ell, the wonders that were twelve years of pantomimes have faded into a distant memory. Described below are some of the 'proper' plays that were performed from 1983 until 1987. Some of plays are written by members of the group rather than hired from publishers and there are a pictures from revues as well.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view) there are no pictures of 'How The West Was Lost' since the originals are a bit on the fuzzy side.

The Victorian Melodrama is a standard piece of British drama, being designed for use in the music halls that were so popular during the late 19th Century. They tell morally uplifting stories in potted form, usually no more than fifteen to twenty minutes. Temptation Sordid looks pretty much like standard fare for the genre. I am pleased to report that Ian survived the attack by the lesser species of grey, flat, lip hugging vole common in and around Sessay.

'Housekeeper Wanted' is a play that I have read. It has its moments but like a lot of the farces available is terribly dated. It tells the story of a husband left by his wife trying to employ a housekeeper with each of the three applicants being worse than the rest.

On the face of it, Do you Believe... appears to be a pantomime, but closer inspection of the other photographic evidence proves it to be the opposite. There appears to be rather a lot of sitting around eating biscuits and talking, something that rarely happens in a pantomime. It's a bit like a fancy dress coffee morning.

I know nothing about the veterinary production. I assume that it was based on the popularity of the James Herriot novels being televised at the time. Not shown is the picture that has the nurse standing on a chair presumably escaping an imaginary mouse. Quite why the vet is carrying a cricket bat is not certain. Best not to ask, I expect.

One of the nice things about trawling through the old photographs is to notice just how little some people have changed over a span of some fifteen years; the only indication being the different hairstyles.

The pictures to the right contain the usual mix. Safe Custody has an additional part played by a corgi named Pippa. If you look closely at the photograph they you can just see the very taught lead! The second picture is the entire cast for a series of plays on the theme of Love and Marriage.

The final two are from melodramas again. I would quite like to have seen The Molecatchers. It looks like the sort of insanity that would appeal to my warped mind. I must borrow it from the Library some time.

Well, that's it. If you have viewed all of the pages in the required order then you will have come to the end. There are no more pictures from Sessay for the moment. Hopefully I will be able to acquire some from Gosforth's Fete and, of course, there will definitely new ones from this year's production.

Do take the time to visit any of the two other groups that I am involved in. The BL Players do tend to have more photographs, but HADDS is worth a visit.