How's the World Treating You? (1976)
by Roger Milner
Produced by Leslie Lidyard
Performances: Sun 5th – Sat 11th December 1976, Main Stage
Contents
Introduction
The action of the play covers twenty years in the life of Frank More, and takes place in England.
- ACT I A transit camp in the North of England. 1946.
- ACT II The home of Mr and Mrs Cross. Ten years later.
- ACT III The Scace's living-room. Ten years later.
Cast
- Frank More - Brian Scoltock
- Deirdre - Angela McNamee
- Colonel/Mr Cross/Mr Scace - John Lyne
- Violet/Nell/Mrs Scace - Pam Lyne
- Mike Holden/Geoff Horton/Jack Robinson - Mike Mattey
- Miss Clark/Stephanie/Miss Clegg - Jill Cowley
Crew
- Stage Manager - John Kennedy
- Assistant Stage Managers - John Kidd, Justin Llewellyn
- Sound Recording - Gordon Scott
- Sound Operator - Dillon
- Lighting Design - George Battrick
- Lighting Operators - George Battrick, Tony Rapson
- Properties - Valerie White, Sheila Rees
- Prompt - Margaret Clifton
- Wardrobe Mistress - Sue Norman
- Set Designed & Constructed by - Charles Cheetham
- Assisted by - Ray Seaton
- Production Assistant - Olwen Sheppard
Reviews
'......made this kind of anarchic comedy almost commonplace, but its ancestry stretches back thousands of years. Most of us have not lived that long, but we all remember the Goons. Think of them now. The play covers twenty years in the life of one Frank More. The last twenty, as a matter of fact, because he is farcically killed by a projectile from a washing-machine of his own design. The first act shows Frank as a junior army officer losing his trousers and several hundred men between King's Cross and Darlington; the second as a history master on the edge of matrimony to a nymphet pupil; and the third as a washing-machine salesman and failed suicide. Cold weather and a consequent thin opening house were hardly propitious omens, and the production was not quite in step on Sunday. It is hard to put one's finger on the reasons, since the cast of six (four playing treble roles as the text stipulates) gave a number of individually funny portrayals. It was like twiddling the tuning knob on a radio to an interesting programme and then drifting slightly off-centre just when you've found the station. I still enjoyed the evening greatly, and only wish I could see the production again on the last night. Brian Scoltock as Frank always has a metaphorical banana skin nearby, knows it, but is always poised to land on the offending article. Angela McNamee progresses bravely from the ardour of 16 to the disillusionment of 26 in a performance of high promise. John and Pam Lyne play three very contrasting married couples with great agility and a fine range of voices. Mike Mattey is at his best in his first role as an army captain, while Jill Cowley excels in her last as the girl in the near-Dickensian Scace's Suicide Sanctuary.' Donald Madgwick - (Croydon Advertiser).
Gallery
Reminiscences and Anecdotes
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See Also
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References
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External Links
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