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This was the fourth (and last) of our four Farndale scripts and,
unfortunately, it was not as good as its predecessors. Nevertheless,
"Mars" had a superb backcloth, painted by Barry Wells, depicting a
Martian landscape and seen behind the players in these photos. His
artistic talents also contributed to the success of a novel
Ultraviolet light interlude during which a space ship took off from
Farndale to undertake a hazardous journey to Mars (and back)
encountering various objects en route.
The players were all effectively "blacked out" and, therefore,
invisible against a black backcloth. Well, all with the exception of
Peter Spencer who gave an excellent performance as a doddering
Vicar. His white dog-collar, breat pocket handkerchief, extending
shirt-cuffs and white socks below trousers obviously intended for
shorter legs than his gave a truly bizarre appearance in the UV
lighting especially when he inadvertently on purpose passed behind
another member of the cast!
His flight of ducks crossed the stage beautifully but returned
flying backwards and, on another occasion, treated us to some
spectacular aerobatics whilst in inverted flight. And, typically in
character, he dropd The Milky Way!
All in all, it was a clever and challenging sequence
(particularly for Jim Duffy as "Lighting") that was a bright spot in
a not so bright production. |
