© 2025 Buckland Newton Community Website Committee Last updated 24th March 2025 08:50 Website design and update by Jeremy Collins
Piddle Valley
Players
The Piddle Valley Players hail
from further down the Piddle
Valley and are a well-respected
amateur dramatics group
The Piddle Valley Players is a very friendly group and always welcomes
new members. We rehearse on Thursday evenings from 7pm and some
Sunday afternoons, from September to February at Piddletrenthide
Memorial Hall. Some of their productions, including their recent “Guys and
Dolls” and “Oklahoma”, are held in Buckland Newton Village Hall.
For further information, please contact our Director, Holly Royle on
07775 436075 or hollvr@hotmail.com
February 2024 - in Buckland Newton Village Hall. The Piddle Valley
Players presented “Me and My Girl”.
February 2019 - in Buckland Newton Village Hall - Rodgers and
Hammerstein’s ‘Oklahoma’ was another great success for the talented
Piddle Valley Players.
Raffles at the show raised £254 each for St Helena Hospice and Marie
Curie.
Broadway came to Buckland Newton - Piddle Valley Players -Guys
and Dolls
For five nights the audiences were transported to a fifties New York,
innovative scenery moved us seamlessly from Mission Hall to Night Club to
Havana and back. The hall was set up as a night club with subtle lighting,
chequered tablecloths, dice and red hearts on the tables. Local talent
blossomed, as ever, under the expert direction of Rachel Olley. We knew
Holly Royle could sing but boy can she act - her high pitched, squeaky
New York accent as Adelaide was brilliant and of course her singing was
excellent. Her backing troupe of Annie Lock, Alice Goddard, Emily Knights
and Nicky Edmunds was step and pitch perfect. John Aspinall as Sky
Masterson was a revelation - he took on the part and made it his own (who
needs Marlon Brando) and Hattie Olley as the subject of his attention was
superb. Her singing and acting were so good and she looked to be having
a great time, especially in Havana! Pete Lindsley took on the Frank Sinatra
main role and, as we have come to expect, delivered a high quality
performance. From the drama of Luck Be A Lady (John Aspinall and the
gamblers on fine form) to the poignancy of More I Cannot Wish You (Suzie
Thorpe charming the audience) the Piddle Valley Players did themselves
proud. The costumes were many and spot on - from the guys in their suits
and hats, the Cuban dancers, the nightclub entertainers to the mission
outfits. With a great live band on the stage the action took place in the
centre of the hall so everyone had a good view. During the interval cast
members served excellent rum and lime daiquiris along with authentic New
York bagels with the traditional cream cheese and smoked salmon -
delicious.
Buckland Newton Community Website
in the heart of rural Dorset