After an introduction by our expertly periphrastic “Chairman” for the evening, Nigel Pond, the show opened with a fusion of two classic Great War songs “Pack up your Troubles” and “It’s Long Way to Tipperary” cleverly rendered by Roger Jackaman and Nina Harvey as a duet. This was followed by Justin Harvey and “I’m Henery the Eighth, I am” and then Amanda Langley with “After the Ball”. The first of the comedy sketches followed with “Greek Drama” in which all the cast were involved. This sketch was particularly notable for the sound effects that co-ordinated with the actions on stage. Especially unforgettable was “Wind” played by Justin Harvey and “The Waterfall” by Mick Russ!
More songs followed with “It’s a Long, Long Trail a Winding” performed by Producer and Director, Bridget Harvey, who prompted some good audience participation. The next item “My Mother Said” was to have been performed by Jim Thacker (our former village policeman and Bramford Gang Show veteran) but he had unfortunately lost his voice. His stand-in was Connor Read who, at just barely 16, showed a tremendous amount of talent for his tender years, especially with such short notice. Nina then gave a rousing rendition of “My Old Man” followed by a comedy sketch, “Mr Marks” with Mick Russ and Claire Bickers playing a convincing elderly couple.
Rogers “Marrow Song” entertained us with the typical double entendre so beloved of the Music Hall.
Nina gave us “You Made Me Love You” followed by Dave Ward’s excellent first solo appearance of the evening with “Two Lovely Black Eyes”.
Another comedy sketch followed with “Interesting Facts”. A Peter Cook and Dudley Moore style dialogue with Roger showing his talents as a character actor and Justin as his “straight” man.
The next item was again intended to be performed by Jim Thacker but Mick Russ stood in with the comic recitation of “A Bramford Christmas”. This performance was made even more remarkable by Mick’s impersonation of the great man himself, both being originally from Norfolk (just imagine Pam Ayres meets Bernard Matthews). Jim, who was in the audience, would have laughed out loud if his laryngitis allowed it.
Amanda followed with a powerful rendition of “My Hero” and then Bridget with a classic performance of “Burlington Bertie”. The last sketch in the first half was “Crazy Gang” with Flower “Girls” Roger, Justin, Mick, Dave and Connor (standing in for Jim Thacker).
Claire’s “Bee Song” nearly brought the house down with her breathless energetic gyrations and the first half concluded with Connor and gang leading “The Old Bull and Bush” with audience participation.
After a short interval the second half started with Bridget’s talented alter ego, “Brian” Jackaman, again standing in for Jim with “I’ve Got a Luvverly Bunch of Coconuts”. Amanda followed with a performance of the classic Vesta Tilley recruiting song “I’ll Make a Man of You”. There followed further excellent sketches and songs by the cast but towards the end the mood was dramatically changed by Mick’s reading of “Letter Home”.
The Chairman read out a short piece about the men from Bramford who fought in the war followed by spine-tingling performances of “Tell My Father” (Roger) and “A Flower Tells a Story” (Amanda). Both were accompanied by powerful projected images depicting scenes from the war.
Judy Wadman completed the main performance by reading “Why Wear A Poppy”. The audience then stood for the “Last Post” played by Nina. As this was being played the names of the 54 men on the Bramford memorial scrolled up the screen and, as all stood in silence, poppy petals fell across the stage.
The whole effect was very moving and an appropriate tribute to the generation that lived, fought and died during the Great War.
Recent Comments