Frome Drama Club’s Frome Festival production this year is ‘The Regina Monologues.’
Migs Jacques from the club said, “The first response the club had was from a keen-eyed member suggesting that perhaps we’d misspelled the ‘Regina’ part.
But no, indeed, their choice for this year’s festival is a feast of monologues by six characters based on the events as history has recorded them, of the six wives of Henry the Eighth, dragged humorously and poignantly into the twenty-first century by two talented writers, Rebecca Russell and Jenny Wafer.
“As the club has such a strong female membership an all-female play which combines witty wordplay with an unseen male persona around whom they all revolve and whose behaviour, it could be said, bears uncanny similarities to a certain recently elected world leader, was too difficult to resist.”
The play is being directed by Keely Beresford who has not only performed in many FDC productions over the years but also spends part of her working life playing the role of Isabel Graham in BBC Radio 4’s long-running drama series “Home Front”.
Keely says, “I am very excited by the enthusiasm and talent of the cast and rehearsals are proving immensely entertaining. The ‘Reginas’ audience will have a fantastic evening of laughter, tears and some insight into the workings of the female mind!
“You will get to know Cathy (Sue Ross), Annie (Jude Claybourne), Jane (Tina Gaisford-Waller), Anna (Tina Scudder), Katie (Bethany Heath) and Katherine (Juanita Chedzoy) very well by the end of the evening and live through their highs and lows with them.”
The Silk Mill is an arts hub in the centre of town and will provide an atmospheric backdrop to the stories the wives will be revealing on Monday 10th, Tuesday 11th and Wednesday 12th July at 7.45 pm.
The production does contain some bad language and references of a sexual nature so it is recommended as suitable for 16 years upwards. Tickets, £8, can be bought from the Festival box office 01373 455420 or online at www.fromefestival.co.uk. There may also be some available at the door on the night.
