Am dram star of the week in The New Kinver Players's production of Death on the Nile

I asked Peter how long he became involved in am dram and how long he had been performing.

“Amateur dramatics has been a large part of my life ever since I attended night school for the ADB Drama Course,” says Peter. “The course was a great way of getting out of the house and socialising with like-minded people; the qualifications were secondary to the amount of fun we had.”

“I joined Bewdley Players for a time and then went to an inaugural meeting of “The New Kinver Players” back in 1983 and that is where I have laid my head ever since. In a group like ours, it’s not just about the acting, it’s the whole ensemble getting involved, it’s the teamwork and that’s where we shine!” he laughs.

So why did the group choose this particular play?

“Anne Powell is our director for Murder on the Nile and chose it because it was a good fit for a murder mystery. In fact, this is our first Agatha Christie play. Based on her 1937 novel of the same name, her character is Hercule Poirot, although at this point, Christie was tired of the character of Poirot and wanted to exclude him from the drama altogether and so wrote into the play the part of a church canon Canon Pennefather who becomes the sleuth of the piece. That’s my role” he says.

“Having been given the clues in the script, one begins to build the character, give him a backstory, memories and certain physical characteristics, all of which all flesh out the part,” says Peter.

“The next step is the costume. Wearing a costume can really put you into the character, but Agatha Christie’s characters can be stereotypical, so it’s up to us to add that bit of magic and individuality to each of her creations.

“She has had a little resurgence lately, as Murder on the Orient Express has recently enjoyed a big success in the cinema with its all-star cast and so our group thought we follow that up with our production.”

Peter has fond memories of some of the roles he has played over the years with the New Kinver Players.

“One of my favourite plays I have performed in is A Pack of Lies by Hugh Whitemore. It’s a gripping play surrounding the real Kroger Russian spy case in 1961.

l For tickets visit www.nkp.org.uk or call into Omnipresent on Kinver High Street.