CHESHIRE CATS

Hope Street, Weymouth

WEYMOUTH Drama Club like to offer a wide variety for their productions and their current choice ticks all the boxes for bringing into focus issues that almost everyone can relate to and feel personally involved.

Gail Young’s comedy play is full of sincerity, imagination and sympathy as it tells a story that deals with a subject that could have been awkward to portray but which instead is full of honesty and humour.

Six Cheshire women get together to attempt a half-marathon charity walk to raise money for people affected by breast cancer and we slowly learn about their individual lives and the motives that impel them to take part in the London Moon Walk.

Things start off with a hitch when one of the women unexpectedly drops out and her place is taken by the new boyfriend of a walker, a decision that soon puts the cat among the pigeons with the rest of the girls who are planning to wear scanty costumes to show off their assets, not quite within the range of a man’s physique.

As the plot develops, a multitude of scenes come and go including the half-marathon itself, all of them imaginatively captured on a large screen at the back of the stage, enlivened by Andrew Neve’s direction who maintains a good steady pace throughout.

The cast of six make a very convincing job of their north country accents in a comedy that is both witty and poignant in equal measure.

With an excellent cast, Caroline Lewis leads the team as Hilary, the bossy walk organiser while Tracey Baker as Vicky brings along her boyfriend Andrew, bravely portrayed by John Cropper. Carol Pitman is a kindly Siobhan with Julie Knight in angry mode as Yvonne and Jemima Phillips completing the cast as Maggie who has a few secrets of her own.

This compelling production continues at the club premises for the rest of the week.

MARION COX