Month: Apr 2026

All Together Ooky; Addams Family Musical with Devizes Musical Theatre

Whether you’ve a bizarre inclination to meet the Addams Family in the flesh and figure this might be your closest opportunity, you couldn’t think of anything worse, or you’ve absolutely no opinion on the matter whatsoever, Devizes Musical Theatre’s Addams Family Musical is a must-see!

Invited to the dress rehearsal yesterday, The Addams Family Musical opens tonight, Wednesday 1st, and runs to Saturday 4th April, at Dauntsey’s School, and I can confirm it’s creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky and absolutely brilliant. I left delighted and more charmed than spooked. 

The Addams Family began as a panel in the New Yorker by Charles Addams, a cartoonist alleged to be nearly as weird as the characters he created, but it was the gothic sitcom of the sixties which most will fondly recall, and Barry Sonnenfeld’s nineties movie adaptations brought them into contemporary culture.

The popularity of a recent television spinoff about the family’s daughter Wednesday fares well with the timeliness of this production, especially being the story of this musical centres around Wednesday coming of age too. Within the beloved setting of the Addams Family franchise, it follows a classic musical plot of forbidden love with a happy ending.

It tells of losing inhibitions and that love is calmly discussing your differences. But, no more spoilers from me! Rest assured you’re in capable hands, because the casting on this is impeccable, and its appearance is the best we’ve seen so far from Devizes Musical Theatre; it’s a ghoulish visual feast.

I couldn’t pick a favourite part, they were all exceptional. Gary Robson makes a convincing Gomez, the father, but Dolly May was born for the part of his wife Morticia, it would seem, and the chemistry between them was magnetic. Likewise for Wednesday, played so utterly wonderfully by Grace Sheridan, and the object of her desires, Lucas, in which Oscar Thorley played with superb ease; if Oscar is his name, well, he should win one!

In contrast to the family traits, Lucas’ parents Lucy Burgess and Simon Hoy presented them with professional quality, particularly when their influences are altered by the course of the narrative. Then you have the steadfast extra family members, pouring the comedy into it, such as the Grandma, Debby Wilkinson, whose haunting cackle alone would be plentiful for comic effect, without the need for her grinning smirks and ambling around the stage.

Cameron Williams plays Frankenstein’s Prometheus butler Lurch, who is still amazing, despite having nothing but a growl, because there’s a twist, at the end, and I’ll say no more. The troubled son Pugsley, played with magic by Georgia Saunders is key to a plot twist, and is so convincing in the relationship with his sister, she may as well be a sibling to Grace. 

Attending a dress rehearsal has slight differences to the actual show, one thing you wouldn’t see at the show was when, at the interval, Ben Griffiths-Mills, who plays the disturbingly innocent Uncle Fester, came to address the director Lyn Taylor, who happened to be sitting beside me. The Addams Family is more music and fun than spooky, the most shocking part of my evening was not in the show, rather when Ben spoke in his normal voice to Lyn, as I was so utterly convinced by his sublime performance as Fester, I expected him to speak with the quirky high-pitched accent of Fester! And this sums the experience up, so credible it is, I had to remind myself these were actors in character; in that, Thing wasn’t wandering around the school at night, and if forced to pick a favourite, Uncle Ben Fester would probably be it!

Such is the attention to detail, I reveal there’s not just a random collective of excellent dancers too, but they’re separate characters of the ghostly ancestors the Addams have venerated, and each dances around their crypts according to their back stories and fate; the program identifies them, and the cast highlight the show.

I’ve mentioned the dubious double-meaning of the word ‘amateur’ used in the term ‘amateur dramatics’ before, being a noun for ‘unprofessional’ doesn’t necessarily mean the subject it refers to is ‘rubbish,’ as second definitions suggest. I did so in a review of a Devizes Musical Theatre production, because, while everyone volunteers, the standard, attention to detail, and production values are so high you could assume you’re at the West End. This notion has never been more relevant than with their latest production, The Addams Family Musical; if you’re going, you’re in for a treat…and definitely not a trick.

When people come to see ’em, They really are a scream, The Addams Family may not have the same box office clout as Devizes Musical Theatre producing a Disney fairy-tale; there’s a few tickets left for a performance which usually sells out. Do not be distracted by the quirky choice of production, as this was DMT at their very best.

