Art, by Jazmina Reza.

This show was performed at The Arden Theatre, Faversham in March 2008.

This comedy, which raises questions about art and friendship concerns three long-time friends: Serge, Marc and Yvan. Serge, indulging his penchant for modern art, buys a large, expensive, white canvas. Marc is horrified and their relationship suffers considerable strain as a result of their widely differing opinions about what constitutes "art". Yvan, caught in the middle, tries to please and mollify both of them and ends up being vilified by both.

The play is not divided into acts and scenes in the traditional manner, but it does fall into separate sections. Some of these are dialogues between two characters, several are monologues where a character addresses the audience directly, and one is a long conversation among all three, which builds to the climactic moment of Marc vandalising Serge's painting with one of Yvan's felt-tip pens by drawing the cartoon image of a figure skiing down a snow slope. It emerges that Serge allowed this desecration to take place knowing full well that the fluid in the felt-tip was washable.

Marc was played by Mike Ayris, Serge by Brian Ross and Yvan by Nigel Banks.

The director was Alan Pope.

On An Average Day by John Kolvenbach

This play was staged at The Arden Theatre, Faversham in February 2009. The play is set in the "grimey relic of a kitchen untouched in 30 years" somewhere in upstate New York. Two brothers are reunited after twenty-three years when Jack, the elder of the two, walks in unexpectedly. Bobby, the younger brother, is excited by his brother's sudden return because he mistakenly believes that his big brother has come to help him out in his hour of need. It is clear from the outset that Bobby is mentally disturbed but only gradually do we learn the full extent of his troubles. It finally emrges that he is on trial for a serious assault on a man who stopped to give him a lift in his car. To Bobby's amazement, Jack knew nothing about the trial and has arrived with a different purpose. The first act closes with Bobby's dramatic discovery that the sandwich bag Jack brought in with him contains a gun.

In the second act we learn more about the family's troubled past which centres on the traumatic event of the boys' father walking out on them when they were aged 14 and 7 respectively. With their mother already dead, it fell to Jack to look after his younger brother, which he did for the next seven years, before he too walked out in search of a better life. It emerges that he is now married with two sons, but his hopes of a happy family life have foundered on the rocks of his dysfunctional family history. Unable to form proper relationships with his wife or kids because of the appalling lack of parental love he suffered as a child, Jack finds himself repeating the vicious circle by walking out on his family. Full of guilt and remorse,he has driven all the way back to his brother with the express intention of giving Bobby the opportunity to wreak revenge for all the wrongs done to him in the past. We are offered a glimmer of hope at the end when Bobby refuses to shoot Jack and persuades him to return to his family while at the same time accepting his own guilt for the crime he has committed.

Bobby was played by Mike Rivarno and Jack by Brian Ross.

The play was directed by Nigel Banks.

Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, by Frank McGuinness

"Someone Who'll Watch Over Me": This play was first staged at The Arden Theatre, Faversham in May 2002 then reprised at St Mary's Hall, Canterbury in October as part of that year's Festival.

The play is written by the acclaimed Irish dramatist Frank McGuinness. It focuses on the trials and tribulations of three men: an Irishman, an Englishman and an American (Edward, Michael and Adam) who are kidnapped and held hostage by unseen Arabs in Lebanon. As the three men strive for survival, they also strive to overcome their personal and nationalistic differences. Related to this is each individual's own attempt to maintain his sanity under the watchful eye of both captors and supposed comrades. At times the dialogue reaches a high level of absurdity as the line between the characters' sanity and the psychological games they play with each other in order to preserve it, becomes blurred. By the end, only Michael remains incarcerated but the playwright gives us some hope for his survival because of the inner strength and resilience he has developed during the course of the play.

Adam was played by Brian Ross, Edward by Mike Ayris and Michael by Nigel Banks.

The director was Alan Pope.

Mixed Doubles

Mixed Doubles was performed at The Farmhouse, Canterbury from Monday February 28th – Thursday March 3rd 2011. The original full-length show was devised by the actor Anton Rodgers and comprised eight short duets by different writers all on the theme of marriage, interspersed with comic, satirical monologues by the singer and entertainer George Melly.

For this Cafe Theatre show, only six of the short playlets were performed using a cast of nine actors. Along with Ashcan regulars Mike Ayris, Mike Rivarno and Brian Ross, the company was joined by Sarah Gooch and Serena Sykes, who have guested previously, plus newcomers Jim Newberry, Lisa Nightingale, Seb Spaul and Tessa Taylor. The show was directed by Nigel Banks

The six playlets vary in tone and setting, but taken all together, they provide a rich kaleidoscope of the marital state, commencing with the newly-weds setting off on their honeymoon in James Saunders’ comic vignette A Man’s Best Friend, and ending with the elderly couple who have been married for many years and yet still question whether they married the right person in David Campton’s poignant Resting Place.

