West Wittering Players return with comedy double bill

The West Wittering Players return to action with a double bill of comedies by David Tristram – Brenton vs Brenton and Murder in Little Grimley.

Performances will be in West Wittering Memorial Hall on Wed 18 Nov, 7.30pm; Thu 19 Nov, 7.30pm; Fri 20 Nov, 7.30pm; Sat 21 Nov, 2pm; and Sat 21 Nov, 7.30pm with tickets available on https://www.ticketsource.com/west-wittering-players.

Brenton vs Brenton promises an epic saga of greed, lust, power and wealth. What is the dark secret which enflames the Brenton family feud? Who is the mysterious Eddie? Why are Lana's shoulderpads wider than the door? And just what was Deke Brenton doing down on the farm?

The promise is an outrageous spoof of American soaps and blockbuster mini-series, set in the manic world of Chicago's biggest advertising agency.

Murder in Little Grimley, which will accompany it, is the sixth play in the hugely popular Little Grimley series. A West Wittering favourite, it follows the antics of a hapless amateur dramatic society desperate for audiences.

Anxious to cash in on the public's appetite for detective dramas, the chairman writes a whodunnit. But in a bizarre twist he then finds himself embroiled in a real-life murder mystery…

West Wittering Players chairman Lawrence Keen, who took over in February, is promising great fun with the double bill from November 18-21.

“It has been going well (since becoming chairman),” he says. “There is a committee and they are brilliant. When you take over something, it's about keeping it going. The main things we do are two performances every year but what we're really trying to do is to get some new members. We have got a loyal membership of about 55 people but we would love to attract more members who will go on stage and act. There are lots of other roles, backstage with sound and lighting and whatever but really we would like to get some more actors. We are not short but we have got a core and we're really pleased that we've got two new actors that are both in Brenton.

“What we would like to do is put on some more short plays and maybe some radio plays, just one-act plays and hope that that will help bring in new members. With the radio plays you can do it script in hand. I know that for a lot of new actors, the biggest fear is that they will forget their lines so script in hand is a good introduction. I've only been doing this since just before the lockdowns. I hadn’t done anything like this before but I'd always had it in the back of my mind. A friend of mine suggested it, and I've just loved it.”

As for the current productions: “They are both by the same author. We have done two Little Grimleys in the past. We have done Last Panto and Last Tango. They are the same characters. It's set in the little village which suits the West Wittering Players very much, and we've been very fortunate that we've been able to get the same actors again for these same roles. This particular one is where the amateur dramatic actors decide to put on a murder mystery thinking it might be a good way to get the audiences back but it all descends into amdram chaos.

“The other piece Brenton vs Brenton is very different for us. It's set in Chicago in the 1980s, and if you think of Dallas and Knots Landing meets Airplane, then that's the kind of thing. It's Airplane comedy with the kind Dallas over-the-top feel.”