{"id":392,"date":"2015-01-24T17:51:52","date_gmt":"2015-01-24T17:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cpwp.comptonplayers.co.uk\/?page_id=392"},"modified":"2015-02-16T09:47:49","modified_gmt":"2015-02-16T09:47:49","slug":"the-gazebo","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.comptonplayers.co.uk\/comptonplayers-c\/?page_id=392","title":{"rendered":"The Gazebo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"author\">by Alec Coppell<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>7th &#8211; 10th May 1969<\/h2>\n<p>A writer of TV whodunits and whyzits, always with an eye toward inventing the almost perfect crime, gets into a spot where he has to commit a real do-it-yourself murder. His wife has become the target of blackmail, so the writer has to silence the so-and-so with a six-shooter and then find a place to hide the body. Having acquired at auction a gazebo for their suburban backyard, the writer and his wife decide to plant the blackmailer in its fresh concrete foundation. Mysteriously, it isn&#8217;t long before the body turns up again \u2014 in the middle of their living room! Soon the house is crawling with detectives and district attorneys, all looking to point the finger somewhere, thus casting the writer in a role he never expected he&#8217;d have to play: the suspect.<\/p>\n<div class=\"rtecenter\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p><strong>The Cast<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Elliot Nash: Eric Saxton<br \/>\nHarlow Edison: Mike Yates<br \/>\nMatilda: Jerry Robinson<br \/>\nNell Nash: Louise Stanlake<br \/>\nMrs Chandler: Molly Gray<br \/>\nThe Visitor: Mike Meakins<br \/>\nMr Thorpe: Ernest Golbey<br \/>\nThe Dook: Tony Mudd<br \/>\nLouie: Roger Gray<br \/>\nDr Wyner: Mark Robinson<br \/>\nRyan: Peter Monger<br \/>\nDruker: Trevor Reynolds<br \/>\nA Cop: Mike Meakins<\/p>\n<p>Produced by Frank Meakins\n<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Newbury Weekly News review<\/h3>\n<div class=\"review\">\n<h2>Difficult play well produced<\/h2>\n<p>For their twenty-third production at the Coronation Hall, Compton, last week, the Compton Players chose Alec Coppel\u2019s three-act comedy thriller, <strong>The Gazebo<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>From a slow start the play gained momentum, largely due to the excellent performances of Eric Saxton and Louise Stanlake who played Elliott Nash and his actress-wife, Nell Booth; Eric Saxton filled the essential silences of the plot with his characteristic skill.<\/p>\n<p>The supporting cast was of its usual high standard, although they deserved a more elaborate set. Louie and the Dook played by Roger Gray and Tony Mudd (Anthony Dolan standing in for him at short notice on Friday) all played their gangster roles well. Peter Monger, playing Detective Ryan was his inimitable self.<\/p>\n<p>The enjoyment of the audience was heightened by the unintentional shadow show during scene changes, but the general verdict was that this was a good production of a difficult play.\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Alec Coppell 7th &#8211; 10th May 1969 A writer of TV whodunits and whyzits, always with an eye toward inventing the almost perfect crime, gets into a spot where he has to commit a real do-it-yourself murder. His wife has become the target of blackmail, so the writer has to silence the so-and-so with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":8,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comptonplayers.co.uk\/comptonplayers-c\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/392"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comptonplayers.co.uk\/comptonplayers-c\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comptonplayers.co.uk\/comptonplayers-c\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comptonplayers.co.uk\/comptonplayers-c\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comptonplayers.co.uk\/comptonplayers-c\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=392"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.comptonplayers.co.uk\/comptonplayers-c\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2598,"href":"https:\/\/www.comptonplayers.co.uk\/comptonplayers-c\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/392\/revisions\/2598"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comptonplayers.co.uk\/comptonplayers-c\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comptonplayers.co.uk\/comptonplayers-c\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}