Before the Fringe - Triple bill of clever one-act plays
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Before the Fringe – a triple bill of one act plays presented by Broadly Speaking Productions. At Ilmington Village Hall 2 May 2026 and again at Tysoe Village Hall 7 pm Sunday 17 May.
Review by Charles Essex
Playwright Ben Keyser’s theatre company Broadly Speaking Productions put on a triple bill of his clever one act plays at Ilmington Village Hall.
Pigeon Syndrome, which has won numerous awards for Best in Festival and Best Original Play at several one act play festivals in 2025, featured Dave Candy, one of the best comedy actors in South Warwickshire, as a slobby, insensitive ‘bloke’ who, much to the frustration of his long suffering wife (Christine Cherry), was not endowed with high levels of emotional intelligence.
Harangued by Christine for accidentally crushing a bee, Dave got back in her good books when he rescued and showed care for an injured pigeon. This led to hilarious scenes as he tried to recreate the same scenario by injuring more pigeons. No pigeons were hurt in the making of this play as Charlotte Ledger gave a top-class performance as puppeteer with stuffed pigeons and her subtle facial expressions and gestures were priceless.
Both Dave and Chrisine desperately wanted their relationship to improve but both lacked the assertiveness and wherewithal to know how to go about it.
Ben is taking this play with the same actors to the Edinburgh Fringe for six days 17-22 August.
In the Beans was a clever contrast of conflicting cultures, ages and attitudes. Ben stepped in at short notice due to an actor being unavailable to play the owner of a failing café. His first and only customer was Christine Cherry, this time as an elderly woman with a very convincing Mittel European accent and attitude. Ben was weary and defeated. Both characters were gay and had been rejected by locals in the small village where they lived. Christine’s wife, who had restricted their social activities, had died less than an hour before and for the first time in years she treated herself to a coffee. The interaction around the new coffee and café ‘culture’ was comical, even in the light of the tragedy.
Aften initially misfiring with misunderstandings, Ben and Christine’s relationship warmed as both realised their common bond of being outsiders in the village. Both were at pivotal points in their lives but circumstances had thrown them together and they were a mutual support at a difficult time.
The last play Mop and Bucket was, in this reviewer’s opinion, the best of the three. The owner of a cleaning company, Mr Bucket (Dave Candy) inherited the company from his father but had no desire to run it and it was failing badly. He was even sleeping at the office after his wife had asked him to leave the marital home. Charlotte Ledger gave a first-class performance as one of his cleaners. Her Eastern European accent was authentic throughout and her mannerisms and comments were realistically Slavic.
Dave gave a great portrayal of a man desperate and out of his depth. In a clever plot twist, Charlotte had been an astute chief executive in her own country but had had to come to the West for better pay to support the family and impressed Mr Bucket with her shrewd business acumen, so he suggests they swap roles. In an hilarious scene, Dave gives Charlotte the job as chief executive after the briefest of interviews. She however, as the new CEO, puts him through the wringer as she interviews him for a job as a cleaner, which he just scrapes through.
An entirely valid and worthy theme running through the plays was people’s eternal desire for ‘connection’, and relationship with others, which Ben highlighted ingeniously.
This was a very enjoyable evening of light entertaining comedy which lifted the spirits of everyone in the audience.
The trilogy of plays can be seen again at Tysoe Village Hall 7 pm Sunday 17 May.
Tickets go to: tysoevillagehall.org.uk
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