Meg Meagher and James Reynard performing in The History of Theatre at Alderney’s Island Hall. (0682733)

A LIGHT-HEARTED look at the history of theatre was performed in the Island Hall.Directed by Alderney-born James Reynard, the theatrical act documented famous plays from Ancient Greece to the modern day, via scenes from medieval morality, commedia dell’arte, Shakespeare, Victorian melodrama and Oscar Wilde.

Traffic of the Stage, in tandem with Rain or Shine, produced the performance, which lasted for more than two hours.

Knowing that audience participation was high on the agenda, I perched myself on the edge of the front row. I hoped my seating tactic would lead to the actors approaching those situated in the middle of the audience. However, my reverse-psychology plan was foiled inside three scenes.

‘I’m getting a strong feeling there’s a James in the audience and I think he’s sitting in the front row,’ said one of the actors, who was dressed as a cherub.

I tried to feign innocence and even looked at the radiator behind me to make it seem as if there was another James on the front row, but it was to no avail. I was ushered onto the stage, given a halo to wear and told to sing in an extremely high-pitched tone.

Local artist Paddy Campbell, a man who adores getting up on stage, had joined me before the singing began, as had a young lady from the back of the audience.

Paddy jumped feet first into the performance, singing beautifully as I attempted to hit notes that only a dog could hear.

The actor playing God was obviously none too impressed with my singing, as he entered into a red-faced tirade which ended, I think, with the words, ‘burn’, ‘in’ and ‘hell’, being shouted at me from point-blank range.

However, whatever God’s thoughts, it was a fun few minutes on stage and proved to be only the start of the audience’s involvement in the evening.

St Anne’s School head teacher Mike Gaunt was regularly called into action and even performed a sketch with one of his pupils.

Mike also took a leading role in the final act, which involved the majority of the crowd. The actors performed A Christmas Carol and relied on many of the 70-strong audience to contribute with various sound effects. Mike produced a stunning grandfather clock, while several others got to grips with howling wind and Christmas cheer.

Our table was asked to make the noise of clanging chains. Some improvisation was clearly needed and it was provided by Paddy, who scraped his wine glass against a table leg, my girlfriend, Sarah, tapping her fingernails on the table and me striking the aforementioned radiator.

Director James praised our efforts but didn’t award us the bottle of fizz that had been offered for best performance. That prize, quite rightly, was given to birthday girl Meg Meagher, who performed a great show alongside her colleagues, Jillian O’Dowd, Andrew Cleaver and James Reynard.Setting the sceneMeg Meagher and James Reynard performing in The History of Theatre at Alderney’s Island Hall. (0682733)‘I was ushered onto the stage, given a halo to wear and told to sing in an extremely high-pitched tone’Poll position