Rossendale Players

"Play was very good tonight, two very talented people playing the two parts. 23 in the audience a bit disappointing, though in view of the upset within the group lately, which I've just heard about, it's not surprising. Really sad a local theatre should behave this way when it's run by volunteers. Been supporting this theatre for many years now as a season ticket holder and I'm very dismayed to hear the tales I've been told...."

"I went to see The Kitchen Sink by Tom Wells at the Millennium Theatre. Great play: funny & poignant. Very professional all-round; set design, acting, front of house and great touches including very reasonable bar & brews at the interval. Bravo!"

"Another delightful evening in Rossendale My first visit to the New Millennium Theatre in Rossendale was to see a wonderful rendition of ‘The Lady in the Van’ by The Rossendale Players. I thoroughly enjoyed my 1st trip to this little gem of a theatre, so I was eager to return. I chose last night for my 2nd visit and this time, I took my young apprentice who is more of an expert on musical theatre to see the latest play from The Rossendale Players This time it was their version of RC Sherriff’s classic play ‘Journey’s End’ which portrays the futility and slaughter of the First World War. I was keen to see how this amateur group of actors tackled this especially tricky subject matter. After a warm Welcome and after a quick stop at the bar, we found a couple of seats with a good view of the action. When the curtain went back and revealed the stage, I was instantly transported in time to the essential, cramped claustrophobia of the whole tragic ordeal of being in trenches during the war. I was quite frankly taken aback by the quite remarkable set. The level of detail contained in the set was perfect for the story to be told and along with the size of the theatre, I was literally drawn in. I cannot imagine how a larger theatre could match this perfection on a larger stage. The play opened up with Noah Burd playing the role of the rock steady and calm Lieutenant Osborne. Noah’s portrayal of the pipe-smoking former schoolmaster whose nickname “Uncle” was conveyed with a steady and detailed performance. He neatly conveys his avuncular wisdom, while underlining the general tragic lack of point in the war. In his performance, I got the sense that “Uncle” still saw himself as the schoolmaster looking after the young soldiers, whilst ever having it in his mind that they may become machine gun fodder, sooner rather than later. The sadness of the whole situation was evident in Noah’s craggy facial expressions. (A lot like MR Wilson in Dad’s army). William Gelding played the young Second Lieutenant Raleigh, newly arrived at the front in 1918. I was blown away with William’s performance as he expertly captured the spirit of a young man’s first deployment with his moon-faced naivety, anxiety and worries. Young William is a star in the making in my view. In his naivety, Raleigh has asked to join ‘C’ company in the trenches, because the commanding officer there is Captain Stanhope who was a few years ahead of Raleigh at school and a family friend and his hero. Captain Stanhope is a broken frightened man, who is held together mainly by whiskey. Daniel Starkie played the captain with a mix of power, passion and pompousness. His naturalness in his voice and accent in the role, suggests that the actor talks like that in real life. The rest of the cast complimented the 3 main actors with David West playing the rough-hewn and capable Second Lieutenant Trotter; At times he reminded me of ‘Del Boy’ Trotter with his comic timing Intentional comical German accents from the Colonel (Gary Kennedy) and the German Soldier ( Ben Maguire) lightened the mood, along with Joe Clegg who made me chuckle playing the humorous cook, Mason. His apologising for having to replace tinned pineapples with tinned apricots, or serving “oniony” tea, reminded me of Baldric in Blackadder. Overall the performance was powerful, passionate and superbly acted and to a level where the 3 main actors could easily pull it off in a professional performance in a bigger theatre or a small screen. The acting reminded me in many ways of the small screen versions of ‘Dad’s Army’ and ‘Blackadder’. The excellent set greatly assisted the actors with their natural and realistic performances."