Rushen Players
History Committee Constitution
Incidents to Remember
| When
members of a dramatic society gather together it is usually not long
before someone starts "Do you remember when ... ?" and then launches
into an account of some near crisis when scenery fell down or doors got
stuck or someone forgot an entrance or came on stage improperly
dressed, etc., etc. Don Williamson recalls a lady who did everything by the book. In one scene a young man has hiccups, which the other characters try to cure by a number of suggested remedies. One night the hiccuping actor forgot a line. There was a pause and the prompt said "Hic". The player, who had been hiccuping for most of the scene, looked blankly across to the prompt who said "Hic" again, this time more loudly. It eventually dawned upon the poor chap that he had given one less "hic" than Noel Coward had written and he must "hic" again before the prompt would divulge the next line. In 1983 the summer play performed in Port St. Mary was the comedy 'The White Sheep Of The Family' by L. DuGarde Peach and Ian Hay. The play involves a family of thieves and the son is a forger who decides to go straight - hence the 'white sheep'. This role was played by Mike Best, a research assistant at the Marine Biological Station in Port Erin. In between one weekly performance of the play and the next Mike went over to Hampshire by car to visit his girl friend. He realised that he still had some of the 'pretend' stage money in his pocket so he took it out and left it on the back seat of his car. Someone saw these notes and reported the matter to the police. The police traced Mike and arrested him for being in possession of forged notes. They were disinclined to believe his explanation and he spent the night in a police cell. The misunderstanding was ventually cleared up satisfactorily and the actor was back on the Island in time for the next weekly performance. |
| The following pages are taken from Stan Woolock's History of Rushen Amateur Dramatic Society's written in 2001 and with some updates to reflect changes from 2001 to 2013 |
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