Fading Hollywood action star Jefferson Steele arrives in England believing he has been hired to play King Lear at Stratford-upon-Avon alongside some of Britain’s finest actors. There has been a slight misunderstanding. The Stratford in question is a small Suffolk village, his co-stars are the local amateur dramatic society and they desperately need his celebrity name to save their theatre from developers. Jefferson is appalled. The amateurs are unimpressed by Jefferson. Rehearsals begin anyway, and somewhere between bruised egos, theatrical disasters and Shakespeare, the great Hollywood star begins to discover that perhaps he is not quite as important as he thought.
All Saints Elton Theatre Company presented A Bunch of Amateurs from Wednesday 26th to Saturday 29th March 2025.
Written for the stage by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman and directed for All Saints Elton by Rebecca Foster, the comedy is essentially a love letter to amateur theatre, although like most love letters written by people who know amateur theatre well, it also points out quite a few of its peculiarities.
Jefferson expects prestige, famous colleagues and professional luxury. Instead, he meets an enthusiastic group trying to save their local theatre and discovers that nobody appears particularly impressed by the fact he used to be an action hero.
His ego and their determination make a wonderfully combustible combination.
Yet beneath the jokes about actors, rehearsals and theatrical ambition is a story about why local theatre matters. The Stratford Players are not performing because it will make them famous. They are doing it because the theatre belongs to their community and because putting on a show together matters to them.
We cannot imagine why a century-old amateur theatre company in Bury might find any of that relatable.
Our March 2025 production celebrated the people who keep local theatre alive, even when the budget is small, the set needs painting and somebody has once again taken the good extension lead home.