Me and Mrs Red love the theatre too Tony. We especially like the smaller ones where one cast member plays several roles and the props and scenery are basic but really clever.
You've set off memories with that Red.
Many years ago I saw The Gambler by Mel Smith (of Alas Smith and Jones). One of my drinking buddies had a cousin in it so a squad of us went to the Everyman in Liverpool.
The Everyman was (is?) a small amphitheatre style setup, with seats raised around a stage.
The play started with the 4 actors popping in and out all over the theatre and playing the different sounds and shouts of a racecourse. They then explained that the play was about gambling so they'd be asking the audience to take a gamble, heads or tails, and if you won you got free tickets to the venue, if you lost you sat on stage as an extra.
I lost and sat at a pub table on the edge of the stage enthralled at how 4 people could play so many characters so well with minor changes of stance, prop etc making the characters clearly different. One memorable bit where 2 racing horse owners are discussing a horse and one introduces his jockey - as he turned away the other owner span round the back of him to the other side onto his knees, owner one slapped a jockeys hat on his head and the conversation continued.
At times an actor would join the table for a pub scene - which included him getting us all to murmur 'rhubarb rhubarb' to make up the background noise of the racecourse boozer.
I was also given 2 tickets for any show in the next 3 months at the end.
We then went for a few with the cast who told us that they did the bet at the beginning for £20 in the original run in London, allowing double or quits until losing crowd members got even (which got quite high and had the audiences hooked).
I enjoyed the play that much that I got another group of workmates to go a couple of nights later, when I refused the gamble as I wanted to see it from the audience. Still really enjoyed it.
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