Quality stufffrom new company

Coming t o centre near you is newly-formed 9 Degrees East – a Bridlington-based pro-am theatre company.
Mel Jones, Pamela Dalley, William Stamforth-Sharpe, Richard StylesMel Jones, Pamela Dalley, William Stamforth-Sharpe, Richard Styles
Mel Jones, Pamela Dalley, William Stamforth-Sharpe, Richard Styles

The members’ mission is to take performances to communities in the East Riding which do not have easy access to theatre.

The double bill of comedy is quality stuff. It opens with the spoof mystery Sherlock Holmes and the Missing Link written by and starring company member Mel Jones.

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The tongue-in-cheek mystery spoof sees Holmes’ side-kick Watson as the man with the brains and Holmes as the bumbling buffoon.

The mystery comes in the form of a skeleton in a box and a man who turns up claiming to have dug it up.

Who it was and how it died are two of the questions posed in what amounts to a shaggy dog story – with some nice ‘business’ which was well-acted by Mel, Roy Mitchell as Holmes, Julie Taylor as Mrs Hudson and William Stanforth-Sharpe.

Second on the bill Last Panto in Little ... was an hilarious conclusion to the evening.

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This is a tale about an amateur company trying to put bums on seats with a sex-up pantomime.

Julie Taylor gets to show the audience her versatility – switching from Mrs Hudson to the put-upon company secretary – as does Stanforth-Sharpe. He plays the straightman in Sherlock and the dim odd-job man in the panto. Dale Ibbetson, who features in the Scarborough Spa pantos, is the egotistical director and Pamela Dalley, who directs both plays, as the snooty leading lady.

If it can go wrong, it does and the play builds nicely to a hysterical and hilarious final curtain.

At Hunmanby the seats were arranged cabaret style – which added to the relaxed, enjoyable evening.

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