The Hospital Players have been working on their latest production, which will open 17th January 2023, ‘Waiting For God’. This will mark their 80th anniversary year. The director, Jake West, is really impressed with how the play is shaping up, and how much the cast have developed their characters.
Audience members may be disappointed that Jake is not performing in ‘Waiting for God’ but there is just as much of a director’s personality in a production as there is of the actors who are actually on the stage. As well as casting the actors and directing them in portraying their characters, directing for The Hospital Players also involves recruiting the back stage crew, overseeing set building, publicity etc for everything to fit together. Jake is enjoying directing again after a seven year break.
Once again Jake is performing in the professional pantomime at the Baths Hall, playing Baron Hardup in Cinderella, and Mick Metcalfe has kindly offered to oversee the directing in Jake’s absence.
As soon as Jake started reading ‘Waiting for God’ he knew it was a play that he just had to direct, and he felt that The Hospital Players could really do it justice. He feels that it is a special play to open the group’s 80th anniversary year.
‘The play centres on Diana and Tom, two residents of Bayview Retirement Home who are determined to grow old disgracefully despite the best efforts of their relatives and the staff,’ Jake says.
‘It is an incredibly funny play with some absolute belly laughs – never mind laugh a minute, it’s laugh a second in places! We are still laughing at rehearsals and we know what is coming next – well, most of the time…! It’s the perfect antidote for the post-Christmas blues. However, there are some really touching moments as well.’
‘The play demonstrates that older people have so much to offer society and shouldn’t just be consigned to the scrapheap. And that they are just as capable as younger people of having fun and being rebellious!’
‘Waiting for God’ is based on the 1990s sitcom of the same name, which starred Stephanie Cole and Graham Crowden. Melanie Mason and Graham Wells play Diana and Tom in The Hospital Players’ production, and Jake is thrilled with their interpretations of the characters. He says you don’t have to have seen the series to enjoy the play.
‘If you were a fan of the TV series then I promise you the writing in the play is every bit as sharp and witty – and brought bang up to date to reflect modern life. But if you haven’t seen the series, you can definitely enjoy the play in its own right. The characters and the setting are quickly introduced and it’s straight into the comedy.’
Directing ‘Waiting for God’ has given Jake to opportunity to assemble a large cast and he has relished being able to give a large number of people to chance to appear onstage.
‘One of the things I love about The Hospital Players – and I think one of our strengths – is the fact that our membership spans ages, experience and backgrounds. ‘Waiting for God’ has a cast of 11 diverse characters so it has given me the opportunity to cast Macy Parker and Linda Geraghty in their first roles for the group.’
‘Adam Fisher is playing his first credited role after a brief but hilarious cameo as a corpse in our last show. It’s great to be able to cast Adam as his grandad was David Elford who was a much-loved member of The Hospital Players for more than 50 years, so it’s a lovely link to our past in our 80th year.’
‘Adam Brown and Mick Metcalfe are making welcome returns to the stage after 4 years away. The rest of the cast – Melanie, Graham, Tanya Read, Chloe Harvey, Ciaran Wilkinson and Andy Pontin – will all be familiar faces from our more recent shows and it’s a pleasure to welcome them back so soon!’
‘Some of our characters might be Waiting for God, but you’ll definitely not be waiting for laughs if you come to see this show. It’s not to be missed!’
Tickets are on sale now!
Special offer of 2 tickets for £15.75 on their website https://www.thehospitalplayers.co.uk/
Performing- Tuesday 17th to Saturday 21st January 2023 at the Plowright Theatre, Laneham Street, Scunthorpe, Dn15 6JP
Scunthorpe Nights 