06/03/2026
Two theatre lunches and two one-act plays: if you weren't able to be in the audience, do read Melodie's blog to get a feel for what you missed!
Entering the Boudrac venue for the first performance, I paused awhile just to observe the scene. The tables gaily decorated with roses, hearts and candle lights for Valentine’s Day looked so inviting. As I watched the busy crew bustling about setting up the bar, and checking the stage, lights and sound, I got that lovely feeling of being back in action again with the ETC team!
I was so pleased to have been invited to take part in the recent ETC production of A Dog’s Life as The Woman, as last year I had been unable to participate in anything for reasons beyond my control. However - I would be away during the rehearsals but apparently this was not too much of a problem as it was …and I quote, “A play brought to life as a rehearsed reading”. After a chat with the director Annie, we decided it was totally do-able so she sent the script to accompany me on my trip to Sri Lanka! I returned on the Monday and met up with Chris, The Brown Coat, for a few read-throughs on the Wednesday, ready to perform on the Saturday!
We rehearsed in my front room. As I walked around a few chairs (the kennels), admiring and patting invisible dogs, I felt like a film actor working with the green screen. There’s nothing there at the time but knowing all the magic and effects will be added on later and that is exactly what happened! The people playing the dogs really got into character and alternatively made the audience laugh and cry. I was just so sorry that I never actually saw the antics of the puppy Ginger as he frolicked about but judging from the laughter I could hear - it must have been adorable. In fact, while we were clearing the tables the comments the audience were giving me, about how mean I was not adopting Ginger -I was fearful of getting hate mail!
The special Valentine’s Day lunch was prepared by Lucy, of Lucy’s Kitchen, but after tasting her super chicken and pork Wellington followed by her delicious banoffee pie, I hope we will be enjoying more of her culinary delights in the future now our usual caterer is retiring. After our second showing at Villecomtal-sur-Arros when Paul served his final Roast Pork and all the Trimmings he received a hearty round of applause and a good send off from us all.
Normally when there are two plays, I’ve already seen the other one, but this time I had no idea what was going to happen. So, after eating the lovely lunch, I sat down with a glass of wine and joined the audience to watch Alternative Accommodation. I knew this was another Pam Valentine play as people were saying how great her plays were as she always manages to give an audience a situation they can identify with. I was rather flabbergasted when the story turned out to be rather too close to my life at present! Cleverly written, it was about a recently widowed mother being visited by her three middle- aged children who have decided that the family house must be sold and were discussing where else she should go to live. I could certainly identify with that situation but luckily my three daughters are far more considerate and supportive. However… Don’t tell anyone but soon, I might just book a flight to Florida and check out the Retirement Parks over there - It all sounded rather good!
