It's Never too Late

• Date
• 29th April 2016
• Society
• Hoghton Players
• Venue
• Hoghton Village Hall
• Type of Production
• Play
• Director
• Carol McCann

‘It’s Never too Late’ written by Ron Aldridge was staged by The Hoghton Players. It was another fine choice of play which the society managed to bring to life in a very well constructed show. The choice to deliver this script in the round with only a few rows of seats gave the audience a greater connection with the actors and made for an extremely captivating piece of theatre. The play was a sell out and from having the privilege to see it, we understand why so many people want to watch plays by this society.

On entering the theatre we were faced with a set which was a very typical living room layout. There was a partition covering the stage area which was dressed to look like a wall in the house adding to the realism of the setting. The playing area was set out in the round. As we have previously mentioned, this is an extremely brave thing to do as everything is exposed and no one can hide from the audience. This said the society manage to successfully achieve time after time. For this they should be commended and it would be nice to see other groups attempt this style of staging. It really is a joy to witness and gives the audience a different perspective on the action.

When the play started we were introduced to numerous members of the cast, each of which had larger then life characterisations that varied greatly between parts. They were all delivered with great confidence and the level of rehearsal and commitment to the role was evident, due to how well these personalities were portrayed to the audience. The way in which they conveyed their emotions was also very well thought out. This hard working cast bought a very dramatic and heartfelt play to the stage. They were all exceptionally competent in putting across their feelings within their acting.

On a couple of occasions during the start of Act 2 the cast lost their way in the script and once or twice looked blankly at the prompt. This said the other cast members managed to improvise until the prompt realised a line was required.

The direction of this play must also be much admired and acknowledged. The staging enabled the cast to play to all sides equally. We saw some fantastic facial expressions and mannerisms, which at one point we was concerned half the room was missing out but the well rehearsed movements ensured none of the audience would have ever felt left out.

There were some extremely comical moments throughout the play. Some humorous highlights were, the ‘mean and moody’ dancing by ‘want-to-be Toy Boy’ Thomas, in addition to Susan letting down each of the three males individually. As well as this Linda and Peter using the goings on as if they were watching a film at the cinema eating nibbles, was also a memorable part of the play. The high emotions throughout were fantastic and the cast did a great job maintaining these until the end without fatigue. The entrance of the husband and the argument with the other men was very powerful and fascinating to watch. The commitment to their role made the storyline believable and lifelike making this play that extra bit ‘special’.

Overall we were treated to a very comical and enjoyable evening of true entertainment. The cast and production team should be very proud of the quality that their production accomplished and what they managed to achieve. We would like to thank The Hoghton Players once again for their kind invitation and we look forward to seeing the society’s next play ‘Don’t Dress for Dinner’ to be staged in November.