Community Strength Lies in Teamwork

The Whitefield Players present Passport to the World: Horfield URC, Bristol.

Community theatre, in the true sense, can take many forms. Sometimes it’s a lavish presentation of a well-known work involving hundreds of people. On other occasions, like this one, it has been put together club members hoping to make the best use of the talent around them.

As the show’s title suggests, we were taken on a world cruise in words and music in a show written, produced and directed by Tracy Rogers and Tim Scaplehorn. This format gave musical director Loretta Hedges a chance to raid many famous shows and films, as well as mixing modern numbers with the old George Formby favourite Mr Wu.

Most of the 29 people on stage has a chance at one time or another to step into the spotlight in either one of the musical selections or the original comedy sketches.

There were several good solo inputs but the real strength lay in the teamwork. The Miss Saigon sequence, which ended in an attempt to reproduce the spectacular helicopter landing, involved all backstage teams as much as those on stage.

When given the opportunity the audience also readily became part of the team. As son as they were invited to they joined in American Pie with relish, helping to bring this True Brit Community Theatre to a rousing conclusion.