Two new, linked plays by Pameli Benham written specially for Boil and Bubble Theatre Co., taking a light-hearted look at love, loss and magic, performed in Bristol and Bath in January and February 2007.
Below is a selection of audience feedback and reviews from Boil and Bubble's first production.
Both excellent ... just the right length ... looking forward to the next one!
Wonderful to see something brand new and original ... easy, natural dialogue, great direction.
Witty, thought - provoking ... very well acted.
Loved both plays! Grown up fairy stories. Full of actors' truisms! Would love 'Strawberry Time' to be adapted for film or TV.
Like a fairy tale ... Loved it! Characters were perfect and each actor created such a lovable individual. As a team they worked beautifully. Funny, thought - provoking, terrific!!
Enjoyed the links between the 2 plays and the transformation of the characters. Some clever lines too!
Liked the first play better ... Altogether a strong play, all three parts strong and well played. Strong characterisation and great to see a new company's work.
First one brilliant and beautifully acted. Second one v. interesting, but didn't quite work for me. Some lovely ideas though.
I enjoyed the plays very much. Good to see women, older ones especially, portrayed with warmth and humour and gentle wisdom.
The acting was brilliant! Great stories too. Really enjoyed the evening.
Brilliant - very enjoyable. Will definitely be back!Strange hybrid of radio 4 and grown up Enid Blyton! Very female inner world territory.
Really human, humorous and well - performed. The stories were enchanting. Thank you!
Very good and original, great ideas!
Thoroughly enjoyable and thought - provoking. Excellent performance.
Great plays. Would it work with the acts swapped? Either way, it's fab. I'd come back.
I thoroughly enjoyed the evening - 3 excellent actors in funny yet poignant plays
Entertaining and refreshing, never sure where the tale was going to go - enjoyed the relationships between the three women.
We both enjoyed both productions, but felt that the second play, Strawberry Time, just had the edge - superb acting.
Tonight's production was really good - it was great being so close to the action; I almost felt a part of it.
Both absolutely brilliant. Excellent acting. Original.
Loved them both - fantastic. Exceptionally well written and interpreted.
Both excellent. Very nicely written with plenty of ideas and surprises. Also fine acting and production made the whole thing a very enjoyable experience indeed.
Really enjoyed the 'witch' bits - I want to see their 'show'. Well written. More Boil and Bubble please. I felt drawn into their personal stories/
The audience was rapt, as indeed it should have been; we didn't want to miss a word. Serious issues, wittily realised, in plays cunningly linked and contrasted, and beautifully played. Most enjoyable/
Most enjoyable! The interwoven life stories / present experiences of the 3 women very skilfully handled. One felt for all 3 but sentimentality always avoided by a turn of action or the wit of the script ... lovely, very light touch and very involving.
The subject matter had a richness that I enjoyed and touched on subjects that I could relate to and appreciate.
I liked them both - in fact I loved the second one. I thought the performances were well conceived, well timed and paced.
Very good. Refreshingly different. Weird and wonderful. Excellent acting.
I thought the plays were terrific, and excellent acting.
Good balance of humour and pathos. Acting good. The writing drew one in because of its use of dramatic imagery - very involving. Lovely story, nicely presented.
How entertaining that old crones are given the opportunity to get out for the night - well the audience anyway!
Lighting and sound were amazing! Loved the cauldron effect and the effect of the wood.
Congratulations on a thoroughly enjoyable evening. I came with two other people (a female friend and my husband, who was, incidentally, one of very few men in the audience!), and we all had a great time. The Witching Hour was witty and amusing, with interesting characters and unexpected poignancy, and Strawberry Time very intriguing, with real theatrical magic. I loved the way the plays reached into literature and folklore. This gave them great richness. All parts in both plays were splendidly played, which added to the enjoyment. It was a well-balanced evening, with enough variety that you weren’t simply considering which play you liked best. I liked the way the plays gave powerful parts to women, but my husband’s reaction confirmed that these plays were not just “women’s stuff”! Well done everybody!
I so enjoyed my evening. Thank you
for 2 thoughtful and insightful plays. The apparently simple structures
showed great wit and breadth of understanding of issues with which women
(and men) of all ages might easily relate found them inspiring and comforting.
The acting was of a very high calibre. Congratulations to all concerned!
There were only 3 actors what could
I expect? It was brilliant, funny and moving. I enjoyed both plays. I thought
it was clever how we moved from laughter to tears. I loved the imagery of
the
second play.
Very impressed. Funny, accessible and wonderful acting. Enjoyed every minute.
Enjoyed it immensely. Liked being so close to the actors. Struck some chords in my life and experiences. Cast excellent.!
I enjoyed 'The Witching Hour', pleasant characterisations and some interesting storylines and gentle humour ... wonderful set design. Love the concept underlying 'Boil and Bubble' - look forward to more.
Very enjoyable - refreshing, funny, touching and original. Both I and my 15 year old daughter immensely entertained.
The Witching Hour / Strawberry Time - Reviews
Our Leader is constantly despatching missives from Number Ten exhorting us all to work until we are much older. New Bristol-based company Boil and Bubble has taken him at his word. Its declared aim is to explore life’s rich theatrical pattern using older writers, actors and directors, especially women, although the presence of bubbly young Rebekah Taplin in the cast demonstrates it is by no means destined to become a geriatric ghetto.
The company’s first offering is a deliberately targeted double bill, specially written by founder/director Pameli Benham and opening with a pot-pourri of some of the problems, on and off stage, of professional actors of a certain age.
The Witching Hour is based on the blasted heath scene from the Scottish Play, with an hilarious opening scene in which the three hags are transformed into Jamie Oliver, Delia Smith and Nigella Lawson giving a TV cooking masterclass. Its diverse themes range from the agonies of ageing to the wisdom of seeking the whereabouts of adopted children ....
The two wrinklies are played by Meg Whelan-Lyons and Christine West, and in the second play, Strawberry Time, they are spinster sisters who become surrogate mothers to Taplin’s runaway teenager. The message of hope is played out through a scary woodland fairytale, again demonstrating Benham’s imaginative writing skills.
Jeremy Brien, The Stage
And lo, new Bristol company Boil and Bubble emerged kicking and screaming from the Alma Tavern's womb - like space. And, on this evidence, the newborn is in decent health ... the stories when they did take off, had some real texture - especially Whelan - Lyons, allowing her to show off some first - rate stage presence, face, voice and general delivery both raddled with care and yet raging defiantly ... 'Strawberry Time' was a lighter piece ... (the) story swerves between reality and Grimm tale. When our little heroine makes a bolt for the big dark wood, some unsettling things occur, and the ending is nicely ambiguous, both wrapping up the tale and ladling on more uncertainty. The writing throughout is solid, funny enough, and lyrical at times, and there's some great use of (otherworldly) music in both pieces. A promising start - and, in Whelan - Lyons, a name to score in red into the company address book.
*** (3 stars)
Steve Wright, Venue Magazine