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 The Cicala Players – in
Thark by Ben Travers
Pre-Performance: Saturday 6 November 1951 at the
Dartford Institute
Staged 9 to 10 November 1951 at the Fortune
Theatre, London. 
 Ben
Travers was a well-known writer of farce, living a long life from the late
1880s until 1980. He was most famous
for a string of farces staged at London’s Aldwych Theatre in the last 1920s
and early 1930s. Some of the
characters in “Thark” characters have been likened to those written by P
Wodehouse, author of the hugely popular Jeeves and Wooster stories, and to do
justice to this particular play, the Cicala Players will certainly have had
to some homework. It appears from the
review in Martins Bank Magazine, that they got it right, and the choice of
actors was key to bringing another resounding success into the portfolio of
the talented Cicala Players. It is interesting to note that our Players have
tried several venues for their productions since 1947, sometimes a large West
End theatre, sometimes a smaller more intimate auditorium, and on this
particular occasion, in addition to the stage of the Fortune Theatre in
London, the Players stage a special pre-performance at the Dartford
Institute.
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 “Thark”, by Ben Travers, which was the
choice of the Cicala Players for their autumn Production at the Fortune
Theatre on November 9th and 10th, was, we understand, written about twenty
years ago for Tom Walls, Ralph Lynn and Robertson Hare. When an amateur
company sets out to produce a play of this type the casting has got to be
right and, in this Craig Batey, the Producer, was fortunate as well as
skilled. Without Ernest Yates in the sublime tomfoolery of the part of the
Wodehousian nephew who has a genius for doing all the wrong things and for
getting himself out of the most ridiculous situations it is doubtful
whether the Players could have tackled the play.
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Pat Machin, John Howard, Isabel Simblett, June Howden, Eric Comley,
Ernest Yates and John Evans
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The
natural wit and speedy repartee of Ernest Yates, his almost acrobatic
agility and his general joie-de-vivre enabled him to carry the part, and the
play, triumphantly. John Evans as Hook, the butler, added fresh laurels to
his reputation in this Robertson Hare part, “ foiling” equally well for
each principal in turn. John Howard, as the philandering baronet, scored
another triumph, but we mustn't get him “ typed.” The performance was
rather reminiscent of the Admiral in last year's production of “ The Middle
Watch ” and next year we hope to see him in different character, if scope
permits.
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Janet Warland, Pat Machin, and Roger Botten
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Tony Garland, Eric Comley and Ernest Yates
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Janet
Warland made quite one of the most attractive maids we have ever seen on
the stage. She resisted the “ wooden ” interpretation which so many
amateurs give to this part yet was natural and attractive without losing
the character of the part. We were very pleased with Helena Currie who
amply fulfilled the hopes we expressed some time ago. Her genuine acting,
as distinct from her spoken part, was one of the best things in the play.
She could “insinuate” with a look and a movement, which was acting of a
high order.
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It
was a very different Pat Machin this year, in pure character as the somewhat
common, loud-spoken mother of Lionel Frush, played by Roger Botten. Pat is
talented and puts on an extremely good show and she carried this part
admirably. Roger was just a little wooden. His sudden advances to each
fresh girl who appeared needed more acting to be convincing, but this will
come with more stage experience. Isabel Simblett, as Lady Benbow, might
perhaps have improved her performance by being a bit more of a “nag” She
appeared to be resigned by each fresh revelation of her husband's philanderings
and not sufficiently atomic to justify the obvious panic displayed by her
husband when he learned of her unexpected return. But she does all her
parts well and this is only a minor criticism. June Howden made a very
sweet fiancee of Ernest Yates, and Eric Comley as the butler in the haunted
house scored a very well-deserved success with the audience for his
interpretation of this difficult small part with its frequent sepulchral
appearances. Tony Garland as the importunate pressman was a bit too raw for
a hard-bitten pressman of the type who gets in anywhere. He looked too
young and he wasn’t sufficiently pushing, but with more experience he will
learn to let himself go. As for the play, well, if the London district
audience prefer uproarious farce to anything else, they certainly had their
money’s-worth in this play and the Players were rewarded by a packed house
on both nights. A precedent was created this time by a pre-production
performance the Saturday before the show at the Dartford Institution, a
performance which was greatly appreciated.
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Roger Botten and Helena Currie
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 M
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