One of the firm highlights of the Barn’s calendar, the Directors Evening seemed even more popular this year than ever and the gorgeously warm weather had brought out the great and the good. And Paul Russell. The bar was packed and members were seen rushing to get seats well before the 15-minute warning announcement was made. I even spied a few well-prepared people laying out items of clothing – or it might have been towels – on their preferred seats as early as 6.30pm. The earlier start time had, however, taken others by surprise and so by kick-off there was an unseemly jostling for vantage points at the auditorium door. In an uncharacteristic display of selflessness, one normally curmudgeonly director was seen to give up his seat for the elder statesman John Davies.

As proceedings began, our artistic director, Clive Weatherley, was looking suitably (and rightly) smug with his smorgasbord of plays for the new season. Clearly revelling in his role, it will take more than a collapsing chair to unseat him from his position on Council. As the directors dutifully filed on in date order, the unseasonably warm evening allowed me to play my own game, ‘Breeks or No-Breeks’. How many of the male directors would opt for shorts and how many, trousers? Either way, they were upstaged by an array of summery frocks from the ladies.

No sooner had we been herded into the auditorium and been moo-ved by Clive’s impassioned plea for world peace, Jon Brown opened the evening with a liberal sprinkling of cheap bovine gags – I’m above this – as he outlined the premise for the opening play of the season. A witty and heartfelt look at a family falling apart and pulling together when life doesn’t turn out quite the way they imagined, The Herd by Rory Kinnear promises to be a cracking amuse-bouche.

Then, in a scene which could have been drawn from A Bunch of Amateurs, Adam Long and Allan Plenderleith, both with combined film, TV and radio credits as deep as Keith Thompson’s anecdote collection, brought to our little old Barn their entertaining vision of a crazed version of Shakespeare’s comedy slated for October, Midsummer Night’s Scream. Pitched as Stranger Things meets Scooby-Doo meets Blair Witch and with promises of buckets of green gore – not seen since the Shakespeare in Love after-show party – and plenty of roles for 20-30-somethings, the directors’ mystery machine is bound to attract huge interest.

The first Studio play in October is in fact… err, 12. Reigning himself in from his usual OTT stage performances, Danny Swanson outlined the inaugural and innovative Short & Sweet festival featuring a dozen new plays by local talent where new authors will see their work premiered alongside some award-winning professional writers. With a mini rep company of roughly eight actors working with two directors, this has the hallmarks of an incredibly exciting and entertaining addition to the Barn calendar.

Captain Spiros Thompson, fresh from his Greek island-hopping, gave us another accomplished and engaging off-the-cuff speech as he promoted his play for November, The Children’s Hour. Though, reminding Celia Roberts of the passing of years might have been a slight misjudgement on his part, however unintentional. This play, by the often overlooked Lillian Hellman, depicts a false accusation of lesbianism by a schoolgirl against two of her teachers. That this play was written and performed in the early 30s with this subject matter is all the more remarkable. With parts for 14 women no less, Steve will be tapping into the very rich seam of female actors with which the Barn is endowed.

In the absence of Hannah Sayer – probably still traumatised from her Calendar Girls appearance a few years ago – Clive gave an impassioned talk on the Dickens / Conan Doyle mash-up that is A Sherlock Carol. Holmes – troubled by the spectre of his nemesis Moriarty – is called upon to investigate the death of the wealthy Londoner Ebenezer Scrooge. This madcap romp will feature rightly in the December slot in the run-up to Christmas.

In a welcome last-minute replacement, The Unfriend, written by Steven Moffat, will be directed by Hannah Humbles. This unashamedly retro style sitcom will be perfect for amateur audiences and is certain to brighten up those cold January evenings. Bristling with one-liners and comic situations, there will surely be no shortage of actors looking to take on the lead role which Reece Shearsmith and Lee Mack both filled in the West End.

