This is a very British experience. The Mill is a small intimate venue, a theatre since 1982 offering dinner theatre (I enjoyed slow braised beef in red wine pie and cheese and biscuits) and on this occasion a play based on a 1944 book by Agatha Christie set in Cornwall and directed by the booming legend, Brian Blessed. They offer consistently good productions and the recent renovations have put a bit more style back into the bars, dining areas and toilets.
The small thrust stage places the audience on three sides of the acting space but they always create good quality sets, this one designed by Dinah England is the elegant drawing room at Gull's Point the home of the elderly frail Lady Tressilian (played by Brian Blessed's wife Hildegard Neil). The set is covered with clock motifs in the wallpaper, the door arch, the wooden floor and an old grandfather clock is set to midnight at the start of the show. The audience is in no doubt that time plays a critical role in the plot and we are approaching the Zero hour.
