The Andaman Players: From left, Molly McGill, Tony Kelsey-Stead and D Russell.

The Green Man Pub in Chalong has become a base for a crazy gang of guys and gals dedicated to creating great theatre.

Drawn together last year to perform the pantomime Mother Goose, the group has grown, given itself a name - The Andaman Players - and is forging ahead with a set of comedies, due to start tonight and over the weekend.

For founding member Tony Kelsey-Stead, the group filled a void in his otherwise contented island life.

A retired school teacher from Britain, Kelsey-Stead was also a serious amateur thespian.

Finding Phuket theatrically barren, he formed the group to put on a Christmas pantomime, hoping it would grow into something more.

Others with theatrical ambitions flowed towards the theatre behind the Green Man.

The camaraderie of the troupe was such that, once the New Year's hangovers subsided, it regrouped to rehearse another show.

Most of those involved have, for want of a better term, "real jobs". Teachers, editors, architects, designers, even writers, have all generously given their free time to join in. Families and loved ones have learned to accept that several evenings a week, their significant others leap around on a stage for no better reason than to enjoy the art of acting.

From tonight, audiences will be able to enjoy two short comedies - AR Gurney's "Scuba Lessons" and an energetic offering set in Phuket entitled "Night in a Bar Room". In between will be a series of classic comedy skits and songs.

Phuket Gazette

Daily Xpress