The Anniversary at Thame Players Theatre (Contributed)
THE ANNIVERSARY by Bill MacIlwraith, will be performed at The Players Theatre, Nelson Street, Thame, at 7.45pm on Friday, May 22, 2009.
Bournemouth based professional theatre company, Creative Cow, return to perform Bill MacIlwraith?s best known play, The Anniversary, at the theatre on Friday 22nd May at 7.45pm. Their visit is one of the last performances of their 29 performance tour which has taken them from Exmouth to Nottingham in eight weeks.
Many will remember their last very successful visit 18 months ago when they performed Peter Shaffer?s two, one act plays, The Private Ear, the Public Eye.
The Anniversary tells the story of a mother who keeps a tight hold on all three of her sons with gifts, threats and ruthless exploitation of their weaknesses. But as the family is unwillingly brought together to celebrate ?Mum?s? wedding anniversary (regardless of deceased Dad), revolt is in the air. One son gathers the courage to tell Mum he is moving to Canada and another breaks the news of an impending marriage. Mum finds her long ascendancy is broken at last.
The play is best remembered for the film version which starred Bette Davis and Sheila Hancock. Playwright Bill MacIlwraith said of the play: “… dear old Mum is a woman whose possessiveness is a killer, yet like the devil, she has an undeniable charm. She would never have been drowned as a witch, she would have been crowned Queen.”
Tickets are available at
