St Pancras International Station the perfect platform for drama group

Published: 3 September, 2010
by PETER GRUNER

A RETIRED accountant from Angel and her two grandchildren are to star in a show on Sunday in front of rail travellers at St Pancras International Station.

Deirdre Weir, 67, and her grandchildren, Holly, 8, and Leo, 5, will dress  in top hat and tails and carry canes when they dance to the 1920s song Me and My Shadow in the station arcade.

It’s all part of a performance, Lost and Found, by 12-strong Angel Players, a group of amateur actors mainly aged from 55 upwards. The children attend St John the Evangelist School in Duncan Terrace.

A similar performance last year was praised by former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion.

Deirdre, who lives on the Popham estate, has also written a 45-minute play, Loveaglove, for the event.

She said: “I’ve been practising every day for the past couple of weeks with the kids. They are very enthusiastic but there are bound to be a few mistakes. For busy international travellers waiting for a train it will be a welcome diversion and hopefully they will be entertained.”

The Players were formed three years ago after meeting at a creative writing course at the Claremont Project, an Angel community centre.

Deirdre has also written an autobiography, Forty Days of Bullseyes, which she self-published. It charts her early days in Dublin as part of a family of ten children. 

“It is a story of my life as a child and how we coped in hard times and with very little money,” she said.

In her new play, lost gloves become a symbol for reuniting people who have lost touch with each other over the years. 

“There are still eight of my brothers and sisters left,” she said. “They are scattered all over the world, including in Canada, Australia and Ireland. 

“But we are all due to get together at Camden Irish Centre for a reunion next week.”

Creative writing tutor Sara Nesbitt, who directs the show, will perform her own poem sequence about a woman who suffers a breakdown but comes through the experience renewed. Angel Players will perform at St Pancras International from 2-3pm on Sunday.