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Sunday, 27 October 2019

2 Early reviews


Gwynn Versus Gwynne by Eleanor Reynolds 1935

Produced by Miss M H Ridsdale         Stage manager   Ernest Hawley
Lighting and effects    John Burns

“An enjoyable production”    “There are about 20 players in the cast....they gave a good performance..which abounds in pathos and comedy”

“The company paid for their own expenses from Barnsley”  This was a performance given in the Haigh Village Institute in aid of the reduction of debt on the Low Swithen Methodist Sunday School.
The above reviews come from the performance at Haigh. 

There are no dates to say which performance came first. The performance at Haigh was a Tuesday evening . The details below are apparently  from a run at Farrar Street which began on a Tuesday evening also. My guess is that the Haigh performance followed the Farrar Street one.
In which case the role of Richard Gwynne was picked up again by Charles I Moss. He is reported playing  the part in a Tuesday performance, but from the two reports, there is no evidence of if the first night was at Haigh or Farrar Street.

After the first night ( a Tuesday) , shortly before the second performance (which was on Thursday),  Charles I Moss, playing Richard Gwynne , was ‘overcome by serious illness’. Minutes before the opening, Colin Thompson stepped into the breach.  He was a local amateur actor and in the circumstances obliged to read the part. He made great efforts to ‘ensure the continuity of the play remaining unbroken’.

“The production was bright and breezy throughout...well in keeping with the Farrar Street tradition.’
Other plays produced by the Players by the seemingly prolific Eleanor Reynolds, fast becoming a Players  tradition, are

The Sealed Envelope                                      ‘Packed audiences enjoy The Sealed Envelope’
The Chinese Riddle                                        ‘Barnsley Church production
Pearls in Pawn                                                ‘Farrar Street Players comedy’
Mint Sauce                                                       Farrer Street comedy production’
Intrigue at Harmony Court                            ‘Farrar Street Players successful show’


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