A Great Evening at the French Cafe

On Friday and Saturday evenings, the Community Centre successfully transformed itself into the Café Rene for two sell out performances of 'Allo 'Allo by the Kingsley Players. Never before have so many striped jumpers been seen in one place and who would have thought that Tarvin had so many berets available at short notice!

It is amazing how much the wonderful TV show has buried itself into the British subconscious and how many of the catch phrases have remained popular. The show, a spoof on the earlier drama series Secret Army, premiered in December 1982 and finished after 9 series and 89 episodes in 1992. Yet the phrase 'Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once' is still remembered, and for many people, their knowledge of German painting may well be limited to that of the 'Madonna with the Big Boobies'!

The Kingsley Players use this familiarity to great effect, not only bringing the well-known characters to life, but encouraging the audience to participate. Both audiences responded with enthusiasm, and 4 gentlemen will remember the evenings for their wonderfully realistic performances as disguised British Airmen!

Behind the success of the evenings was a great deal of hard work by the Committee, who were helped by many friends and relatives, to create the atmosphere of a war time French cafe. Not only did work go into the creative and catering side of things but also into the clearing up, it is amazing just how many dirty glasses remained at the end!

Alan Wilkinson, Chairman of the Community Centre Committee thanked all who had made the evening such a success 'It was great to see so many people having such a good time. This is what the Community Centre is all about and it makes all the hard work worthwhile.'

For those of you keen to see more of the work of The Kingsley Players go to their website www.kingsleyplayers.co.uk Their next performance is a murder mystery 'And Evermore Shall Be So' on March 12-15th followed by the Tom Stoppard farce 'On the Razzle' on May 14-17th.

The photograph shows the assembled cast of the TV version of Allo Allo. Ed.