Pop Larkin ... Paul du Plessis
Ma Larkin ... June Lewis
Mariette ... Angharad Smith
Mr Charlton ... Dave Colledge
Montgomery ... Ben Marshall
Primrose ... Joanna Handley
Petunia ... Miranda Phillips
Zinnia ... Emily Barker
Victoria ... Chloe Bagley
The Brigadier ... Graham Plender
Edith Pilchester ... Patricia Turner
Tax Inspector ... Hugh Farey
Pauline Jackson... Steph Bagley
Angela Snow ... Heather Marshall
Sir George Bluff-Gore ... Pete Goodson
Lady Bluff-Gore ... Vicki Goodson
Extra Party Guests - Steph Bagley, Alison Stobart & Ann Smith
Stage Manager/Prompt - Joyce Marshall
Sound - Jim Rolt & Joe Rolt
Lighting - Hugh Farey, Georgia de Rohan & many others to numerous to list..
Props - Ann Smith
ASM - Jake Herriott
Costumes - Alison Stobart
Set Construction & Dressing - Jim Rolt, Barbara Hockley, Hugh Farey, Pete Goodson, Ben Marshall, Jake Herriott, Joyce Marshall, Ann Smith & Alison Stobart
Designer/Director - Barbara Hockley
Additional thanks to Jenny Shortland, Anne Watson & Judith Evans from the Conquest and Liz Burton from QEHS for help with costumes
Peter Frampton & Jim Rolt for photos.
Andrew Jelley for Charley's glasses
Members of the crew and cast for providing the many items lying around in the Larkin's yard and in the kitchen
Pete Goodson for plumbing services
St Richards School for the loan of furniture and rehearsal space
Richard Coghlan for giving up his fridge for a week!
Jim Rolt for doing SO much construction work
Nick Wall for the loan of the hay bales
Everyone who took the time & trouble to publicise the show with posters, leaflets & word of mouth or contributed in any other way
Front of House & Box Office Staff
The Darling Buds of May—a review of this ‘perfick’ play. . .
The Conquest production based on this popular television comedy series pressed all the right buttons. The set was superb, recreating an idyllic rural setting, with authentic 1950s furniture and costumes, and a wonderful hawthorn tree. The music was great, taking one right back to the late 1950s. Based on H.E. Bates’ short stories and novels about the large and boisterous Larkin family living in rural Kent, the ‘garden of England’, it presented an archetypal vision of rural post-war England. The cast perfectly captured the main characters. Sidney ‘Pop’ Larkin (played by Paul du Plessis), the expansive head of the family, forever mixing cocktails and scheming to strike deals with the local gentry while avoiding paying any taxes, Ma Larkin (June Lewis), indulgent and good-humoured, busy providing for her large brood, their beautiful, flirtatious daughter Mariette (Angharad Smith), and ‘Charlie’ (David Colledge) the straight-laced tax collector who is seduced by this totally different way of life, the plentiful supply of cocktails and the lovely Mariette.
A highly entertaining play, with lots of hilarious incidents as various visitors came and went, being generously plied with food and drink, not to mention Pa Larkin’s attention, and the children gathered around the television, with ice creams and crisps to keep them going until Ma Larkin produced the next meal.
A journey back to a nostalgic past, when the darling buds of May were blooming in an idyllic country paradise and all was right with the world – at least in the Larkin family!
Barbara Konig
This review appeared in the local Bromyard publication 'Off The Record', June 2006
Click any thumbnail to see a larger version
;) | ;) | ;) | ;) |
;) | ;) | ;) | ;) |
;) | ;) | ;) | ;) |
;) | ;) | ;) | ;) |
;) | ;) | ;) | ;) |
;) | ;) | ;) | ;) |
;) | ;) | ;) | ;) |
;) | ;) | ;) | ;) |
;) | ;) | ;) | ;) |
;) | ;) | ;) |
;) | ;) | ;) | ;) | ;) |