In between are four other couples in varying states of disharmony, ranging from the woman dumping her lover, after deciding that her extra-marital affair was ill-advised in Alun Owen’s Norma, to the couple on their annual camping holiday (minus their teenage daughter for the first time), who are forced to re-assess their relationship in Permanence by Fay Weldon.

In Night a couple who have been married for some time have different memories of their first encounter in a typically quirky, dream-like and elliptical piece by Harold Pinter. Countdown by Alan Aykbourn features a middle-aged marriage in which both parties’ personal habits have become so ingrained that familiarity has bred contempt. The audience is allowed to hear the husband and wife’s inner thoughts as well as what they actually say to each other, which gives rise to much humour and pathos.

The Last Yankee by Arthur Miller

This play was performed at St Mary's Hall, Canterbury in April 2004.

The play takes place in a present-day mental hospital somewhere in New England. Patricia Hamilton is recovering from depression and this may be the day she feels strong enough to go home. However, a visit from her husband Leroy coincides with that of a successful businessman, John Frick, who has come to see his newly-admitted wife, Karen. A clash of values and emotions upsets them all.

It is a play in two parts which focuses on the relationships of the two couples - Leroy and Patricia, married for many years with seven children, and John and Karen, a childless couple. Both women are patients in the mental institution, and act one sees the two men meet for the first time in the waiting room on visitors day. Karen has not long been an inmate, and Frick is havinga difficult time coping with her mental illness, while Patricia has been in and out of institutions for many years. The two men struggle to communicate under the circumstances, while Karen and Patricia have become friendly during their time together on the ward. Act two sees the four characters brought together inside, where a picture emerges of a society whose members feel obscurely cheated and where success is equated with failure.

Patricia was played by S. J. Vant, Leroy by Brian Ross, Karen by Sarah Gooch and John by Mike Ayris.

Alan Pope was the director.

Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman.

This play was performed at St Mary's Hall, Canterbury in October 2003 as part of that year's Festival.

The play is set in an unnamed South American country, which has recently emerged from years of repressive dictatorship. Paulina Escobar is a former political prisoner who had been raped and tortured by her captors, led by a sadistic doctor whose face she never saw. He played Schubert's composition "Death and the Maiden" whilst she was raped by various prison guards; hence the play's title.

Years later, after the repressive regime has fallen, Paulina lives in an isolated seaside house with her husband, Gerardo. One night, on his return from a visit to the president, his car suffers a puncture and he has no spare tyre. A stranger stops to assist him and ends up driving him home. He introduces himself as Dr Roberto Miranda. Gerardo offers him hospitality to repay his assistance. Paulina recognises Miranda's voice and mannerisms as those of her torturer and takes him captive in order to put him on trial and extract a confession from him. As a trained lawyer and believer in democratic human rights, Gerardo is torn between loyalty to his wife and following the due process of the law. Paulina, angered by her husband's apparent reluctance to believe her implicitly, takes matters into her own hands by sending Gerardo out to get Roberto's car so he can go home, freeing her to threaten Miranda with a gun. The tension builds, but is cut short before Paulina finishes her speech and it is left up to the audience to decide whether or not she goes through with her threat to kill Miranda.

The final scene takes place some time later at a Schubert concert attended by Paulina and Gerardo. During the interval he talks to various people about the success of the committee he serves, which has been set up to investigate the crimes of the former regime. When they retake their seats, Miranda is seen in another part of the hall, but whether he is really there, or just in Paulina's mind is also left up to the audience.

Paulina was played by Caroline Lamoon, Gerardo by Nigel Banks, Roberto by Mike Ayris.

The director was Alan Pope.

Famous Five.

Elegy For A Lady

CAFE THEATRE COMES TO CANTERBURY

Ashcan Theatre Company's next production marks a new, exciting direction. In conjunction with The Farmhouse, a thriving brasserie and live entertainment venue in Dover Street, Canterbury, Ashcan is bringing "Cafe Theatre" to the city.

Instead of finding somewhere to eat before going to a show, or rushing to make a hurried meal at home before setting off to the theatre, why not do it in comfort all under the same roof? So, for an all-in price of £15, you get a superb two course meal, followed by a one act play by Arthur Miller, the celebrated American playwright.

The play is called "Elegy For A Lady", featuring Brian Ross, and, making a welcome return to the Ashcan ranks, Sarah Gooch. The show is being directed by Nigel Banks.

