A Cold Supper Behind Harrods by David Morley

Directed by Malcolm Harrington, assisted by Sheila Nye

CAST

VERA ATKINS - Mary Matson

JOHN HARRISON - Gordon Eaton

LEO MARKS - Ken Jones

CHLOE WOLFE - Zoe Ainsworth

PATRICIA - Suzie Walker

20 & 21 May 2022

This was the second play in our May 2022 double bill.

Fifty years on from WW2, three ex-members of the Special Operations Executive (S.O.E) meet again in an English country garden to re-visit the work they did and perhaps answer some intriguing questions...or maybe not. Based on true events.

Presented onstage by a trio of our more mature members, able assisted by Suzie Walker and Zoe Ainsworth. Reported by Lance Milton as being a "tour de force" in his NODA Review.

NODA Review of The Real Inspector Hound and A Cold Supper Behind Harrods - 21/5/22

It was truly wonderful to see two one act plays together, but more importantly to see the youth theatre company and the adult company working together. The two plays were 'The Real Inspector Hound' by Tom Stoppard and directed by Karen Blunden, followed by ' A Cold Supper Behind Harrods' by David Morley, Directed by Malcolm Harrington and Sheila Nye.

The adult play was a much darker affair. It' s 1997 and three Special Operations Executive agents from World War Two are giving interviews to the BBC for a documentary series. This is a play based on true events and was incredibly poignant. Mary Matson, Gordon Eaton, Ken Jones and Zoe Ainsworth (yes she was in both plays) were the main characters with Suzie Walker playing the silent Patricia who they had all come to reminisce about. Although the documentary was intended to commemorate their achievements in securing triumph for Britain over the Germans, none of them actually felt very heroic. Divergently, they all felt accountable in some way for the death of Patricia, a fellow-agent who had been tortured and executed at the hands of the Gestapo. As the drama unfolded, however, it became more and more evident that the agents' disenchantment was nothing more than a smoke-screen, intended to cover up what really happened to Patricia, and how one of the agents at least was frankly to blame for her death. None of this emerged in the television documentary - which was similarly treated as a concealment designed to obfuscate rather than divulge the truth. Again the commitment to the parts was brilliant and all of the cast were noteworthy of praise for their character portrayal. This was a well directed tour de force production and Henfield should be very proud of their acting gentry.

A thoroughly great afternoon at Henfield.

Lance Milton