Delderfield in Exmouth 11-16 June 2012




Enthusiasts of the author R.F. Delderfield who've enjoyed visiting the Fairlynch exhibition about this much-loved East Devon author will be looking forward to seeing the Exmouth production of one of his most successful plays.



Ronald Delderfield, playwright, novelist and lover of East Devon

The Exmouth Players are celebrating Delderfield's 100th aniversary by staging a production of his wartime comedy, Worm’s Eye View, at the Blackmore Theatre in Bicton Street.

Worm’s Eye View is set in Albert House, the Bounty family's residence at Sandcombe, in the winter of 1942-43.

Sandcombe, the name that Delderfield used for his first novel All Over The Town, is clearly Exmouth, the town where he grew up. The plot centres on the family of Mr and Mrs Bounty, their daughter Bella and Mrs Bounty’s son Sydney from a previous marriage. Reluctantly, the Bountys have accepted that five RAF recruits are to be billeted with them.

Mr Bounty is more willing than his wife to befriend the new arrivals, and the family’s long suffering maid discovers that she would probably enjoy a life in the RAF as she gets to know the recruits.













But Mrs Bounty believes that none of them is suitable as a match for Bella. Her son Sydney Spooner has an inflated opinion of his own importance as a minor civil servant at the town hall.

In Worm’s Eye View Delderfield draws on many of the themes involving small-town snobbishness and hypocrisy that he later used in All Over The Town, published in 1947.














The two above images show part of the Fairlynch exhibition currently on display at the Museum  


Right: A programme for the original 1945 production of Worm's Eye View
Image kindly provided by http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/

The play, which opened at the Whitehall Theatre on 18 December 1945 was a highly successful production and ran for 500 performances. It returned in 1947 to run for another 1,745 performances. The Exmouth Players staged Worm's Eye View in 1946 while it was still running at the Whitehall Theatre. It was the first time that an amateur society had been allowed to present a play which was still enjoying a successful run in the West End. The Players produced the play again in 1981.

Worm’s Eye View will be showing at the Blackmore Theatre from Monday 11  June until Saturday 16 June, starting at 7.30pm.

Tickets £7 are available from the ticket line on 07905 761485 or from the kiosk in the Magnolia centre from June 4, 10am-2pm.

Pictured above:  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WW2 100 – 3 July 1941 – ‘Our beloved son’: Private Stanley John Holloway (1914-41) 12th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment

Image
Continued from 11 June 1941 ‘A German platoon fired a salute of honour over the grave’ FLYING OFFICER PETER HAROLD HOWARD PRITCHARD (1921-41)   https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2021/11/ww2-75-11-june-1941-german-platoon.html   Image credit: www.FindaGrave.com Stanley’s sad death at the age of 27 stirred various thoughts in me when I first read about it. He is not listed on Budleigh Salterton’s War Memorial, yet his grave is in St Peter’s Burial Ground on Moor Lane. His family were not local, yet he seems to have been killed while engaged in the highly hazardous work of protecting Budleigh against invasion.   The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records him as a member of the 12 th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment with the Service Number was 5627659. According to the same source, his parents were George and M. Holloway, of Hounslow, Middlesex.   Tackling this WW2 project chronologically as I am, it was clear that Stanley had died on the same day as Private Clifto
Read more

People from the Past: 3. Reg Varney (1916-2008)

Image
Reginald Alfred 'Reg' Varney was an English actor, most notable for his role as a cheerful Cockney bus driver in the 1970s TV sitcom On the Buses . For ten years he lived at Dark Lane House on picturesque Dark Lane in Budleigh Salterton, seen above.  Millions of television viewers remember him with affection. He has been described as belonging to the old school of comedians, with his dislike of much contemporary television and his pride in never using swear words to get a laugh. Varney was born on 11 July 1916 in Canning Town, which was then part of Essex but is now part of East London. His father worked in a rubber factory in Silvertown and he was one of five children who grew up in Addington Road, Canning Town. He was educated at the nearby Star Lane Primary School in West Ham and after leaving school at 14, he worked as a messenger boy at the Regent Palace Hotel, pictured above.  
Read more

A home that Hatchard-Smith built: Lavender House

Image
Lavender House, one of no less than 50 houses in Budleigh Salterton designed by Hatchard-Smith   Instantly recognisable with their red and white decoration and their front doors set within brick arches, the houses built by architect William Hatchard-Smith (1887-1987) are still sought after and appreciated by their owners for their elegance and comfort, their sturdy construction and their attention to practical detail. Plans for one of the houses designed by Hatchard-Smith Lavender House, on Moorlands Road , is a four-bedroomed detached family residence built by Hatchard-Smith in the late 1920s when it was originally named Lavenderhay.   Set within what are described as beautifully landscaped gardens of approximately an acre it has recently undergone an extensive refurbishment programme while retaining much of the original charm and character. The stained glass memorial in Budleigh Sa
Read more