Details

Sylvie is a round-shouldered and slatternly village girl who helps prim-and-proper Celia, the headmaster's wife, around the house. Devoid of self-esteem, poor Sylvie is taken advantage of by her chauvinist gardener boyfriend, Lionel, who constantly ticks her off for dressing like a 'lollipop on legs' and tells her she must 'buck up her ideas' if she wants to keep up with him. Taking Lionel at his word, Sylvie sets about bettering herself. With the help of Toby the schoolmaster and Celia, she takes lessons in deportment and reading, to get her man. But doors open for Sylvie when she discovers she has a brain! Much to Lionel's despair! What's happened t his little lollipop? As for Sylvie, should she embrace her new found life? Or reject it and throw in her lot with that virile handyman and become a conventional village wife and mum? A Garden Fete is one of a series of plays about a group of suburbanites written under the heading, Intimate Exchanges.

Cast/Performers

Bill Champion, Claudia Elmhirst

Creatives/Company

Author: Alan Ayckbourn
Company: Stephen Joseph Theatre Company
Director(s): Tim Luscombe, Alan Ayckbourn