Winter Warmers - Melville's season of short plays.

Curtain up at 8pm. Sunday matinee at 2pm. Your ticket price includes a cup of homemade soup at interval. The Boat by Jill Shearer Directed by Chris Hughes Sel is pre-occupied with fishing – even in the living room – where he keeps his dinghy and fishing gear. He is a depressed man, having been made redundant after 30 years loyal service with one company. He is a gentle man, continually retreating to a place where he is happiest. His wife Mary handles the situation as if nothing is abnormal and is fiercely protective of him as is their son Brian, who has fond memories of fishing with his Dad as a child. He is very concerned and upset with the deterioration of his Father’s demeanor and is in turn angry and resigned to the situation. His girlfriend is not aware of Brian’s Father’s condition and turns up unexpectedly to see Brian, hoping to get to know the family better. She is a social worker on secondment from America and is urging Brian to take up a job in her home town of Princeton. She is very gentle and understanding with Sel but the family are not about to accept her diagnosis that he is sick. The Most Massive Woman Wins by Madeleine George Directed by Jodie Hansen The Most Massive Woman Wins introduces us to four women who, for various reasons, want to change the way they look. The audience follows their journey as they wait patiently for liposuction surgery. A guilty mother, a bulimic, a self harmer, and a post modern feminist with low self esteem, try to win the battle to be thin. We get a glimpse of the struggle they face in their everyday lives to live up to society’s pressure to conform to a certain body image. The audience is taken inside each of the women’s lives as they try to come to terms with their lack of self-esteem and the effects of abusive relationships. Melville is pleased to present four original monologues. Sienna’s Wisdom by Angela Pritchard Directed by Val Riches. An Italian mama tells us about her many visitors Chris Greenwood will direct three self penned monologues, the first of which was a finalist in the 2011 Maj Monologues competition. The Gumshoe Blues. A gumshoe’s life is one tainted with deception and treachery. Our gumshoe in this monologue has been taken for a ride that only a gumshoe of The Humphrey Bogart tradition could describe. Mistaken Deductibility. Imagine an unsuspecting Accountant of the Tax Agent variety being mistaken for a Secret Agent. Well they are both agents ... of a sort. Getting The Gig. What would happen if the rural, country regions became redundant? What if the people of the regions had to apply to gain entry into the sacred suburbs of the city.