The Abnormals – A Hard Day’s Night at the Esentepe Theatre

 By Margaret Sheard ….

Although we had seen a rehearsal of The Abnormals production of The Beatles – A Hard Day’s Night, we were really looking forward to seeing the actual performance at the Esentepe Theatre on Sunday 16^th September.

This production was very different from the usual Abnormals shows and they had worked so hard with the script which had been written by Charlie Bell in 2009 for the opening of a theatre in Inverness but unfortunately, for various reasons, did not get to see the stage.

When we arrived at the theatre there were a few people who hadn’t been able to get tickets, but luckily for them, as usually happens, there were some people who did not arrive and so there were a few seats available.

The performers’ nightmare occurred at the start of the show with a couple of teething problems with the prompt monitors but these were soon put right by Robin Lavender, one of the ‘behind the scenes’ workers and the cast were soon into Charlie Bell’s storyline and the music of The Beatles, which was very enjoyable.

Everyone gave a very good performance and what can I say about Ibo Musa, he really had the audience laughing at his enthusiasm and antics, he was fantastic, and looked as if he was really enjoying it.

After the performance there was an auction.  The painting of The Beatles, which was to be auctioned, was withdrawn and it was returned to the sender, however the small guitar which Charlie used in the show raised 120TL, and a set of drumsticks, which had been donated by the band Gasoline, raised 150TL.

Congratulations to the cast, which is shown below, together with the characters they played.

Dan Reilly             –    Charlie Bell

Maggie Reilly        –    Kate Bell

Molly Reilly           –    Susie Ford

Desmond              –    Martin Ford

Maxwell Edison    –    Paul Cobban

Billy the bouncer   –   Ibo Musa

PC31 (Reilly)        –    Dave Lavender

Kate Jones           –   Rose Langman

Sound team          –   Willie McCarroll and Robin Lavender

Thanks to the sponsors Salih Kayim-Cyprus Construction, Califoria Restaurant Chain, Magic Touch Printers, the Esentepe Mayor – Cemal Erdogan and The DVD Shop, Çatalkoy.

The show, which was in memory of George Harrison, was in aid of Help Those with Cancer Association (Tulips) and a total of just over 3,000TL was raised for this charity, plus there will be an additional amount by way of donations into the Tulips collection box at the end of the evening which is not yet known.   Charlie Bell commented that he was delighted with the amount raised for Tulips.

As Chris had already produced a video of the rehearsal, we decided to take some time out and enjoy the show, so he has included pictures, together with a video clip supplied by Jewells Stott, in the following CyprusScene.com video review.