The Silent Appeal
To: The Fairway Players mailing list
From: Kevin MacDonald
Subject: Let play week begin…
Dear all,
Well, here we are! Play week kicks off with Big Sunday tomorrow: an all-day event where the cast and crew—under the expert guidance of Joel Halliday—put the finishing touches to the set and then run through the whole play TWICE.
Believe me, it will set you in good stead for the production, ask any Fairway veteran.
Over the last five months, you’ve all worked hard to learn your lines, develop your characters, and do justice to the complexity of the script.
This attention to detail sets the Fairway Players apart from other amateur drama groups.
Far be it from me to throw shade at any specific group, but anyone who has seen a production by Fowey Light Operatic Society will know they are strangers to the word rehearsal and character development workshop.
This commitment to quality and authenticity will, I know, be clear to the NADA judge. So whatever part you play, onstage or off, you could be a winner.
Each and every one of us has given the production process their all, but I would like to mention a few who have battled against the odds. Firstly, Amelia Stibson, who despite her carbon boot only being removed last Wednesday, will be onstage this Thursday as planned.
Secondly, Georgia Taccuso, who was originally cast as Gerda Cristow.
She decided to decline the part and this turned out to be for the best, as she has since announced the happy news of her pregnancy.
Many congratulations to her and her co-parent, whoever he may be, and a big thank-you for acting as prompt when she would probably have rather been doing Pilates or knitting.
Finally, there’s someone whom I wish to highlight as she’s been a Fairway member for more years than I care to remember, mostly spent behind the scenes.
I’m sure Denise Malcolm would love to be onstage more often, but play after play she works tirelessly on props and costumes.
She auditioned for this play but wasn’t cast. Did she defect to another local drama group?
No. She rolled up her sleeves and knuckled down.
I’m very happy to report that we will have an authentic-looking gun and realistic “bang,” so crucial to the staging of the play. Thank you, Denise.
Finally, my wonderful wife, Sarah-Jane, and somewhat surly (while he takes his A levels) but no less wonderful son, Harley, have put up with me being absent physically and sometimes mentally over the past five months while I run around sorting things out. Thank you.
Finally, on the eve of Big Sunday I would like to say (and with credit to one of Sarah-Jane’s clients): Go forward into play week, be mindful, sleep like the dead, and in the windswept meadow be a wise old tree that rustles but never bends.
Kevin MacDonald, Committee cochair and director
To: Kevin MacDonald
From: Celia Halliday
Date: May 31, 2025
Subject: Re: Let play week begin…
Joel Halliday OBE.
Message exchange between Sarah-Jane and Kevin MacDonald on May 31, 2025:
11:00 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
There are THREE “final” paragraphs in that email.
11:00 a.m. Kevin wrote:
Shit!
11:01 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
Pilates and knitting? Did I do either when I was pregnant with Sammy—or Harley for that matter?
11:04 a.m. Kevin wrote:
Who knows what a normal pregnant woman does? I could’ve said Georgia would rather have been organizing her post-pregnancy work schedule or committing the contents of her freezer to Excel.
11:05 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
How’s Nicky-Rose?
11:05 a.m. Kevin wrote:
Ok. Why?
11:11 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
She’s less communicative with me than ever, yet seems very close to that mouse Isabel Beck.
11:12 a.m. Kevin wrote:
They meet before rehearsals in Squires.
11:12 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
Does that strike you as odd?
11:13 a.m. Kevin wrote:
No.
11:14 a.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
And finally, it’s Joel Halliday OBE.
11:14 a.m. Kevin wrote:
I KNOW!
Message exchange between Carol Dearing and Kevin MacDonald on May 31, 2025:
11:29 a.m. Carol wrote:
Don’t think I didn’t notice the sly and not-so-subtle dig, Kevin. You’re lucky I’m too busy with The Count of Monte Cristo to care!
11:31 a.m. Kevin wrote:
Just sorry we won’t see you onstage, Carol. You’d have made a decent Lady Angkatell.
11:33 a.m. Carol wrote:
Nonsense. Fran is a fabulous actor. She’ll bring the house down.
11:38 a.m. Kevin wrote:
That’s what I thought, and she was amazing in those early rehearsals, but in the last few weeks her performance has taken a dive.
11:40 a.m. Carol wrote:
Perhaps something outside of Fairways is bothering her?
11:41 a.m. Kevin wrote:
She’s moved out of her Hayward Heights flat to a bedsit on the Grange estate.
11:42 a.m. Carol wrote:
Why on earth has she done that? Did she lose her job at Sainsbury’s?
