It must be the permissive society......

This is the bit where you get a little nervous, the bit where you know someone may get a little offended when you tell them directing may not be the thing for them....

Just as well Habeas Corpus from the Ottershaw Players was an absolute blinder for me.

I'm not a theatre go'’er, it's was never part of my growing up you see. A theatre to me was a bingo hall, full to the brim with cackling fishwives.

Anyhow, seeing as I'’ve not seen a huge amount of theatre, and the fact Pete is a good mate of mine I was a little apprehensive going along to the opening night.... I had previously seen an Amdram play about 6 months previous, I'’ll not mention what the play was or who was playing, but I did come away feeling that the "Amateur" part of Amdram had been well catered for.

So there I was, in the Rhoda McGaw Theatre, waiting to be entertained.. ... and heavens to Betsy was I entertained. It was a corker, hats of to Mr Bennett for a great play, but I do get the impression that most credit has to go to the cast and Pete'’s direction.

The best part for me was the believability of the characters, there wasn'’t one bad performance, but there were more than a few outstanding ones..
Matthew Horton did a fantastic job of Sir Percy Shorter, the twitch, the pompous attitude and not forgetting the very large chip on his diminutive shoulders was simply a joy to watch.
My other personal favourite was Lady Delia Rumpers played by Danny Sparks, she simply had me giggling like a girl as she had more than a passing resemblance to Mrs Slocombe on one of her days off, fantastic stuff.

To sum up, I had a great time. The Ottershaw Players with a little help from Alan Bennett and Peter Moore gave the gift of entertainment and laughter on a otherwise dull Wednesday night, marvellous, bloody marvellous.

Last but certainly not least, Alison Byers who plays Muriel Wicksteed.... I do hope that those are stunt boobs being thrown around so enthusiastically! It'’s the first time I've winced and laughed like a drain in ages.