Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
A collection of short five to 10-minute plays with a humorous and, on more than one occasion, a thought-provoking twist, gave an opportunity for some new faces to flex their dramatic muscles alongside more seasoned thespians.
Thursday evening’s opening show was staged in the Brit Club’s Windsor Room in a more informal setting than usual with club members tucking into a specially-devised dinner menu which I would have happily sampled had the highway’s heavy traffic allowed me to reach the venue on time.
Instead I just managed to catch the start of the second of 10 performances and it was well worth the highway angst with the smile on my face soon returning, aided by some hilarious one-liners provided by the team of MCs (example: I told the doctor I had wind … he gave me a kite).
The plays are from a compilation of the winners and runners-up from a competition that runs in UK hostelries - hence the name, pint-sized plays!
And, of course, the Manana Theatre Club duly added some local references such as Saar and Amwaj to the material on offer.
Mr Robertson’s Blood Test had its local bites too with Lou Treleaven, performed by Mike Eddison, really getting his teeth into the role, Stephanie Sutton, whose howls at the end had the hairs on the back of my neck tingling, and Gaurav Soni, who sounded just like my doctor at the American Mission Hospital. Directed by Mike Jackson, the cast seem to enjoy the performance as much as the audience, much appreciated I’m sure by the Brit Club attendees over two nights and cultural connoisseurs attending Friday’s session at the Dilmun Club
Brought to Book, also by Treleaven, had more twists and turns that an epic thriller, and brought a stand out performance from young actress Shruti Ramesh, fresh from her triumph at the recent MASK production of You’re a Good man, Charlie Brown.
The amusing Knight Intruder by Dorothy Lambert, performed by Carrie Bell, Mike Jackson and Seleh Al Derazi and directed by Mike Eddison was just as memorable and the clever Vent by Gavin Harrison, performed to perfection by Hannah Turner, Saleh Al Derazi (poor man had to learn two sets of lines!) and Chris Dociolla, and directed by Anne Kooheji, was a notable way to round off a great night of entertainment.
