Confetti : Heath Players: Friday March 28th

CONFETTI sold every seat in its five show run. That is quite an achievement. And not only did they sell out every seat, by the looks of things, everyone loved the show.

Sometimes, as a reviewer, when you are not quite feeling a show, you just need to listen to the laughter and then at the end of the show, hear people praise the show to the rafters.

And sometimes, there is a line in a play that makes you think: That is a great line. Georgia Bryson, who plays the bride Sam, explains why she doesn’t want to cut the wedding cake. “She says: “Because after that, it is just food…..”

Confetti lets us into the wedding of Tom and Sam. We see the characters outside the church, at the wedding and at the reception.

It gives us a little window into their lives. Into their complicated lives.

This was a very well directed play (Jo Gladstone) that really used the space at Village Hall very well.

There was a number of great flourishes from Jo. She gave each character from Simon Mawdsley’s play time to develop and each actor really put their own personal stamp on the play.

From his very first appearance, you just weren’t sure about Tom (Myles Lovell) and he played that role really well. In many ways, his character was a foil for many others.

This is the second time we have seen Georgia Bryson and she has such an expressive face. She has that rare ability to capture an audience with her expressions. A rare talent. One of the best scenes was when Georgia and Chrissie Waites acted together. Chrissie was once again such a class act here.

Our reservations here was that this: at times was a bit dated. It said it was 2025 but it felt like 1988 or 1997. But as I said at the beginning, everyone seemed to love that. And maybe, just maybe, the audience missed this type of comedy.

His role was more than a cameo but Jordyn Linklater as Trev nearly steals this show. It was a masterclass in best man nerves and his best man “speech”, in our opinion, stole the show.

The use of a photographer as a narrator was a clever device and Lee Barnes played the role very well. Like someone out of a Chaucer play.

Steve Foster (Vicar) just needs to raise an eyebrow to be funny. Again, on reflection, there were so many standout performances here, with new and established actors at the top of their game. Great DJ outfit as well.

Gem Colton’s Audrey channelled nearly every character we had seen in A Bit of A Do and her laugh seemed a tribute to Marlene in Only Fool and Horses.

Similarly, Ginny Elliston perfectly pitched her nouveau Betty. These actors are such strong ensemble players. As is Jody Randall, who is aways a real presence on stage.

Stuart Coombe’s Uncle Bob was also channelling his inner Uncle Buck. We weren’t exactly sure what decade he was in (it was the camcorder thing) but he was always great value on stage.

Finally, if Noah Stevenson and Lucy Wood’s briefs were “be irritating, truculent teenagers” then they were absolutely on point!

This was one of those plays when the word “production: was, perhaps, more apt. You just have to turn to look at how many people were involved. There was clearly an immense effort to get this production on stage. From set painting to the photography work that we saw towards the end.

A special mention to the lighting, which was superb. There were a number of very tricky scenes.

Even if we never really warmed to this, it was the fact that so many people did. And you could sense that the whole team loved doing this.

For those reason, we can only shower this production with praise.