Treading the boards

How it all began

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I began performing at school.  Aged 14, I took the part of Bruce in Benjamin Britten's Let's Make an Opera which concluded with a one-act piece called The Little Sweep.  If you couldn't guess, I'm the 'boy' sitting on the arm of the settee on the left! At 16, I played Autolycus the rogue in the school's dance-drama version of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.  The subject matter was considered too adult for young gels, so the first half was performed in dance and mime.

It was a long time before I was back on stage, but for two years, I was an active member of the Lobatse Amateur Dramatic Society in Botswana.  This picture shows me in 1975 as a rather glamorous Catherine Sloper in the play, The Heiress, based on Washington Square, a short novel by Henry James. In the subsequent Music Hall, I got the Marie Lloyd character and almost ruined my voice bawling out, My Old Man, said Follow the Van!

Getting involved

Shortly after I arrived in Oman at the end of 1991, I joined Dramarama, a company which presented theatre for children.  Within the first year, I had played old Annie in The Troll's Revenge, Judy in Punch and Judy (repeated in 1996), and sung as Ceres (shown here) in a children's version of Shakespeare's The Tempest performed at the Oman Auditorium.

From 1996, I became an active member of Muscat Amateur Theatre, a semi-professional group which presents two productions a year at dinner theatre in the Muscat Intercontinental Hotel.  It has been a privilege to work with some very talented and committed people, both on and backstage, and especially with Judith Razek who founded MAT in 1981. She was awarded an MBE for her services to arts in Muscat in the New Year's honours' list in 2000.

These pictures are from the plays in which I acted with MAT.  

One o'clock from the house - November 1996

	As Maureen, in One o'clock from the house, a tale of a Welsh funeral, except that we set it in a north English town. Very pregnant with umpteen kids and hitched to a worthless drunkard.
	Maureen with her sisters discussing the forthcoming funeral of their father. Maureen would have hosted the funeral but her house is being repaired with the help of a local authority grant.  Of the three sisters, she's the only one with some genuine feeling for her father.
	A very strange family gathering at the funeral - the couple permanently in wellie boots and a cousin who thinks his shopping trolley is his dog.  Needless to say, Maureen goes into labour at the end of the funeral and the play.

On the Razzle, by Tom Stoppard - February 1997

	As the wealthy Fraulein Blumenblatt with lingering romantic memories, and nothing else, of a chance meeting on a tram in the Bahnhofstrasse.  Lisette, the French maid is decidedly bored by Blumenblatt's account of the news. Two shop assistants decide to slope off to Vienna for a good time when their employer, Herr Zangler, goes there himself to seek a new wife, leaving his step-daughter Marie, a saucy lass if ever there was one, supposedly in care.
	Somehow, as a result of mistaken identity, the two accomplices find themselves in Fraulein Blumenblatt's drawing room.  Blumenblatt assumes that the figure in the hooded cape is Marie, eloping with her lover, when in fact it is the junior shop assistant. She resolves to help "Marie" achieve "her" romantic dream.
	Herr Zangler finds himself a satisfactory wife in Madame Knorr and his two employees scrape back into his business premises before he realizes anything is amiss.

School for Wives, by Moliere - November 1997 and February 1998

	As Georgette, the slatternly maidservant to Arnolphe.   He conspires to marry his young ward Agnes, before she has had the opportunity to meet other men. Arnolphe despises cuckolds and is adamant that he will not become one himself.
	Agnes has been raised as Arnolphe's ward since she was sold to him at the age of four. Despite her restricted upbringing, she resists Arnolphe's cruel efforts to lecture her on her "luck" to marry him, her duties and her unworthy station in society, in order to marry the young man with whom she has fallen in love.
	Horace tells Arnolphe of this beautiful young girl he has met and asks Arnolphe's advice on how to win her from her cruel guardian! By the end of the play, we learn that Agnes' father has become wealthy by working overseas and can bring Horace a handsome dowry.  Arnolphe remains alone.

Bang! You're Dead, by Paul O'Reake - February 1999

As the scheming executive secretary, Amelia Trim, who blackmails her bisexual boss, Theo Spink, into marrying her. Backstage with Jan, who played Theo.

Nude with Violin, by Noel Coward - May 2000

	As Pamela, the insufferably snooty and prejudiced wife of Colin, son of famous painter Paul Sorodin. At Paul Sorodin's funeral, we learn that he has never painted a picture in his life.  Here, Princess Pavlikov, architect of Sorodin's "farouche" period and his first mistress, presents a copy of the agreement she signed with Sorodin
	Cherry-May Waterton, with her companion Fabrice, declares herself as having been responsible for Sorodin's "circular" period whilst they were lovers. She wants enough money to set Fabrice up in a chicken farm.
	With Jan, who played Colin, and Judith.

Mortifyingly, MAT remembers me mostly for falling asleep backstage on the last night of Season's Greetings, when I was supposed to be the Prompt.....

Cantamus
Cantamus sang between 1995 and 1998.  The choir was notable for achieving fervent interpretation of some very beautiful Christian religious music under the direction of Phillip Stallwood.

Cantamus at its performance of Handel's Sacred Oratorio, that is, The Messiah, at Holiday Inn in December 1996

Muscat Singers

I've also sung with the Muscat Singers.   In the chorus of Pirates of Penzance (1992), as the Duchess of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers (1993), and in performances of John Rutter's Requiem (1993) and Stainer's Crucifixion (1994). Here as the Duchess of Plaza-Toro berating the day that I was married with Adrian as the Duke and Dawn as our lovelorn daughter.

Latterly, I sang with the Liturgical Choir, which specialized in performing a capella settings of the Mass and religious anthems at church services.

Cafe Life

I'm not always serious.....   Dancing with the girls!!   Mirjana Cafe in Medinat al Sultan Qaboos, Muscat, January 2000. Customers show their appreciation by buying silk garlands which the dancers hang round their necks.  The tips supplement pay. Entertainers usually come from the Lebanon but  dancers also come from Russia and eastern Europe.  One guy plays keyboards accompanied by a drummer who uses an Arabic drum rather like an Indian tabla.  Either of the two musicians will also sing.  The up-front entertainment usually consists of one female singer and one female dancer. It's a heady atmosphere, and not far different from all those black and white movies you might have seen depicting Arab nightclubs.

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