Review of the Spotlight Players' Spring Show 2025

A nostalgic fun-filled evening was provided by the Spotlight Players in their annual Spring Show.

The theme of the Show was “Chosen Family”, as well as a commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the ending of WWII. A varied music feast – skiffle, soul, Sinatra and Abba, with lots of laughs along the way. Sharon Bignell as a therapist dealing with clients with phobias, Hazel Gausden as Alice and Ben Russell as Hugo planning their nuptials (Vicar of Dibley) and Sam Christie, dashing in a Lurex blazer as host of Family Fortunes.

Clive Dunn’s hit song, Grandad, provided the backdrop in the sketch, The Nursing Home, with Matthew Gould and Kay Marsh playing the elderly residents. Kay, Wardrobe Mistress Supremo, produced some impressive nuns’ habits for the lady singers, for their rendition of My Guy (from Sister Act).

The British preoccupation with social class was featured in a humorous sketch – Celia (Sharon Bignell) and Roger (Sam Christie) showed that they probably would never have met, were it not for the war.

And,in a flashback to the 1960s, when The Frost Report on TV first brought the Two Ronnies plus John Cleese to audiences, Leander Barlow, Ben Russell and Sam Christie, class again raised some more laughs.

Trish Parks gave a moving narration at the end of the show, remembering all those family members who did not return home to their loved ones at the end of the war, images of whom were pinned near the front of the stage.

The audience joined in enthusiastically with songs such as Mama Mia, My Old Man’s a Dustman, and, of course, the evergreen We’ll Meet Again.

The evening was a great success, with the able contributions of accompanist Marylou Cockshoot, director Jackie Bignell, assisted by Natasha Gardener, and Marissa Hammond (Front of the House).

Proceeds from the sale of refreshments and raffle tickets were in aid of the SBCU Conquest Hospital Fund, which provides vital support for premature and unwell newborns.