Meysey Players' give a polished performance (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Meysey Players' give a polished performance

THE Meysey Players' production of Shakespeare's comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, in the charming gardens of the Manor House, Ampney St Mary, demonstrated once again that director Roger Jenkins has lost none of the skills which once wowed audiences of television series such as Onedin Line and Poldark in the heady days long before reality TV.

It was a master stroke to dress the actors in colourful Tex-Mex costumes which really stood out in the garden setting and the villains' black attire was reminiscent of the baddies in cowboy films - and made them much easier to keep track of.

Add to this Richard Cleghorn-Brown's very appropriate Mexican/cowboy music and Mexican Much Ado was a cracking success.

It got off to a grand start as the 'cavalry' galloped through the adjacent field on ten horses lent for the occasion and ridden by their owners and went from strength to strength.

The husband and wife duo of Andrew and Tara Pritchard played Beatrice and Benedick with strength, sarcasm and sympathy and Emily Jenkins, in the not easy-to-play part of Hero showed that she has inherited her father's theatrical skills.

No Meysey Players production would be complete without Dominic Valentine who absolutely made the most of Constable Dogberry, Shakespeare's Mrs Malaprop, and Mark Woodall's Don John was suitably menacing.

But all the members of the cast, including the very young, played their parts with great veuve and purpose. It was a polished production not often seen in amateur companies and the minimal scenery and imaginative costumes added the finishing touches.

We look forward to next year's Meysey Players production.