Dancing at Lughnasa, our play for February, was last performed on the Barn stage 30 years ago and happily many of that cast are still very active members. Coral Walton will be bringing her inimitable directorial style to this production and she spoke incredibly passionately about her love for the play, set in Ireland in the 1930s. I saw one actor approach her in the bar afterwards not once, but twice about their interest in auditioning, to be sure, to be sure.

After the interval we were treated to an unexpected gem. A short film, produced by the recently formed Tea & Biscuits acting / directing team of Lynsey Wallace, Zoë Watkins and Lou Wallace, introduced us to some Barn elders as they reminisced about our theatre and what it meant to them. It was nothing short of a delight. When dear Annie spoke of how the Barn pretty much saved her after the loss of her husband, I found I had something in my eye.  

Cooking with Elvis, the February Studio play – a darkly comedic Orton-esque offering – was introduced by the ubiquitous Swanson who read from a huge, and barely portable, computer which, from my vantage point, appeared to be balanced precariously on his belly.  Directed by Belinda Gee, this promises to be a surreal and sex centred comedy. Front row seats will not be for the faint-hearted.

John Cook purposely and purposefully sucked the air out of the evening like a Dementor swooping down on the audience with his passionate pitch for his chosen piece in March, All Our Children by Stephen Unwin. A chilling play which promises to draw our attention to a less familiar aspect of Nazi ruthlessness, the euthanasia of disabled children. No-one can accuse Clive of not having compiled a broad breadth of plays for the coming season. 

The Late Edwina Black is a murder mystery opening in late April which director Maureen Davies pitched to the assembled throng. Edwina has died, but her body is subsequently found to be riddled with arsenic. All the witnesses are quick to incriminate each other and it’s left to Inspector Martin to untangle the stories to arrive at a coherent conclusion. What a tangled web for him to un-weave.

There was a palpable sense of déjà vu when Andy Mills delivered his strong pitch for The Mercy Seat, the third and final play in the Studio, in May next year. A two-hander set in the aftermath of 9/11 (or 11/9 in our currency), two lovers have to decide whether to disappear and start a new life together or go back to their respective families. One sincerely hopes that Andy gets this off ground zero this second time around.

Concluding the main season is the intriguingly named X by Alistair McDowall. Not, as it sounds, an insightful look into the impact of social media channels, but a science fiction based potboiler. Tensions rise as pressure builds on a crew marooned in space. In his debut directorial outing, Matt Greenbank gave a detailed and pithy outline of his vision for the play which will be basically converting the stage into a scientific space research base on Pluto. Ian Bage was seen to be hastily arranging a holiday for the whole of June.

Finally in July, and for the first time in nine years – so long overdue – there will be a Youth Production on the main stage. Rob Graham walked a fine tightrope with his quips, just about staying the right side of offensiveness, as he pitched Woody Allen’s anarchic comedy, Death, in which a meek but logical salesman gets caught up in a less logical vigilante gang seeking a serial killer. It will certainly be good to see the younger Barn members finally get a crack at their own full-length stage play.

With the formalities over, the bar was once again heaving, this time with people seeking out Directors to learn more about their individual plays in a season which Ian Major rightly said was set to ‘entertain, challenge and inspire’. There is certainly a fantastic buzz about the old place at the moment with a greater age range than we’ve had for some time – witness the cast list for the forthcoming celebratory It’s a Midsummer Night’s Dream. Chatting to David Thompson, a member of 25 years or so, he said that he’d been asked by the Tea & Biscuits gang when had the Barn, for him, been at its peak and he quickly answered ‘now’. That’s a subjective opinion, of course, but with professionals and ex-professionals happily rubbing shoulders with, literally, a bunch of amateurs, and a flourishing younger crowd coming through, as I left the Barn into the balmy evening, it did feel like our theatre is indeed enjoying a purple patch.

For anyone interested, by the way, the final score was: Breeks 7, No-Breeks 3.

MA