This picture is from Tom Jones in 1987 - a thoroughly good romp of a summer open-air show that received a great reception from the audience and a was a nice change from Shakespeare.

My own part as Lord Fellamar was rather small (it was my very first role with the BATS) but by way of compensation he was a rotten cad and I got to deliver my lines in a rather fetchingly fashionable lisp and to wear that rather fancy blue frock coat and a wig!

Oh, and I seem to remember an attempted abduction of the heroine Sophie, involving carrying her down those steep steps in the background - not the last time I was utilised by directors to carry fellow Bats around the gardens!

Luckily I was still in my thirties so could get away with it.....

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Tom Jones....Fellamar getting a bit fresh with Sophie...she seems to be getting out of character and enjoying herself far too much in this shot. As in so many of these posed photos, normally taken during a dress rehearsal when the cast just want to get away and learn their last elusive lines, the theatrically placed hands give away the fact that the supporting cast are frozen stiff waiting for the next shot. Yes, Dominic wins the prize for best waxwork dummy in this one!

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Download the program for the show:

Click here to download (.PDF Adobe Acrobat format, approx 1.6 MB)

All photos supplied by Rob Kay