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Katie Hopkins to Reopen Devizes Cinema in May

Picturedrone, the new owners of the old Palace Cinema in Devizes announced today that the cinema will have a grand reopening as early as May, and media personality turned controversial comedian Katie Hopkins has accepted an invitation to cut the ribbon on the newly renovated establishment….

May is set to be an exciting time in Devizes, when the cinema will finally be reopened. We are told the work is near complete and the company plans to reopen in May, though an exact date remains unconfirmed. The town’s only cinema closed in July 2021, with broken promises to reopen under new management. But the new owners, Picturedrone Cinemas, met spiralling costs with the extensive refurbishment. The good news is, The Wiltshire Reform Party has stepped in to help fund the project.

Aiming for a traditional, multi-use, Roman Colosseum styled venue, the cinema will also house the Wiltshire Reform headquarters and provide them with a space to hold popular conferences and rallies. Flagpoles will align the Market Place outside, restoring pride in our country and providing dogs and drunks with somewhere to relieve themselves. They really have thought of everything, even the reintroduction of white dog shit.

Harmless and loved by all, Katie Hopkins is expected to deliver one of her hilarious hate speech comedy routines before she cuts the ribbon and Devizes cinema will be open once again, to patriots and Brexiteers only. Then there will be a screening of “Mein Kampf: The Movie,” an animated cartoon adaptation of Reform’s beloved bible, aimed at children.

“We’re eternally grateful to the Wiltshire Reform party for their donation,” a spokesperson for Picturedrone said, “I mean, who needs equality, basic morals, Trowbridge’s Oden, or a health service, when you can stuff hotdogs while watching ‘1000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story’ on the big screen, in the comfort of your own town, yell abusive gibberish and puke Wetherspoons lager into your popcorn?”

A spokesperson for Wiltshire Reform said, “we’re making cinema great again. It will be like the good old days of British cinema, Zulu, Dad’s Army and The Black and White Minstrel Show. There will be snogging and fingering in the back row, and chewing gum will be squashed into every chair. Their springs will jut out of the material piercing every bottom; just as uncomfortable as our make-it-up-as-we-go manifesto. And of course, you will be allowed to smoke cigarettes inside, in fact, that’s compulsory.”

“If you visit the cinema in Devizes you can rest assured your family will not be exposed to dangerous leftie woke films. They will not be shown. No films of forced diversity, gendered power shifts, anything by Mark Ruffalo, or any containing boats, save perhaps ‘Titanic’; just films with good old traditional family values, like ‘Showgirls’ and ‘Lolita.”

The Ivana Trump biopic The Apprentice will be the first film screened at the reopened cinema, and is expected to attract huge interest.

A spokesperson for Devizes Town Council told Devizine they think this is, “a great initiative and an asset to our town.” They continued to express their delight and said, “I’m looking forward to the cinema reopening and inviting Danny Kruger back to Devizes so I can kiss the hem of his petticoat in the dark. We’re grateful for Reform’s contribution. I think all Devizes Town Councillors should show their gratitude by switching their chosen party affiliation to Reform, and if they don’t, I’ll ban them from my popular Facebook page, or call Donald to carpet bomb the town, thus liberating our people from the oppressive regime of The Devizes Gardens, or Guardians, or whatever stupid name they call themselves.”

Devizes wet wipe residents active on the Devizes Tissues (but bitter) Facebook group are said to have “shot their load” upon hearing the news about “sexy” Katie Hopkins’ appearance, as excitement builds for the town’s many gammon flagshaggers. Bert, a local fake profile, deliberately provoking poll maker and anchor with a capital W is said to be “besides himself,” likely because no one else would. 

Hopefully, by next April Fools Day a visit to the cinema in Devizes will be a usual occurrence, and we will all be marching there in Nigel Faragührer football kit uniform. Thank you, Reform, and the Russian oligarchs who are gaslighting your fascist propaganda. I’m so happy about the cinema and its “free fags” policy, and, being as thick as a Hungry Horse’s Big Plate Special slice of gammon with the political awareness of a small pickled egg, I’m voting for you now.

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Chandra Likely To Go Boom!

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