(Above) Colleen Giacomelli, Heather Carpenter, Alan Carpenter (Director) and Tabi Paternoster,
after receiving the 'Best Drama' Award at the NODA East Award ceremony in Ipswich, April 2024

The cast: (Left to right) Alice (Colleen Giacomelli); Miriam (Heather Carpenter); Annabel (Tabi Paternoster).

This play looks at the relationship between the two sisters: Annabel, and her younger sister Miriam who she has not seen for 35 years. Annabel has lived abroad, had a successful business and has been married. But she has returned to a very difficult situation, far more difficult than she ever imagines. Miriam, however, has stayed at home with their father until his death. Alice, their father’s nurse, has been a companion to him during the last difficult few years of his life. But as the play unfolds, much more about the sister’s relationship and personalities is unveiled.

The action takes place on a late summers’ afternoon in the garden of the dilapidated family home and continues into the late evening. As the sun sets and the darkness arrives, so too are secrets exposed and the light gives way to the darkness in lots of other ways. 

As Ayckbourn says: “Most ghosts we encounter are not wailing nuns or headless monks. The phantoms lie within us, born out of a past that continues to haunt us; suppressed memories that grow into nightmares of our own imaginings as we lie awake in the darkness.”

And so it is with Annabel and Miriam who are still haunted by their shared childhood history.

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Review by Martyn Rolfe - NODA

If you are going out to see an Alan Ayckbourn play, then you would be expecting a few laughs and his usual perceptive dialogue.
In Snake in the Grass, we get the perceptive dialogue but in a dark setting and with him touching on areas of the more unsavoury side of life.

The setting is the back garden of a family house and includes a tennis court, summerhouse and a well. This impressive set included all these elements and did not restrict the actors in any way. The summerhouse built over a well looked particularly splendid.

The play has four characters, although one is only a voice. The three ladies who make up the rest of the story are two sisters and a nurse. We first meet Annabel, (Tabi Paternoster) the older sister, who has returned from Australia following the death of her Father.  She left home 35 years earlier and has not been home since. Miriam, (Heather Carpenter), the younger sister has been nursing her father through his illness and appears to be much more emotional. Then there is Alice (Colleen Giacomelli), the blackmailing nurse.

To tell too much of the story would only confuse, as the many twists and turns left us guessing as to what would happen next.

This piece is mainly a duologue between the sisters and was most skilfully handled by these two experienced actresses. The face-to-face stand-up arguments, the touching explanations of the abuse they had both suffered, the plotting and indifference with which they often treated each other, all shone through. These were two very strong performances and their variations in pace and control made us, as audience members, hang on every word. It was a pleasure to watch each of them, as they ploughed through the massive amounts of dialogue, changing throughout the show until we reach the inevitable complete reversal of roles.

Alice compliments this trio by being the temporary villain of the piece.  As she moved through the play her confidence increased and the last scene gave her the chance to relax into the part and show off her obvious acting prowess.

The voice, (David Bryant) added some very eerie moments in this “tour de force” of a show.

Alan Carpenter, (Director) must have been thrilled with this opening night performance.

A good-sized audience thoroughly enjoyed this unusual Ayckbourn and I hope many more will come to see this excellent play.

Well done Wymondham.Players