7.10.05

Sir Henry at Steyning


Sir Henry at Steyning, originally uploaded by fred pipes.

Sir Henry at Rawlinson End by Vivian Stanshall adapted by Nick Linfield, performed by The Orion Players at Steyning Grammar School. What an excellent night out! Paul Cemmick drove and we found it thanks to Google maps, which oddly enough didn't show the school (it doesn't show railway stations either!). After we'd worked out the system of beer tickets, met Robert Rankin, the noted author, and secured seats on the front row. Great fun: Sir Henry was just right (once he'd found the corrrect moustache) and the song and dance routines were wonderful (loved Reg Smeeton's guitar solo to a Nice and Tidy song). Lots of ukulele action, and a good smattering of Bonzo songs to sing along to including 'Hunting Tigers out in INDIAH', 'Sport (The Odd Boy)', 'Look out, there's a monster coming', 'My *partner* makes the noises for the talkies' (by Nice and Tidy), 'I'm Going To Bring A Watermelon To My Girl Tonight'... along with Viv favourites like '*Scrotum* keeps his clips on'! I don't know the Sir Henry scripts verbatim, but recognised many great lines from the radio series and film, tho strangely the one about 'If I had all the money I spent on alcohol, I'd spend it on alcohol' wasn't included (someone's going to tell me now it wasn't even in Sir Henry!). A fine tribute to the ginger English genius. Edinburgh next year? I hope so - go and see it tonight or tomorrow! More photos on Flickr - they're a bit static cos the moving ones were all blurred cos of low light!

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