by Kate Griffin
Eastern Angles spring tour
I usually see Eastern Angles productions at their home, Sir John
Mills Theatre in Ipswich, so it was rather special to arrive at the
penultimate performance of Cuckoo Teapot at Kirton Church Hall,
driving past the villagers walking from their homes to see a
professional company perform on their doorstep.
The Eastern Angles tour van had arrived with a raised stage of
steps, levels, screens with concealed cupboard doors, a lighting
rig, sound effects and a talented cast of five actor/singers who
would play the various roles.
Cuckoo Teapot tells the story of
the “Norkies” who each year left Norfolk and Suffolk to work
temporarily in the 27 brewery maltings in Burton on Trent,
returning home with a new suit, stories and a teapot for their
mothers. One year a boy returns with a baby too and the play
begins as the baby, Joseph, now a teenager, unknowingly
returns to his birthplace, setting in motion a plot that
twists and turns, keeping the audience guessing right until
the final scene. Will he learn the truth of his ancestry? Who
was the mother? The grandmother? Brother or sister?
The versatility of the cast and ingenuity of the stage team at
Eastern Angles mean that the 2008 Sunday school posters on the
walls of the church hall are forgotten as the audience is
transported into 1913, and indeed 1898, as the play
unfolds.
Tim Bell and Bryony Harding play the young lovers and the
warring grandmothers are Helen Grady and Jackie Redgewell. Graham
Howes, the actor with most of the funny lines, does a great job
appearing in scene after scene, swopping Norfolk and Trent
accents at will!
Cuckoo Teapot tells of a part of
East Anglia’s history I had not heard about …. and I now know
where the expression “Gone for a Burton” comes from too.
After all the worries over the threatened Arts Council funding
grants, it was great to see such a riveting performance in a
village setting – the unique selling point of Eastern Angles that
was the argument all along that justified their funding.
Cuckoo Teapot may have ended its run but watch out for We Didn’t
Mean to Go to Sea, based on Arthur Ransone’s famous book set at Pin
Mill, that begins it’s summer tour on the Ipswich Waterfront on 3rd
July.
Rachel Sloane
9th April 2008
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