Betty Blue Eyes
25th -30th April 2022
Director: Claire Carr
Musical Director: Susannah Edom
Based on the film “A Private Function”, the story by Alan Bennett is set in Shepardsford, Yorkshire in 1947.
The war is over but, like the rest of the country, it still bears the scars of recent war. Belts are tightened and citizens are told by the Government that there will be a ‘fair share for all’ in return for surviving Austerity Britain. The only bright spark of hope on the horizon is the impending marriage of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip.
We follow the lives of Gilbert & Joyce Chilvers, a Chiropodist and his not to be reckoned with wife. Gilbert inadvertently stumbles across a pig named Betty, who is being illegally reared to ensure the local dignitaries can celebrate the Royal Wedding with a lavish banquet. It leads to a kidnapping of the pig, whilst the sinister Mr Wormold – the Ministry of Food Inspector – tracks Betty down.
This was probably been our most challenging show in the past 20 years to bring to the stage. Casting the show took several weeks longer than normal as the show has a larger number of male parts than we normally cast and we welcome all our new WAOS members to the family. Whilst we were able to book and hold ‘in-person’ rehearsals as many Covid restrictions were lifted, Covid never-the-less took a massive toll on pretty much all cast, Director, MD and Assistant Director throughout the rehearsal period.The Rehearsal schedule had to be changed almost every week to factor in who was available at the time. Both Director and MD had other events re-scheduled due to Covid, which meant a massive load was placed on Emma, our assistant Director to cover - and many thanks to David Mitchell, Phil Toms and others who stepped in as rehearsal accompanists to keep the music flowing.
The props on this show were quite specialist and numerous and have been supplied through many sources. Special thanks go to the Mercury Theatre for Betty the Pig and CAODS for helping fill the gaps.
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