11:45 a.m. Kevin wrote:
No, she’s friends with Amelia, Lucas, and Georgia (who’s up the duff). She’s “swapped” with them, while they look for somewhere bigger of their own.
11:50 a.m. Carol wrote:
Well, I sympathize with the Stibsons, having had Nicky-Rose haunting my spare room since January. One doesn’t appreciate how valuable one’s own space is until someone else moves into it.
To: Rev. Joshua Harries
From: Fran Elroy-Jones
Date: May 31, 2025
Subject: So down
Dear Josh,
I don’t know how much longer I can go on like this. There’s no light or air and I can practically stand in the middle of the flat and touch everything in it.
Popped round to my place last night and Georgia was lying on my sofa, Lucas’s guitars and Amelia’s clothes were all over the place, and the kitchen was a filthy mess.
Every time I go over it feels less and less like mine.
They’ve got an irritating habit of asking me to bring them groceries from work and I never see any money in return.
They think “staff discount” means “free.”
Amelia is walking much better, but she’s in more pain than she lets on.
She wants the doctor to prescribe stronger analgesics for play week.
I think Lucas is suffering from delayed shock.
He was holding it together for Amelia, and now she’s recovering he’s feeling worse.
Yet there’s no doubt they’re happier than they were in the studio flat, so that makes me feel better.
You know why I’ve done this, don’t you? If I sacrifice something that means the world to me—my home—I hope it makes up for the hurt I’m causing by allowing you and me to continue.
It might not make sense to anyone else, but it does to me.
Now we can’t meet as often at my place, those few stolen moments during rehearsals are even more precious.
Luckily, we have rehearsals tomorrow, Monday, and Wednesday.
Then it’s the play nights. That’s three tea breaks and I’m sure we can meet up in the lane after the show too.
When are you and Elizabeth coming to see the play? All my love, Fran xxx
Undated page from a decorative journal belonging to Isabel Beck:
TODAY PLAY WEEK
YIPPEEE! Play week starts tomorrow! Gerda and I are going to “knock ’em dead” all week.
Not my words, Kevin’s when I came offstage after last week’s rehearsal and I’ve been walking on air ever since.
Of course, I’m very nervous, too, although according to the AI mindfulness app Sarah-Jane is always recommending, I should see nerves as a message from the universe that I care about something and that we should accept the feelings with calm detachment.
EEEEEEEK!!!! Fran used to say that if you feel nervous before an important event you should tell yourself it’s really excitement that will make your performance better, which tricks you into seeing it as a positive thing.
I keep telling myself Gerda isn’t the biggest part I’ve ever had with the most words and actions (but I don’t believe myself for one second, because it IS).
It’s Big Sunday tomorrow and Emma is bringing in the sculptures that are meant to be made by Henrietta (Amelia) to depict Gerda (me) who is married to the man she loves (Nick).
I really hope Emma has noticed the six pounds I’ve lost over the last couple of months and that I’ve had my hair cut to look (a bit) like Nicky-Rose’s—although hers is much longer and glossier than mine.
It’s the same basic shape. I keep telling myself I’m excited to see the statues, but really I’m super nervous.
I’m meeting Nicky-Rose at Squires before rehearsal on Monday and trying not to think it might be the last time.
It’s the last Monday rehearsal, boo, so might suggest we meet on Wednesday as well, before dress rehearsal.
Now we’re friends, surely we’ll meet regularly, even when there’s no rehearsal?
Nicky-Rose says there’s something really important she’d like me to do for her this week, but that she won’t tell me till nearer the time.
I asked if it was to do with the play and she said no, so I’m very excited about that (actually excited this time!).
I’m at work now, but swapped on to earlies for next week so I can get ready in time for the play. It means getting up at 6 a.m., boo, and traveling on the bus during rush hour, double boo, but it’ll be worth it to get to the hall early every night.
P.S. I didn’t mention Fran once during this journal entry!
Except now I’ve mentioned her in the P.S.
I can say she’s looking tired and stressed—which means Lady Angkatell is looking tired and stressed too.
Nicky-Rose says Kevin is disappointed with her performance and hopes she pulls it out of the bag on the nights.
We had a giggle together about her fling with the vicar!
Messages posted to Fran’s Hollow Play WhatsApp group on May 31, 2025:
2:17 p.m. Fran wrote:
Any chance of you guys making your own way to Big Sunday tomorrow? I’ll be at church in the morning and picking you up will mean driving all the way back.
2:20 p.m. Amelia wrote: