Fawlty Towers – Communication Problems – by John Cleese and Connie Booth

Thursday 10th to Saturday 12th October 2013

Arc Theatre, Trowbridge

Fawlty Towers – Communication Problems – by John Cleese and Connie Booth

The arrival of Mrs. Richards, a rather deaf, dotty and bad-tempered woman, interferes with Basil’s attempts to prevent the money he won on a racehorse from being discovered by Sybil

Gosforth’s Fete by Alan Aykbourn

Publican Gosforth is running the village gala. Due to a big mistake bad personal news from Milly Carter is publicised over the public-address system. Milly’s fiancé Stewart Stokes becomes extremely aggravated and drowns his sorrows with alcohol. Councillor Mrs Pearce, after the most disorganised greeting is electrocuted by the PA system. Gosforth’s Fete starts like all village fetes do. However it develops into chaos and as things continue to go wrong the play climaxes to a complete disaster

A Talk in the Park by Alan Aykbourn

Four people are sat on four park benches in a park. Arthur arrives and asks if the seat by Beryl is empty. He proceeds to talk and Beryl moves to the next bench because he won’t stop talking. She sits next to Charlie and begins talking about her abusive husband leading Charlie to move away and sit next to Doreen to start talking about the state of his life. Doreen – Gosforth’s ex-wife – believing she is about to be attacked, moves to sit next to Ernest and begins talking about her fears and her dogs. Ernest creeps away to Arthur, bemoaning the fact this woman started talking to him and telling an unconcerned Arthur about his life. This turns into a round as each person tries to get the attention of the person next to them, who ignores them leaving Arthur to note, ‘might as well talk to yourself.’