Little known Warwickshire drama group excels

TUCKED away in the tiny picturesque village of Lighthorne is a gem of a drama group who deserve to go far.

The amateur team, presenting to me my first experience of theatre-in-the-round, managed to provoke much out-loud laughter as well as, for me, bring poignancy to the fore, in their very intimate production of Bob Larbey’s A Month of Sundays.

Set entirely in a bright and cosy residential home room, the story focuses on former military man Cooper, who, although on the surface is full of dry wit and the ability to laugh at himself, is slowly becoming more morbid and prepared to face his own inevitable joining of “the zombies”. He flirts with his lady attendants, Nurse Wilson and Mrs Baker, irritates his daughter Julia and fed-up son-in-law Peter, yet it is his best friend and fellow residential home resident Aylott to whom he is his true self.

While at first glance this may seem a stereotypical and rather dull tale, the actors (in particular Andy Meeham as Cooper and Rod Chaytor as Aylott), who performed to a very small audience who sat inches away from them on dinner tables around the stageless set, draw on a range of very real, very human emotions that have the ability to touch us all because we can relate to them.

While the jokes are funny because they draw on familiar situations, the fear felt by us all of getting old or of losing our loved ones who are getting old pervades throughout. While there is no finality about the play’s close, it is not a happy ending - because it is a fear we must all face up to.

The group will next perform at Lighthorne village garden party on July 14 and members are holding a ‘mystery evening’ on September 8. Going by this evening’s performance, these shows will be worth catching.

Sundari Sankar