From the Director
I’m delighted that we’re able to present the world première of A Fête
Worse than Death – or to be precise, the joint world première, as it’s
being perfomed in Stratford-upon-Avon at exactly the same time as
in Huntingdon. Not by the Royal Shakespeare Company,
unfortunately (not yet, at any rate), but by the Avonside Players.
We can claim full honours for launching Port Out, Starboard Home!
though, another delightful comedy by Richard James that we
performed in July 2010, with many of the same cast.
A Fête Worse than Death pokes gentle fun at some of the
obsessions of our time – the cult of celebrity, the enduring appeal of
detective stories – and at that constant of village life, the fête where
all’s fair in love, war and the Biggest Marrow competition.
Our links with Richard James – a Godmanchester lad – go back to
his appearance in our 1988 production of Any Number Can Die.
Soon afterwards he left for the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School,
graduating in 1992. A couple of years ago he and Dean Laccohee
performed two of Richard’s one-act plays, Vision Impaired and I Am
Hamlet, in the Commemoration Hall.
Richard has appeared many times on television and in films, and
later this year we’ll be able to see him in the new film of Great
Expectations, alongside Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter.
As always, a lot of people have worked very hard to put on this
production: not just the cast, but many others behind the scenes,
and I’m very grateful to them all. In particular, my thanks to John
Morgan, who has not only taken on many of the chores that fall to
the producer, but has also organised the front-of-house fête that I
hope you’ve been enjoying. He also created the Nerve Tester.
I hope you enjoy our production of A Fête Worse than Death. Thank
you for your support for Huntingdon Drama Club.