• Miss Madrigal
• Maitland
• Laurel
• Nurse
• Olivia
• Mrs St Maugham
  The Judge
  Second Applicant
  Third Applicant

• Director
• Stage Management
• S
• Lighting Design
• Sound design
• Lighting & Sound
• S
• Continuity
• Set design
• wardrobe
• programme/Poster design

• Sue Shephard
  Roland Boorman
  Stephanie King
  Angela Chabot
  Gini Comyns
  Tricia Pape
  John Hamilton
  Sandra Haynes
  Sylvia Aston

• Stella Dench
• Rosina Heathcote & Cicely Ridley
• paddy turner
• Alan Lade
• Alan Lade & Lindsey Holledge
• Sandra Haynes
• Stella Dench
• Marie Mason & The Cast
• alan lade

Review by Shirley Linsell

Seaford Little Theatre is currently presenting one of the classics, and  what a delight it is.
The play is enacted  against the back drop of one of the best sets ever.
The story is of  a grandmother who takes care of her grand daughter with the help of a manservant and instruction from above from a retired butler, who is confined to bed and you never see. She puts an advertisement out for a companion for her sulky, difficult and prone to exaggeration ward. Three apply for the post; two go away, leaving a very quiet and still person. The last character gets the job and within two months she has made a change in all their lives. They call her the boss and what she knows about gardening must rival all the TV gurus.
The child’s mother arrives intent on getting her daughter back and at a dinner party for a judge things come to  climax.
Stella Dench’s skill as a director shows so clearly in this sometimes difficult and  wordy play but she is up to the challenge and so are her actors.
The  cameo roles of the other two applicants are played by Sandra Haynes and Sylvia  Aston. These two are good in their parts  There is the nurse of the old man. played very well by Angela Chabot and I loved Gini Comyns as the daughter.
The welcome return of Roland Boorman as the manservant adds to this production and he is an actor who has been missed.. John Hamilton plays the judge and interprets the man who is not  at ease, in the world away from the court, so well.
Then there are the big three. Stephanie King as the girl just gets better and better. Then there is Trish Pape as the proudly eccentric grandmother, not really involved with  what is going on around her.
Sue Shephard as the companion is just wonderful; her stillness, her pain and
her judge of character are all shown clearly.
As usual all the backstage people do an excellent job and the whole production is worthy of an award.

Oh and the Bafta. Sue Shephard. I have never seen her give a better performance.

EVENING ARGUS Review by Tony Flood

Director Stella Dench, who first produced The Chalk Garden 28 years ago in the same theatre, ensures a triumphant revival at Seaford this week.

She brings the best out of a talented cast who capture the comedy and pathos in Enid Bagnold's wordy script.

And she shrewdly casts 20-year-old Stephanie King as Laurel, a troubled girl of 16 who likes screaming, making bonfires and lying.

There are also excellent performances from Tricia Pape, as Laurel's acerbic grandmother Mrs St Maughan, Roland Boorman, making a comeback in the role of manservant Maitland, and Sue Shephard as new governess Miss Madrigal.

Bagnold's desire to project English eccentricity provides glorious parts for all nine actors, but she does not maintain the delightful idiosyncrasies shown in the first act by Maitland and Laurel.

The reason is that Laurel, damaged by her father’s death and her mother’s remarriage, and Maitland, affected by a spell in prison, benefit from the calming influence of the mysterious Miss Madrigal.

The governess's talents extend to restoring the chalk garden of the Sussex manor house.

Shephard is convincing without having the same impact as Boorman, King and Pape.

Sylvia Aston and Sandra Haynes give superb cameos as applicants for the job of governess, while other fine support is provided by Gini Comyns (negligent mother Olivia), John Hamilton (The Judge) and Angela Chabot (Nurse).

SEAFORD SCENE Review by Emily-Jane Polling

Enid Bagnold’s The Chalk Garden, which first premiered in London in 1956, was enchantingly revived by Stella Dench at the Seaford Little Theatre last Saturday (12th February).Tbe performance was a triumph, successfully capturing the play’s magnificent blend of humour; emotion and secrecy.
The Chalk Garden is a play with many layers. At purely face value it is a comedy, but beneath the quick wit, it is a deeply moving portrayal of unhappiness, loneliness and family turmoil. Set fittingly in a Sussex manor house the drama revolves around a somewhat dysfunctional family governed by the matriarchal Mrs St Maugham (Tricia Pape). Displeased with her daughter’s re-marriage, Mrs St Maugham takes charge of her eccentric and disturbed pyromaniac granddaughter; Laurel (Stephanie King).The two are cared for by the fragile butler Maitland (Roland Boorman), but are all controlled by the sick and elderly ex-butler; Pinkbell.The action of the play begins with the employment of a mysterious woman, Miss Madrigal (Sue Shephard) as a companion for Laurel.
The appointment of Miss Madrigal forms the core of the play, as it is gradually revealed that she once stood on trial for murder. The governess tries desperately throughout the play to help break feisty Laurel free from the suffocating life with her grandmother. Bagnold’s sensitive metaphor of the chalk garden is apparent throughout the play; Laurel can’t grow and flourish in her current environment any more than flowers and rhododendrons can prosper in Mrs St Maugham’s chalk-laden garden.
Praise must be given to Sue Shephard for her brilliant portrayal of Miss Madrigal. She beautifully conveyed the silent inner turmoil of the character. Shephard kept her body tense and rigid throughout, displaying the strength of Madrigal, yet her eyes were so deep with emotion and thought that her secret struggle could be easily seen.The character of Miss Madrigal was wonderfully brought to life and gave a sense of tortured humanity to the production. The play was terrifically performed by the amateur cast and well deserved the praise the audience gave it.The only criticism I have of the production was the costume worn by Laurel in Act One.Throughout the first Act Laurel (who was well played by Stephanie King) wore very modern blue jeans, a white shirt and a sparkly pink belt around her waist. Seeing as the play is set in the 1950's Laurel’s costume was totally out of keeping with the play and the attire of the rest of the cast, especially as she then wore typical 50's dress in Acts Two and Three.
Overall the production was a joy to watch and was clearly enjoyed by the audience. Stella Dench did a sterling job of reincarnating Enid Bagnold’s play.