IF Bournemouth ever had a small private hotel such as the Beauregard, I can well believe that it was inhabited by the type of social misfit so well portrayed in Tony Orman’s excellent and deeply moving production.
These characters really came alive, from Joy Taylor’s gloriously eccentric spinster, Miss Meacham, and Tommy Egerton’s domineering Mrs Railton-Bell to Hugh Norris’ dithering retired schoolmaster, Mr Fowler, and Ginnie Waters’ sympathetic manageress, Miss Cooper.
Kelvin West’s drink-sodden journalist with a past proved a fine foil for the superb Penelope Goddard as his actress ex-wife, Anne Shankland, with his occasional memory lapses cleverly disguised as drunken ramblings.
But it was in the relationship between disgraced Major Pollock and Mrs Railton-Bell’s daughter, Sybil, that the most pathos emerged, and I really felt for these sad people, outstandingly performed by Derek Hyder and Vanessa Turner.
And, given the postage-stamp size of the stage, many congratulations are due to Mike Satchell for his excellent two-level set that doubled as both the hotel dining room and lounge. The lack of space almost caused a nasty accident during one scene change, but how they managed to get seven tables and chairs into such a small area was nothing less than astounding.

Linda Kirkman
Courtesy of the Bournemouth Daily Echo.