Parish of Leatherhead - The Second Inaugural Comedy Revue
Saturday June 10th 2006

from the August 2006 Parish Magazine
The Second Inaugural Comedy Revue It was certainly worth the wait for the Second Inaugural Leatherhead Comedy Revue, acclaimed as possibly the finest second inaugural revue and certainly the best ever second inaugural comedy event. We witnessed brilliant performances from every comedy genre; throughout every act ran a rich vein of talent topped off with even richer good humour. We had sumptuous fare too. On arrival a glass of punch livened us up for the laughs to follow. Top quality Portuguese chicken with coleslaw and fries (chips to me) came in the interval, and a wide selection of fancies followed. There was also freshly brewed coffee and a well stocked bar. You might easily have thought you'd stepped into a top West End club instead of the Parish Hall. With its darkened environment, lit by soft table lamps, and its cabaret layout it was hard to tell it from the Café Royal.

So, what about the performances? First up was a fiendishly difficult quiz hosted by Bruce Diffey, a man with so many facts at his fingertips he almost didn't need to look up the answers on the Internet. Entry to the quiz cost £1, the only skill needed was to decide whether a number was higher or lower than the answer, indicated by putting one's hands on head or hips. In this way the 125-strong audience was quickly reduced to two - the winner correctly judging the seating capacity of the Leatherhead Theatre to be above 480 (it is 500).

Next came a brilliant spoof of the popular TV show Restoration with Steve and Amanda Shaw taking the leading roles with accurate and witty impressions of the real presenters, and cameo performances from David Eaton, Mary Crudass, Peter Ford, Stephanie Segatta, Ginny Eaton and Veronica Kaye. Written and produced by Steve and Amanda, filmed by David Oliver who also provided the organ accompaniment. A dazzling hors d'oevres to the magnificent feast of comedy that was to follow.

A delightful one-woman pastiche of the station announcer delivered in a silky and seductive style by Jane Haslam came next, followed swiftly by an acutely observed sketch in which the angst-ridden participants of a ladies "home party" were performed with gusto by Amanda Shaw (manic product demonstrator), Caroline Waters, Briony Martin and Di Gale (eccentric guests) and Naomi Langley-Kurshid (paranoid hostess). The Hampered Chef was followed by an uncanny representation of the great Irish comedian Dave Allen. John Sutherland At Large gave us some classic laid-back humour, perched on his stool sipping a glass of something fortifying.

David and Ginny Eaton then gave us some rather dark church notes, and then David produced a minimalist nativity play performed by six rustic troubadours, the majority of whom were dragged kicking and struggling from the audience - but who gave as good a performance as any welloiled thespian (some of them indeed may have been well-oiled).

We were transported back to the old music hall days by Alison Wright's good companions with their version of Sam, pick up thy musket. Alison took the role performed so memorably by Stanley Holloway, with Albert Smith starring as Sam, Chris Stagg the nasty sergeant, Doug and Matthew Waters as privates, Mike Lewis the lieutenant, Navin Mehta the major, and Bernard Salsbury the Duke of Wellington with Beverley Mehta setting it all to music.

We were then treated to a couple of wonderful renditions of classic humour. First, Jennifer Slaughter delivered two Pam Ayres poems with great aplomb and a most accurate Oxfordshire burr, followed by Doug and Matthew Waters with their own take on the memorable Peter Cook and Dudley Moore skit The Great Train Robbery. Both acts were most professionally delivered; I am sure Pam, Pete and Dud themselves would have been impressed.

After our superb supper the entertainment continued with David Howarth. David's original and challenging style woke us up with a bump. His cutting commentary on society's peccadilloes was in stark contrast to the Pilgrim Players who followed on with a charming five-minute version of Cinderella - with all the usual characters but not a "he's behind you" in sight.

After the raffle, with prizes generously donated by local organisations, we were treated to two local favourites. First, Hedley Kaye putting down his guitar produced some highly topical witty reflections on everyday life including the question "why don't you hear people whistling in the street any more?". Then some black humour a la Rowan Atkinson - the classic counting in to hell by Satan - a brilliant and rather unsettling performance by John Swanson.

Two more turns; three highly professional and high powered vignettes by Nathaniel Tapley and Zoe Batley - their material and their versatility being highly impressive. Finally came two of Leatherhead's finest! John Hampton and Martin Cole reproduced the Battle of Trafalgar with Nelson and Hardy finalising their campaign strategy but in the light of the latest equal opportunity legislation - giving a very different and hilarious perspective of a great moment in history. And so we reached the end of the evening.

We raised almost £1800, thanks to all who attended and the splendid generosity of our sponsors, including £750 from Barclays Bank and £100 from Patrick Gardiner Estate Agents. This sum went into the funds of the Friends of Leatherhead Parish Church to cover the costs of maintaining the fabric and grounds of the church.

The evening was a huge success, the product of a great deal of work by the performers, the audience, all those who worked so hard on the night and especially the organisers - Amanda Shaw, Ginny Eaton, Jackie Hampton and Bruce Diffey all wonderful colleagues with whom to work. Meredith Vivian