Sherriff Night and Rowers' Revue 2010

Thank you to Roland Wales for the review and to Sharon Wright for the photos. (If anybody else has some pictures, particularly of the drama sections, please do send them).

Review

Seventy of the rowing club’s finest took to the stage at KGS last Saturday for the third Annual Sherriff Night, a lively evening of drama, songs and occasional jokes.

First Act

The hosts for the first half of the evening were Becky Wright (Girls’ Boat Club Captain) and Owen Newburn, who, despite recently having hung up his blades, couldn’t bear to miss his last Sherriff Night outing. The pair were unflappable, even when the props advertising the quiz failed to materialise, leaving Owen to mime their attractions, which he did admirably.

Their first task of the evening was to introduce the new Head Coach, Phil (or Biff, as he’s universally known in rowing circles) Simmons. His virtues as a coach were extolled by the Junior Squad members in their spirited rendition of Biff, the Magic Head Coach”, with a flawless guitar accompaniment provided by Calum Anderson and Ali Toyn, of the Senior Squad

Next on the programme was a rarity - a revival of R C Sherriff’s first ever play: A Hitch in the Proceedings”. The play was produced and directed by Ali Middleton and Hannah Marsters, of the 5th Form, and they had managed to recruit almost all of their year’s rowers, many of whom showed themselves to be very talented performers. From the moment the two Sophies (Crocker and Kenneally) came on as old ladies (perfectly at home in the Queen Vic, according to one observer) the laughter began, and continued almost without interruption. All of the acting was of a very high class, but special mention must also go to Ali and Hannah as the Beanfeasters, George Kan as the Reverend Teddington Locke, and Laurence Peirson as the bumptious Horace.

Once the laughter from “Hitch” had died down, and after a quick tribute to KGSBC’s long-suffering coaches, Andrew Sim (Chair of the Sherriff Club) and the Head gave us a Tour D’Horizon of the Boat Club. Thereafter, to round off the First Act, the Senior Squad lent its vocal talents to a version of Don’t Stop Believin. MC Becky, while acknowledging that the Squad might not sing quite as well as the cast of Glee, was pretty confident that the KGSBC rowers could beat them on the water any time.

Second Act

Refreshed from supper, the parents arrived back to find Owen’s place now taken by Peter Wales, but the MCs still working wonderfully in tandem.

In the first item, the audience were serenaded by the - by now quite lively - Junior Squad’s rendition of Don’t Stop Us Now (We’re Junior Rowers) (with a little help from the Senior Squad). Thereafter, the pace slowed a little with the staging of a short scene from Sherriff’s 1949 play Miss Mabel (about a kindly old spinster who murders her unpleasant sister, albeit for the best of motives....) which was beautifully handled, largely by the Kenneally family - older brother Jack, and sister Sophie again.

Having quietened the audience down for the play, the MCs were now instrumental in whipping up the performers (and a couple of feisty rowing coaches) for the boy versus girl sing-off which the rowers had been anticipating since rehearsal: Rowing in a Pair (aka Livin' on a Prayer) versus Let’s Push for Ten(aka It's raining men). While the girls appeared to have won (despite Peter’s spirited attempt to rouse the audience by dancing across the floor, and the boys’ attempts to put them off their stride by invading the stage) the audience refused to give a clear-cut answer, and R C Sherriff, reincarnated in the body of Mr Smalman-Smith, also remained impressively neutral.

At the request of Mr Sherriff, the audience were next treated to a scene from Badger’s Green, a gentle comedy of village life, exquisitely performed by the girls of the 4th Form. Their evident good humour and spirited performances completely engaged and charmed the audience, which seemed disappointed when the scene finally came to a close. Perhaps next year they can act the end of the Play, so we know how it finishes.......

After a quick photographic review of the past year in the Boat Club, the Sherriff Night was addressed for the first time by Phil Simmons as Head Coach. His words left the rowers and the audience in good heart for the year ahead, and his jokes were sufficiently frequent and funny that he may find himself drafted as a scriptwriter for next year’s event. After presenting gifts to the organisers of the event, Phil welcomed all of the rowers back up on stage for a rousing and defiant version of “I Will Survive”. Given the Boat Club spirit on display all evening, we’re sure that they won’t just survive, this year, but will surely prosper.

RLW, 16 November 2010

Photos

_MG_9800_wm.JPG


_MG_9808_wm.JPG


_MG_9779_wm.JPG


_MG_9807_wm.JPG


9783wm.JPG


_MG_9784_wm.JPG


_MG_9780_wm.JPG


_MG_9788_wm.JPG


_MG_9791_wm.JPG


_MG_9806_wm.JPG


9792wm.JPG


_MG_9803_wm.JPG


_MG_9774_wm.JPG


9799wm.JPG


_MG_9786_wm.JPG


_MG_9802_wm.JPG


_MG_9777_wm.JPG


_MG_9781_wm.JPG


_MG_9793_wm.JPG


9782wm.JPG


_MG_9778_wm.JPG


_MG_9789_wm.JPG


9813wm.JPG


_MG_9776_wm.JPG


9816wm.JPG


9815wm.JPG


_MG_9801_wm.JPG


_MG_9798_wm.JPG


_MG_9804_wm.JPG


9812wm.JPG

Click on the links for reviews and photos from the Sherriff Nights of 2009 and 2008.