Castle Players revisit the 'bad old days' for a stellar production

Review – by Trevor Brookes, editor

IF history’s your thing, you’ll find it difficult to see a better community production than Victorian Values by The Castle Players.
It mixes good-old fashioned theatrical entertainment and sing-alongs with genuinely moving scenes and thought-provoking 19th century social history. Often it’s a dark experience but it never goes too far. Added to the recipe for success is a political statement.
When the play’s director, Laurence Sach, wrote Victorian Values it was when John Major was going “back to basics”, a period in the 1990s when people harked to a golden era of industry, enterprise and stiff upper lip from the time Britain was great.
But of course, as Mr Sach’s play points out, the Victorians were the biggest hypocrites of the lot. The “workshop of the world” was rife with social injustice and political discontent. If you were unlucky enough to be poor, it was a rotten life.
The cast of eight set about their task of with verve and vigour when they performed the play at Gilling West on Friday night.
Ben Pearson is at the heart of this production. From helping tell the tale of the trade in “virgins who are made to lose their character” to playing the last moments of murderer Sam Hall who “bashed a man on the head with a great big lump of lead”, he excels.
It’s this act that leaves the biggest lump in the throat; a felon addressing the crowd who went to watch his death at a public hanging. He sings the original English folk song, which sits alongside other music hall ditties such as Have You Paid The Rent.
From the mines to country paupers, the story is weaved together by the narrator Ian Kirkbride, whose north country folk twang is perfect for the job when he employs it.
Trudi Dixon deserves a mention for her temperance scene as she extols the evils of drink, only to be matched by the ever expressive Andy Moorhouse who couldn’t think of anything worse than not having a beer. Sue Bryne “work, work, works” in a sweatshop, dreaming of just one hour in the open air, and young Ethan Rawlins’ humorous take on the rural idyll is laugh-out loud stuff.
Queen Victoria (Sarah Fells) lords it over the lot of them with regal style and Martin Foran is the bobby keeping the peace – the role like all the others is handled smoothly.
The talented Chris Best and Andy Moorhouse combine for another memorable scene as a man mourns his wife who died for the want of bread.
The production team made it all happen, but ultimately the plaudits should go to the director who dreamt it all up.
In a time before the internet, Mr Sach wrote the script with trips to museums and libraries – and the end result is probably all the better for it.
Victorian Values remained unperformed until a few years ago when he directed a pared down version with students from Middlesbrough College.
“I thought at the time that this would be a great community production. I suggested it to the Castle Players and they went with it,” he says.
Victorian Values is delivered with a strong script and a well rehearsed team. Even a brief powercut couldn’t stop them at Gilling West. It’s a shame a few more weren’t there to see the show, but it was a different story when on its first night at The Witham, fittingly in what was the old Victorian music hall. If you get a chance, I’d urge you to catch this touring production.
There are some who would have called for a little more humour but that’s only a minor criticism for me.
Victorian Values is being staged on the following dates: Friday, January 27, St Mary’s Parish Hall, Barnard Castle 7.30pm; Saturday, January 28, Dalton and Gayles Village Hall, 7.30pm; Saturday, February 4, Scarth Hall, Staindrop, 7.30pm; Sunday, February 5, Romaldkirk Reading Rooms, 3pm. Please contact the venues to book tickets.