by Alan Bennett

28th, 30th, 31st May and 1st June 2002
Croft Street Community Centre, Lincoln

Our second production was less straightforward than our first. We had planned to stage ‘Breezeblock Park’ by Willy Russell but struggled to cast the play satisfactorily. Late in the day we pulled the plug on our original plan and looked around for a replacement. Quite soon we hit upon the idea of Alan Bennett’s ‘Talking Heads’ series of monologues which were written for television but which are often performed in the theatre.

In the end three monologues were chosen: Gaynor Little performed ‘ Soldiering On’, in which a recently widowed lady comes to terms with life without her late husband (who was not the paragon of virtue she had thought him to be); Vicky Ashberry took on ‘Bed Among the Lentils’, in which a bored and frustrated vicar’s wife finds sexual and spiritual awakening with a young Indian grocer; and Christine Bellamy, in her first major role, performed ‘A Lady of Letters’, in which a nosy neighbour and writer of poison pen letters becomes altogether happier and more tolerant after her interfering ways land her in prison.

In its review the Lincolnshire Echo described the three actresses who took on these challenging roles as ‘accomplished’ and added: ‘Lincoln’s Common Ground Theatre Company gives fresh impetus to these perfectly penned monologues.’

by Bill Naughton

27th, 29th, 30th November and 1st December 2001
Croft Street Community Centre, Lincoln

Seven short months after we first sat down in the pub and discussed setting up a new theatre group, we were on stage. In the absence of any other takers Jez Ashberry volunteered to direct our first outing – ‘Spring and Port Wine’ by Bill Naughton, a touching, comic, atmospheric ensemble piece set in Bolton in the early 60s.

Inspired by the 1960s film version featuring a quietly menacing James Mason as Rafe and a teenage Susan George in a mini skirt, Jez brought together a mix of experienced actors and outright newcomers in the company’s first cast. Ian Smith worked wonders with a tardis of a set which had to accommodate a dinner table, six chairs, a sofa, two armchairs, a television set and a bureau in a space hardly big enough for Jason Hippisley to swing his towel.

The onset of spring and a few glasses of port wine after work are what puts a spring into the step of young Hilda, but her home life is soured by the overbearing manner of her father Rafe, who rules Hilda and her brothers with a rod of iron. After a series of arguments and confrontations – and the trials of Mother, who has pawned Dad’s best coat in spite of her husband’s fanatical dislike of debt – the Cromptons manage to avoid a family break-up by finally being honest with each other.

Our first production was described by the Lincolnshire Echo as ‘a sterling performance’ and involved 28 members and friends of the company.