David and Jonathan’s ad-lib. Ian Hornby seems to think that constant arguing between characters makes for good plays but after a while it gets wearing. Gold star to Ailsa for courage in adversity Sharon
Poor Andy! But I enjoyed throwing things at him Mandy
Slapped, then fatal car crash Jonathan

Author! Author!  Ian Hornby himself came to see the play on the last night and asked to meet the cast after the performance to offer his congratulations! We received this email from him a few days later; "Thanks for entertaining us on Sunday. Please pass on our thanks to the cast and crew and reiterate a well done. After the disastrous performance of the play in Stoke I came to Hull with some trepidation, but my fears were quickly quelled. Best wishes for future productions". Funny how the authors only come to plays Ailsa directs. Wonder what he made of the gay vicar?

Sausage Roll, Anyone?  It was the deadly sausage rolls that did for most of the cast. After the curtain call we offered them to the audience but, strangely, didn't get any takers.