Escaped Alone (March & September, 2019)

Escaped Alone

Following on from their success in Sawston where Escaped Alone not only won First place, but best set and joint best actress for all our ladies, they have had another very successful night in Cambridge. They won second place overall at the Cambridge Festival of Drama, and Rosemary Eason won Best Individual Performance. They were also nominated for best technical achievement for the set, and for the adjudicator’s award for teamwork between the four actors.

At Woking the group continued the good news, coming 2nd overall (missing first place by 1 mark), and scoring Rosemary another Best Actress award!

"The best thing about this play has been having a cast who are not only such terrific actors but also my friends. Thank you to all of you - Rosemary Eason, Tracy James, Patricia Peroni and Alex Priestley. And to Martin Avery for the techie stuff and digging up the garden for the set, and Robert Edward Bright for prompting and joining in on all the discussions." Chris Avery - Director

Three old friends and a neighbour. A summer of afternoons in the back yard. Tea and catastrophe . . . .

Director Chris Avery says:

I picked up the script of Escaped Alone and read the list of characters:

“Sally, Vi, Lena, Mrs J. They are all at least 70.” I thought, “How could I not do this play?”

Fortunately four of the best local actresses of – shall we say a certain age? – thought the same, and we’re now having a wonderful time rehearsing it for the Sawston Drama Festival. It’s challenging, thought provoking (I think we may have done as much talking about it as rehearsing it), occasionally infuriating, often moving, and there are some great one liners. What looked like an incomprehensible mixture of half lines, interruptions, non sequiturs and streams of consciousness to begin with is now becoming the stories, jokes, fears and sadnesses of four lifetimes. We are making the connections and realising the effectiveness and skill of the writing. We find that what these characters say strikes chords in our own memories, and we have discovered so much shared experience between us. It’s been a terrific ride.

Production team

  • Director: Chris Avery
  • Technical Director: Martin Avery

Cast list

  • Sally: Alex Priestley
  • Vi: Tricia Peroni
  • Lena: Tracy James
  • Mrs J: Rosemary Eason