After spending 50 years using the village hall as their home, members of the Ullenhall Players were there last night for the most dramatic reason of all.
They were meeting the village hall committee to try to discover why they are being kicked out at the end of August.
The Warwickshire group, which has about 30 members, says it has been trying without success since October to learn what is behind their imminent eviction.
Group member David Humphries said: “David Waller, the chairman of the village hall committee, told us that the two sheds at the back of the hall where we store our props and flats were becoming a bit tatty. He said that if we emptied them, they could be burned for the November bonfire and there was a new one that could be put in their place.
“So we emptied them onto the stage and the sheds were burned, but we are still waiting for our new storage. Then out of the blue we got a letter saying that although we could use the hall for rehearsals we were not going to have a place for productions there because the stage was to be removed.
“We have been welcomed with open arms by another village hall in Worcestershire. Fortunately our next production of the farce Business Affairs, at the Palace Theatre in Redditch next month, will not be affected.”
David Waller said: “It would have been more sensible if the Players had left this until we had had our meeting. We are replacing the sheds, but they need something far bigger than what we are providing. In any case, they now have their main production each year at the Palace Theatre.
“We need more space because we have dinners, balls, barn dances and private parties and all the usual things that take place in village halls. We’re very tight for space and we have a stage which is used for three nights out of 365 and it doesn’t seem sensible for it to sit there while we suffer on all sorts of other fronts.”
* The good folk of Moseley tell me that God is a town planner – and with reason on their side.
Graham Parker is also a town planner – and he will be God in what will be the first Moseley Village Mystery Plays, due for production in Moseley Park on July 10 and 11.
* WHAT’S ON
The Rivals: Crescent Theatre, Birmingham (to Saturday); Steel Magnolias: Talisman Theatre, Kenilworth (to Saturday); The Fate of Jeremy Visick: Hall Green Little Theatre Youth Theatre (to Saturday); The Card: Studley Operatic Society, Palace Theatre, Redditch (to Saturday); A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Stage 2, Crescent Theatre, Birmingham (to Saturday); The Ghost Train: Lapworth Players, Lapworth Village Hall (Apr 23-25); Charley’s Aunt: Union Theatre, Dorridge Village Hall (Apr 23-25).
