Report by:  Peter Parlour (NODA Rep. District 6) on Sat 4 Aug 2012
Venue:  Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond
Producer/Director:  Bruce Cunningham

   Thanks are due to Jimmy Perry & David Croft for giving us a marvellous insight on how our holiday camps operated some 30 years ago. Richmond certainly brought it all back with some marvellous characterisations;'Gladys Pugh' was very well acted by Moira Mason and really got our chuckleberries going from the very start; 'Peggy Ollerenshaw' was excellently played by Rebecca Dawson in typical Sue Pollard fashion whilst Ian Kirkbride, making his debut in RADS, was really excellent as 'Ted Bovis' along with his sidekick 'Spike Dixon' played by Martin Crowson.

   The dancing duo, 'Barry and Yvonne Stuart-Hargreaves' were played by Gary Winn & Joy Mills - again superbly cast. 'Jeffrey Fairbrother' was very well played by Jon Cunningham as the entertainment manager worked hard to keep Gladys at bay. Martin Ash played a typical 'horsey' man as 'Fred Quilley.' We had the glamorous yellow Coats played by Danielle Walker, Julie Winn and Michelle Booth. Other members of the cast were Andy White, Doug Clayton, Jackie McLeod and Bruce Cunningham completing the cast as 'Bailiff'.

   It really was a excellent production which I feel should have received better support with the play performed over two weekends during a rainy summer. Bruce Cunningham did an excellent job in directing the characters perfectly. Well done RADS.

Reviews

    In this stage adaptation of the hugely popular TV series by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, Paul Carpenter and Ian Gower revisit the 1950s and Maplins Holiday Camp with its host of colourful characters.It's the start of a new season and founder Joe Maplin announces that he is setting up a camp in the Bahamas. He needs female yellowcoats to go and work out there and the annual "Miss Yellowcoat" competition will decide who is to go. Rivalry between the girls is fierce, with Sylvia and Gladys joint forerunners to win the coveted yellow sash. Camp cleaner Peggy, meanwhile, is thrilled at the prospect of a vacancy for a new yellowcoat and convinces     Entertainments Manager Jeffrey thinks that she is the ideal candidate for the job. Ted is forced to employ numerous money-making schemes when his ex-wife turns up at the camp with a bailiff in tow and Yvonne and Barry Stuart-Hargreaves send the rumour mill into overdrive when they overhear Gladys escorting Jeffrey into his chalet late one evening. Hi-de-hi, campers!