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NEWS
TOUCHING THE PAST, a play about Nancy Astor, Britain’s first female MP
STORM feature film based on the SAS’s secret war in Oman is in pre-production with director R. Paul Wilson
NIGHT, a new play, opens at The Old Library, Bodmin December 2019
ALL AT SEA, feature film comedy, was released in September 2019
  • The Surrey Advertiser, February 24 1989
    An awful ring of truth to this play
    • ANYONE who has ever belonged to a tennis club will have no difficulty relating to the unnervingly familiar setting of Hugh Janes' latest play Love All.
      The British premiere has just opened at the Thorndike Theatre in Leatherhead, where it runs until Saturday, March 11.
      Typically, the bulk of the action at Sandcombe Park Tennis Club takes place off-court.as Janes' forthright script cynically and hilariously explores the trivial power struggles and interrelationships of a small, ageing, incestuous clique at the hub of the organisation.
      Although the distinguished cast is headed by the inimitable Rodney Bewes, who plays yet another weak-minded and pathetically naive individual, Reg Barrymore, the play is dominated by the overbearing and meticulous club secretary Kay Siddle (Jennifer Piercey).
      Kay's ill-fated attempts to organize respectably the club's 75 anniversary celebrations, combined with Reg's unwanted midlife crisis, plus the annual upsurge in interest in the game during Wimbledon fortnight, produce a farcical parody of middle-class suburban social life.
      In the heady atmosphere, laced with more than a dash of Pimms, this comic tale embroils not only their respective spouses: the dry-humoured Edward (Ben Aris) and the quietly-frustrated Nikki (Rosalind Ayres). Also included are the enthusiastic Barbara (Terry Neason), resembling a creation straight from the canvasses of Beryl Cook, and club champion Brian, played with consummate arrogance by Jeremy Gittins.
      Alison Böckh's wood-panelled, whitewashed clubhouse set adds further conviction to this alarmingly realistic production, which, although it etches no deep theatrical memories, keeps the audience amused throughout. even if much of the laughter is generated by a reawakening of their own memories of similar experiences.
      But then that, surely, is the aim of this hugely enjoyable satirical show.
      Michael Jones


  • Woking News & Mail, March 2 1989
    Comedy of manners inside dramatic comedy of tennis
    • LEATHERHEAD'S Thorndike Theatre is currently presenting the Premiere of Hugh Janes' Love All.
      Mr. Janes has done for tennis what Richard Harris did for club cricket with that fine comedy Outside Edge.
      There the comparison ends. In Love All, while the humour is on a similar plane, the characters are more strongly drawn.
      This production provides an absorbing evening's entertainment and, without detracting from the playwright's expertise, much of the credit for its excellence must be given to the immaculate direction of Roger Clissold.
      The demands that Mr. Clissold makes upon has cast are well responded to and, when the cast is of the standard of this production, one realized that it cannot fail.
      The whole play is so integrated that one forgets that what one is seeing is taking place on the stage.
      The setting is the Sandecombe Park Tennis club which has not only to contend with the annual championships but also the preparations for the celebration of the club's 75th Annivesary.
      Most of us have undergone the intrigues that constantly occur in sports clubs and other like establishments and Hugh Janes exploits these foibles to the full.
      Firstly there are the husband and wife, the backbone of the club, who have held the mixed double championship for years beyond recall and think that they can and should run the club. Ben Aris and Jennifer Piercey portray these parts to perfection if not altogether to the liking of their clubmates.
      Reg Barrymore (Rodney Bewes) so keen to shine at the game but rather a rabbit and conscious that not only is he not in the first flush of youth but also frightened that he may be entering the dreaded male menopause. His nervous reaction to the events encompassing him, are most illuminating and deserving of one's sympathy.
      He is supported in his dilemma by his doting wife (Rosalind Ayres) who inadvertently adds to the turmoil in his mind.
      The catalyst of the whole situation is Brian Sanderson, a part tailor-made for Jeremy Gittins. Brash, an excellent tennis player who gives short shrift to lesser mortals. In addition he considers himself to be God's gift to the opposite sex. How well he stirs up the near chaos that is descending upon the Sandecombe Park Tennis Club.
      The other members of the cast all add to the overall hilarity and ensure the success of the evening.
      Love All continues until March 11 by which time score must have at least reached "deuce."
      Michael Hills.
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