THE Wesley Players, a recently-formed group of amateur players in Bedford, have a rather macabre, but still magnificent, sense of humour.

They staged two one-act plays at St. Paul's Methodist Church Hall, Bedford, on Thursday last week assuming that the two plays chosen would mix sufficiently well to provide a successful example of living theatre.

Their assumption was of correct.

The introductory play, The Rose and Crown, by J. B. Priestley, left us with a vague fear of the future . . . a feeling that tomorrow might produce an unforeseen hazard which could not be tackled.

Its counter-part, This Desirable Cottage, by Anthony Booth, dispelled that fear with the thought that even the most disastrous situation —such as two honeymoon couples booking the same cottage at the same time—could be quite funny.

Mr. Stone (played by Peter Beck) a grumbling tradesman, pops into his local, The Rose and Crown, for an evening with his friends.

But their evening is spoilt by the appearance of a stranger (David Carter), who walks in and tells Harry Tully (Ralph Kilby) he must, die.

Producer Peter Beck had carefully thought out the climax by weighting the earlier conversation slightly so that the entrance of the stranger was met with an uncertain silence.

Well done, Mr. Beck. The players, too, deserve congratulations for their excellent acting.

This Desirable Cottage was the perfect antidote to the caustic theme of the first play.

The audience laughed with the players and at the players, and joined in with the general feeling of fun.

The honeymoon couples (played by Don Edwards, Barbara Spencer, Chris Maskell and Frances Yunnie) have been married for five hours.

The wives arrive wearing the same dress and both an carried over the threshold o: the overcrowded love nest.

Also on the scene are Woody (Tony Armstrong), who has booked the cottage for week's fishing, Tina (Olive Bennett) who has come to paint and Fred (Tony Wells)—who has come to pull down the cottage!

This was light comedy and it made no attempt to do anything other than make the audience laugh.

THE CASTS

The Rose and Crown

Peter Beck, Edith Allen. John Yunnie, Margaret Maskell, Nan Armitage, Ralph Kilby. David. Carter, prompter, Joy Newbold.

This Desirable Cottage

Don Edwards, Barbara Spencer, Chris Maskell, Frances Yunnie, Tony Armstrong, Olive Bennett, Tony Wells, producer, Myrtle Newbury, prompter, Anne Phillips.