by Georgy Charles-Sipcic
Oh, I love the Farndale plays! The hilariously funny and clever scripts of David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin Jnr are about a group English ladies, who every year, put on a play at the local community theatre. There's only one small problem: they're abysmal actors. Abysmal. They can't remember their lines, they have no sense of timing, and every once in a while they just skip pages of the script. To make things worse, the bumbling stage manager is always required to step in, because one of the Farndale ladies inevitably succumbs to some sort of catastrophe...and the sound and lighting technician can never get anything right...ever!
The Farndale plays have always held a place in my heart since my first encounter of them in the ‘80s. I had just said goodbye to my very first community theatre role at Beaumaris Theatre, in a very small role at the tender age of 17...and I was hooked! The next play was ‘The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society’s Production of Murder Mystery Checkmate Manor’. Sadly, I was too young to audition, however, my Mother, Juliet Charles had landed a role and I volunteered immediately to do the sound! What a hoot! An extraordinarily talented cast of women and the first time I’d seen the comedic duo of Annie Laurenson and Jo Johnson together, brilliantly funny, with amazing comic timing!
Many years later, my first role in a Farndale was in ‘Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society’s Production of A Christmas Carol’, directed by Robyn Morris. I was very lucky to share this experience with my incredibly funny Mum and it was just as much fun as I thought it would be! So...fast forward another ‘many years later’ and imagine my delight at being a part of the current Farndale production alongside Annie Laurenson, all these years later...an amazing full-circle moment!
I do hope the audiences enjoy the ridiculous shenanigans of the current cohort of Farndale ladies, as I can assure them, we’ll be thoroughly enjoying ourselves....immensely!