lay Produced No Sex. Please ­We're British

elizabeth Gildart discusses her producttonJor The Tangents

T HE TANGENTS are affili­ated to the Youth and Com­

munity Service of the Stoke-on­Trent area of the Staffordshire Education Committee and at­tached to the Harpfield Youth and Community Centre tn Hart­shill. We usually rehearse at the centre on Mondays and Wednesdays and, as we ap­proach performance time, we

are able to have additional re­hearsals there and, whenever possible, at The Mitchell Memo­rial Theatre in Hanley, where the offices of the Stoke-on-Trent Y & C Services are centred. We re­ceive a great deal of help from the starr at The Mitchell as well as the County. We participate In Stage I of the All England one­act festival held annually at The Mitchell before Easter and also undertake two full-length plays during the year tn October and January; this time-table en­sures that we are tn continual rehearsal throughout the year. When French's announced the release of NO SEX PLEASE ­WE'RE BRITISH for the begin­ning of the year we immediately decided to stage It for our Janu­ary production. At that time we were rehearsing our October play, All My Sons, so No Sex was cast In thc main from members who were not heavily committed to that play. The group Iseduca­tional and we do not hold audi­tions. Members can declare an tnterest In any role, back-stage or on-stage, a policy which, on the face of It, has hazards, but tn general It works. Over a yearly period a sense of fair play en­ables members to share on­stage and back-stage work. THE CASTING of No Sex offers a good age-range for societies from the two newly-weds and contemporary cashier, two young ladles from the agency, through to the mother, the branch manager, a bank Inspec-

Amateur Stage August 1990

tor. police superintendent and a delivery man. THE PLAY. A mail-order error results In ever tncreaslng emba­rassment for a couple of newly­weds. The authors, Anthony Marriott and Alistair Foot, de­scribe the playas a comedy but, as our festival adjudicator

Ronald Whetton pointed out, the humour and fun spring from situation. Since all the elements of farce, believable exaggera­tion, double entendre, mlsread­ing of situation, frozen smiles, double takes etc., are in the writing, adoption of the farcical convention is legitimate. At the opentng of the play we aimed to establish a feeling of a normal day in the life of a happy young couple (Peter and Frances) whose only blot on the horizon is the Imm1nent visit of Peter's mother Eleanor. From her arri ­val, and the introduction of Brian, the bank cashier, the pace qUickens and mlsunder­standing, panic, mlsinterpre ­tion and conflict abound. The authors offer splendid situ­ations to reach the climaxes of

the two scenes tn Act I tn prepa­ration for the chaos and confu­sion of the finale tn Act II. REHEARSALS. With so much bustness tnvolved In the action we realised that freedom from scripts was a priority, so until All My Sons was performed the No Sex cast engaged in word re­

hcarsals. Barbara and Susan, the agcncy ladles, and Arnold Needham, the bank Inspector, do not appear until Act II so re­hearsal times could be split and a couple of sessions with Eleanor and Leslie (the branch manager) alone for the after­theatre scene, were certainly i

helpful. Paul, our stage man­ager, marked out all the seven doorways on the floor to ease the confusion ofentrances and exits and prompter Beryl's early at ­tendance was appreclatt:d. Our printers and a local furniture company provided us with vari ­ous sizes of boxes and cartons which were later covered and adapted to look like books and packing cases. THE SETTING. For thc small flat above a provincial sub-

London we sought ance of a freshly den,..,-,.:~

rior prepared for a who had Just re their honeymoon. height, colour and e _ our designer, prod rose walls with .. .

sbipes and white doors arches. The set was a standing construction strength to cope with sl doors and people being p against walls. We d against pictures, which have diverted the audience' tention from the vertlcalltn the decor and might wobbled tn the frantic to-tng fro-Ing. Because of one-act tlval requirements we only four doors available and t were allocated to the spare bee· room down-stage left, the bedroom centre left, the bali . room up-stage left and the l11Il':

doorway centre up-stage. assumed Eleanor's bedroorr door out of sight on the stalrv.-a. landing upstage right of the main entrance. The kitchen en-

