The Passing Out Parade (1989)
by Anne Valery
Directed by Keefe Browning
Performances: Sun 5th – Sat 11th February 1989, Bell Theatre
Contents
Introduction
"Well Hitler will shiver in his shoes when glimpses this little shower"
So says Sergeant Joyce 'blood-and-guts' Pickering on a cold February morning of her intake of Auxiliary Territorial Service recruits.
Seven girls that are a raw, ill-assorted bunch of 'anguished amateurs' - as hopeless a group that it has ever been her misfortune to transform into rigorous regimental reality.
With a barrack room setting and a soundtrack of music and songs from the period, the Bell Theatre relives those dark days of 1944 to follow comedy, drama and in one case eventual tragedy, as the girls of B Company A.T.S. come to grips with the Great British military machine, or as Private Basher Beasley puts it, "Hitler isn't in the mountain chateau Berchtesgarden ... he's cooking in the canteen!"
The action takes place in Pontefract, Yorkshire; in an A.T.S. barrack room and on the parade ground. Time: Early 1944.
Cast
- Private Diana Smith-Jenkins - Vanessa Kelsey
- Private Anne Howard - Michelle Watkins
- Private Sally Stokes - Tracey Elroy
- Private Maureen Crab - Michaela Higgins
- Private Val Davis - Debby Kane
- Private 'Basher' Beasley - Sara Parkes
- Private Lil - Maggie Cearns
- Sergeant Joyce Pickering - Linda White
- Corporal Betty Segraves - Alva Semple
- Corporal Broomsgrove, The C.O. & a NAAFI Girl - Jeanette Hoile
- Voices - Brian Fretwell, Chas Croker & Helen Morris
- 'Sally' sung by Alva Semple
Crew
- Stage Manager - Colin Starkey
- Deputy Stage Manager - John Kidd
- Assistant Stage Managers - Helen Morris, Julie Thompson, Lee Proctor & Gerard Keogh
- Lighting - R.J.H. Wood
- Sound Recording - Brian Fretwell
- Sound Operation - Paul O'Connor
- P.A. - David Hickman
- Designer - Alan Buckman
- Set Construction - Alan Buckman, Sara Parkes, Michael Corbett
- Rigger - Bernie Bullbrook
- Technical Advisors - Ex Company Sergeant Major Victor Browning & Geoffrey Lawrence
- Special Thanks to - Malcolm Flint, Cheryl Webb, Alan Buckman, Val Williams, Lorraine Spenceley, Eva O'Rourke, Colin Starkey, Anne Curtis, Major Watson of Wellington Baracks & Greta Reikes Theatrical Costumes
- Box Office Manager - Irene Winbourne
Reviews
Some review quotes go here
Gallery
Reminiscences and Anecdotes
Anne Valery came to see our production of this play.
See Also
Have there been other SLTC/SLT productions of this play? Link to them here.
Or add anything that is related within this site. The author's page for instance or other plays with a similar theme.
References
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