Kyrenia Amateur Dramatic

Society (KADS)

Absolute Kads and Bounders

To Too 2

  By Margaret Sheard.. Pictures and video by Chris Elliott..

Having been to the previous Absolute Kads and Bounders production and published an article and video, to see click here, we were invited to the new production to do a review of the show.  I enjoyed the first production tremendously and as it was so well received KADS decided to do a second show on the same theme, I must say this was even better, hilarious and so entertaining.

The cast has increased in size and the addition of personal microphones for the cast certainly helps for the audience to hear all that is going on, it is a shame to miss some of the dialogue of the sketches and the microphones now makes the whole of the show come over loud and clear.

We settled down to enjoy the first half of the show and we were introduced to the 2 compères for the evening John Melville and Şirin Damdelen.  The show opened with the cast singing Swing on a Star followed by a sketch “You Can’t Say That” (Part 1) with Phil Lucock harassing John Melville about use of words and what he couldn’t say.  Then came “Welcome to Hell” with Stephen Everett as the devil, ushering various groups of people into appropriate areas of hell.   “The Cheerleaders” featured Caroline Attwood, Barbara Booth, Janie Murphy  and Linda Burton, assisted by Don Attwood.

Following this was “Right Said Fred” a solo performance by Ian Long, and very well done.  Caroline Attwood then did a solo sketch “Calorific Goodness” about “losing weight” with one prop – a bathroom scales, and a dialogue of daily food intake and how to cut down which she was not very successful at doing by the end of her list.  With an introduction of Zadoc the Priest, Phil Lucock acted as the Pope with Stephen Everett introducing Beverley Westbrook as Michelangelo, this was entitled “The Pope and Michelangelo” and followed the theme of the Pope being dissatisfied with the painting of The Last Supper depicting a kangaroo and 28 disciples!

Then “The Survivors” featuring John Redgate giving a monologue of years gone by and what we had then as opposed to now, with some very funny comparisons.

The last act of the first half was a Morecambe & Wise sketch featuring John Melville and Don Attwood as the famous comedy duo, assisted by Phil Lucock and Ian Long, this was so well done and very funny, even down to the famous paper bag.

Finally, the cast came on to the stage to end the first half with a rendition of Bring Me Sunshine, leaving the stage with the little Eric Morecambe dance.

There was an intermission so everyone could go and stretch their legs and perhaps have a glass of wine and then we were back eagerly awaiting the second half of the show with anticipation.

The lights dimmed and we were in for a further treat in the second half.

The second half started with Ian Long performing  “The Lumberjack Song” assisted by some of the cast as the chorus, this was very funny.   Then we had Part 2 of “You Can’t Say That” with Phil Lucock and John Melville, more words not to be used and of course when asked his name Phil had to say “You Can’t Say That”.   The next sketch was by Stephen Everett and called “The Introduction of Tobacco to Civilisation”.  I remember this sketch from years ago – a telephone call with Sir Walter Raleigh who had discovered a leaf you put in your mouth and set fire to!!  This was done by Bob Newhart many years ago. It was funny then and it still is.

There was a version of Three Little Maids from the Mikado performed by Caroline and Don Attwood and Linda Burton.  Then followed a song from Barbara Booth giving us a brilliant performance of Old Fashioned Girl.  We were then treated to “Mail Order Bride” which was along the lines of a Mel Smith/Griff Rhys Jones (Alas Smith & Jones) sketch and featured Phil Lucock and Ian Long sitting across a table from each other discussing a mail order bride ordered by (Ian) who had sent a photo of George Clooney, as himself, and was eagerly awaiting the arrival of his Filipino bride.   Another sketch “Nursery School Flowers” was performed by Barbara Booth with an imaginary group of children who had to act as flowers.  This was based on the type of Joyce Grenfell sketch we remember.

“Modern Man” was performed by Ian Long, Beverley Westbrook and Don Attwood giving their period of time Modern, Renaissance and Medieval and what each time was like and how they compared to each other.   A revised version My Favourite Things was performed by Caroline Attwood which became My Unfavourite Things.  The last sketch was in the form of an interview conducted by Şirin Damdelen with Phil Lucock as the Professor and John Melville as “Gerald the Gorilla” who was brought into the modern world by Phil.

All too soon came the finale with the whole cast and crew giving a rendition of “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” and making their exits to huge rounds of applause.

The production was in aid of Kyrenia Animal Rescue (KAR) and SOS Children’s Village.  KADS are grateful to Serdar Tuksal and the Girne Belediyesi for their continued support.   Thanks are also extended to Can Gazi and BRTK, Huseyin and the Curtain Shop, Gordon Kent and Lambousa Market, The Food Lodge, JK’s and The W Club.

For those people who did not get to the lovely Kyrenia Municipality Cultural Centre theatre, you missed a real treat.

After the show, having not eaten, we decided to have a meal at Eziç Premier on the Kyrenia by-pass which was a lovely end to a lovely evening.

We have been informed that 2015 will be the 40^th anniversary of KADS which started its life in 1975 and surely must be amongst the oldest overseas amateur dramatic company in the world.  I am sure we will be looking forward to some extra special performances next year to mark this momentous occasion.  Watch this space for another exceptional cyprusscene.com review.