The String of Amber by Rodney Ackland

This was the 1970 entry into the NSW Arts Council's Drama Festival, and opened in October 1970.  It was a Rene Levenspiel production, and was a three-hander featuring Beth Gingell, Bonnie Bryant and Gwen Clarke (Gwen is still an active Life Member of the group, Bonnie sadly passed away in August 2009).  The show was a reprise of the 1962 production in which Bonnie also played Agatha, which was billed with the alternative title The Old Ladies.

(The picture at left is Bonnie Bryant prepared for the play and is a thumbnail.  Click on the picture for the full-sized image).

Extracts from this play were more recently reprised in the 2002 revue "Us", and I can remember shivers running up and down my spine at the conclusion.  The 2002 production featured Pollyana Forshaw and Kath Izzard, along with an original cast member (albeit playing a different role) Gwen Clarke.

The 1970 production gained an award for "Best Actress" for Bonnie Bryant in the Arts Council's NSW Drama Festival.  The Adjudicator was Reid Douglas.

The String of Amber show programme (pdf file, 241,077 bytes)

Note that the programme for this show was not roneo'd off, but actually professionally printed.  The next few years would see professionally printed programmes, with the odd reversion to the Gestetner machine for a programme here and there.

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Copyright © Sep-09 by Peter Deane   -  Last modified: Sunday, 05 September 2010 01:06 AM