There is very limited seating, so pre-booking your table will be essential. The show runs for three nights only Monday-Wednesday November 2nd-4th 2009. Doors will be open from 7pm. To book your table, please telephone The Farmhouse on 01227-456118. You can also visit their website for more information about their menus and other live music/entertainment events at www.thefarmhousecanterbury.co.uk

Elegy For A Lady by Arthur Miller

Starring Brian Ross and Sarah Gooch.

Performed at The Farmhouse, Dover Road, Canterbury.

A 60 year old man walks into an upmarket New York boutique and asks the proprietress if she can suggest a suitable gift for a dying woman. She is naturally taken aback, but also intrigued. As a result of some subtle prompting on her part, plus the man's uncharacteristic willingness to open up completely to a stranger, she is able to discover the story. The man has been having an affair for over two years with a much younger woman. Because of the age difference and the fact that he is comfortably married, neither of them thought it could go anywhere, so have tended to live for the moment.

Now, however, things have changed. The mistress is having to go into hospital to have a major operation, but has distanced herself from her lover, refusing to return his calls and not even telling him which hospital she will be in. He is thus forced to reconsider his feelings for her. The proprietress is of a similar age and reminds him of his lover, so he finds himself talking openly about the relationship and his fears.

The proprietress eventually helps him to choose the most apt gift for his mistress - one which symbolises his attachment to her - and he leaves the shop, suitably comforted. In this most dreamlike of Miller's plays, however, the writer does not supply a neat, happy ending, but rather leaves it up to the audience's imagination as to what the future might hold for his characters.

The director was Nigel Banks.

 

Old Times by Harold Pinter

"Old Times" by Harold Pinter. This play was performed in June 2007 at The Arden Theatre, Faversham. It marked the rebirth of AshCan Theatre Company after a hibernation of two and a half years.

This most poetic of Pinter's plays begins with married couple Kate and Deeley discussing Kate's old friend Anna, who is coming to visit them. Kate says that Anna was her only friend while Anna had many friends. Deeley says he's never met Anna, and is surprised to hear that Kate and Anna roomed together 20 years ago. Anna has been standing unlit onstage throughout this conversation, and without a pause, she suddenly breaks into the scene and proceeds to regale the couple with her vivid memories of the exciting times the two young secretaries enjoyed, going to parties, art galleries and the theatre in 1950s London. Jealous of the closeness of their relationship, Deeley tries to assert his "ownership" of Kate by recounting their first meeting at a cinema after watching a matinee performance of the film "Odd Man Out". At a later point Anna recalls travelling on the top deck of a bus with Kate and the two of them going to an out-of-the-way cinema where they saw the same film. In typically abstruse Pinter fashion the struggle for power in a relationship is played out against the backdrop of the shifting perspectives of memory and each person's ability to rewrite history to suit their own agenda. As Anna says at one point: "There are some things one remembers even though they may never have happened. There are things I remember which may never have happened, but as I recall them, so they take place".

Kate was played by Caroline Lamoon, Deeley by Brian Ross and Anna by S.J. Vant.

The director was Nigel Banks.

 

Duck Variations by David Mamet

 

DUCK VARIATIONS by David Mamet

Ashcan Theatre Company’s latest production, David Mamet’s Duck Variations, at Canterbury’s Farmhouse provided audiences a thoughtful and rewarding evening. Ashcan continued its record of excellence with this challenging short play, a series of vignettes between two pensioners in a park observing and commenting on the behaviour of ducks. However this is Mamet’s world and the exchange between the men soon reveals their observations on the path of life itself and their own existence: its disappointments, triumphs, inevitability, and death culminating with the conclusion there is more dignity in the animal world than that of the human one.

This most entertaining play gives audiences much to think about. The cast of two, Brian Ross and Nigel Banks, give superb performances capturing an extremely wide range of emotions. They are totally believable and a pleasure to watch. They row, make up, sometimes behave foolishly and are always real people. Duck Variations is not an easy piece to bring off and it could easily go wrong but in the hands of these two actors it is an absorbing triumph. Director Alan Pope paces the play with considerable variety drawing out the comedy and pathos of the play with considerable skill. He obviously loves the language of the play which is hypnotic.

If you haven’t yet seen an Ashcan Theatre Company production you are denying yourself the pleasure of experiencing theatre at its best. The Farmhouse’s programme of Café Theatre is a welcome addition to Canterbury and meal before a performance is delicious.

PIP PIACENTINO, Reviewer

Emil Varec was played by Brian Ross and George S Aronovitz by Nigel Banks.

The director was Alan Pope.