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uance below these stairs was an archway with a plastic tape curtain In primrose and white and the study entrance was an archway downstage right. With so much movement Involved In the action we kept the furniture to the absolute minimum to ensure that all entrances were clear, and we dispensed with the suggested table and chairs In front of the hatch. To save space we used a small trolley Instead of a writing desk down stage left, and the chair by It for Act 1 was moved upstage left for Act 11 to ensure that the spare bedroom door was clear for Arnold Needham's many excursions. A stmilar chair by the bathroom door accommodated Eleanor's wrap and various sundries as well as giving temporary sup­port for Brian during his stum­bling progress from the main bedroom to the main doorway to join Arnold for thetr musical contribution, The drinks trolley was placed centre right with a television set on the lower shelf and refreshments Were distrib­uted from a table behind the settee, The settees, long seat and the two occasional chairs were upholstered In gold to

Amateur Stage August 1990

superintendent were suited soberly and Peter relaxed In shirt sleeves, Susan and Bar­bara dressed In fake fur and undressed to flshnct tights, leopard skin and tartan fabric, and the delivery man wore an overall coat.

, MUSIC, We opened to Land of Hope and Glory and changed to Happy Talk after the Interval for Act 11. EFFECTS, Tape recorders were placed In the bathroom and kitchen for the sounds of the bath water, lavatory flush and waste disposal unit, and off stage behind the television for that announcement. The bank Intereom (a hand telephone) and outside door buzzer (a speaker) were situated on opposite walls at the main door and operated from a bell-board In the hall. PROPERTIES a: PROBLEMS. Burning the photographs : to overcome our local fire regula­tions Frances seized the table lighter and ran Into the main bedroom holding some of the photographs, to emerge In panic with a smoking waste bin before dousing the contents with the Qphon and Eleanor's vase of flowers. We used half a smoke pellet, which was lit off-stage about haifa minute before It was reqUired. Beheading the flow­ers: Eleanor's second bouquet had detachable flowers. It was placed on the hatch shelf which I

had a mark to Indicate Its poSi­tion. Meanwhile Eleanor fol­lowed Frances Into the kitchen to help her with the coffee. Leslie drew Peter down-stage left to tell him about the bank Inspection. When the hatch came down on the flowers only the heads were visible to the audience and centre stage was clear for

match the carpet and we used a plain light wood rocking chair. The kitchen hatch shelf pro­truded when It was closed and this was extended to a counter In the kitchen. LIGHTING was bright for the daytime scenes and softened for the evening. COS'nIMES were contempo­rary, Eleanor looking elegant In various shades of blue, Frances's very quick change between scenes In Act 1 was fa­cilitated by a dress without fas­tenings: the bank staff and the

Eleanor to emerge holding the beheaded stalks: she was fol­lowed by an aghas t Frances ready for the blackout. Disposal of the films: We pre­pared an unravelled film In the sink. The hatch: This was con­structed from stock 3ft. by 3ft. flats giving an opening of 3ft by 2ft 6 Ins high. The moving panel was counter-balanced with a weight salvaged from an old window using sash cord and pulleys. It was operated by hand by the off-duty superintendent. We marked the counter to Indi­cate the limit for the placement of properties, coffee pot, pills etc.. so that they were spared the guillotine, BUSINESS a: TIMING, Until we had our dress rehearsals on stage using the actual doors we

i could not time our ex:lsts and en­trances to attain the speed and slickness so essential. A lot of the humour In the play was prompted by the cast's re-action to events taking place off-stage, so careful cueing was practised. At the beginning of Act II on every performance the audience re-actlon to Brian's disguise was so uproarious that we had to be careful to maintain the pace for the build-up to the end of the play. Brian's role Is very ath­letic. Our Brian Is a substantial figure and we could not envisage any Insurance company accept­Ing the risk of him hanging from a picture rail or dtvtng through a hatch. So we omitted the picture hanging and for the finale we showed him leaping up from the settee enveloped In a blanket and speeding towards the study door as the lights blacked out. All the parts In this play are rewarding to perform and de­manding In various ways. We appreciated that the balance of the production could be upset by the sheer dominance of Brian's portrayal. nne original Brian was Michael Crawford). However, enthusiastic team­work and the actor's disciplined Interpretation triumphed. Al­though attendances for our early performances were af­fected by the January hurri ­cane, for our last night we had a completely full house - a tribute to word of mouth publicity - and our audiences were still laugh­Ing as they walked from the warmth of the theatre into the cold, windy and wet nights. 0

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