The new British Invasion:
The Nether Footly Village Players arrive
By Harriet Louise Horsefall

Theater Sex, Lies & Quilting Nether Footly Village Players Tues, Dec 18–23 Teatro Santa Ana Biblioteca Pública Reloj 50A

On a not so balmy day in October, the Nether Footlys arrived to fanfare and mayhem at San Miguel’s bus terminal on Calzada de la Estación. There were 37 theater fans and curiosity seekers waiting with flowers and autograph books and of course flashing cameras everywhere. Several locals were intrigued but some were appalled at the lack of security for the actors and police were called in to restore order. Several people were restrained when Rex Strayballs, principal performer with the Nether Footlys, threw roses to the ladies in the crowd.


The well-known avant-garde performers are in San Miguel at an undisclosed location on the outskirts of town. They are here in Mexico for the first time to star in Sex, Lies & Quilting at the Teatro Santa Ana in the Biblioteca Pública. The World Premiere of this British farce stars Heather-Heather Hurtz, Babs Babcock, Alastaire (Binky) Trickle and of course Rex Strayballs. The play opens December 18 and plays until December 23.

Sex, Lies & Quilting is described as a tragicomedy set in Upper Tiddly with all the makings of a perennial theater classic right up there with A Christmas Carol and The Nutcracker. It promises to be a salacious tale of greed, envy, lust, deception, forgery, death, love and travel opportunities.

For those few of you out there who may not be familiar with The Nether Footly Players, here is a thumbnail overview of their extraordinary saga. In 1939, Lord and Lady Sprockett of Turner’s Puddle, Dorset, gave birth to Felicity Antoinette Sprockett. Suzy Sprockett, as she was called, a name familiar to most in the British theatre scene, has been heralded as the mother of cutting-edge theatre in the twentieth century. Her only friend was the cook’s daughter, little Hester Pinch, known as Essy. Together they created plays in the family boathouse. Their first play was Enid’s Got a Bird which is still performed on national holidays. Suzy, in her loneliness, had become an expert bird impersonator and the play featured little Essy in a cage and Suzy, who suffered a mild case of giantism, playing the tour de force role of Enid (also a bird).

As fate would have it, one day Essy ran off with Bill Footly and formed a rival theatre company in Nether Wasdale. Suzy was heartbroken and continued to write and perform one-person shows for herself built around her uncanny bird impersonations—plays like Polly Wants a Papa, Move Over Budgie and My Canary Won’t Sing.

These performances attracted other gifted young people who formed a loose association with each other and called themselves the Sprockett Boathouse Company modelled after America’s Group Theater.

Lady Sprockett died suddenly, from toxic thread poisoning, and since Lord Evelyn Sprockett had run off in humiliation, a teenaged Suzy was left alone. Suzy Sprockett and one of her most talented actors, Raymond Strayballs, married, left Turner’s Puddle and went to Nether Wasdale to join Essy and Bill. Raymond became the leading man of this new company and changed his name to Rex. The company became The Nether Footly Village Players and “the rest is history.” See the website www.theatersanmiguel.com for the complete story.

The Nether Footly Village Players have presented 173 main stage productions and have touring companies in Little Sodbury, Avon, and Mockbeggar, Kent. The Footlys’ first venture out of England will be to perform in the Mexican premiere of Sex, Lies & Quilting in San Miguel de Allende.

The performers are all seasoned and multi-talented. Babs Babcock, a film actress, has been Lulu’s stand-in for all her movies and was featured in the movie To Sir With Love; Heather-Heather Hurtz, a former circus star, last seen in The Yellow Sea by Glendon Sprockett; Alastaire (Binky)Trickle, a drywall imprinter and background performer, last remembered as Muju, the Indian boy in Sunset Over the Ganges; and Rex Strayballs, former child actor and butter boy for Ahoy Butter, has devoted his life to personal hygiene products and teaching acting. Skippy Ponce, director, at the helm of this production, is an accomplished faux pearl artist and well-known choreographer for Little Miss pageants in the midwestern US.

Rehearsals have been off limits for even the staff at the Biblioteca and the stage manager José Luís Mendoza has been sworn to secrecy about the script. He will be given his cues in code. The Nether Footlys are even escorted into rehearsal via a private entrance in order not to cause a frenzy and disrupt the Biblioteca’s relaxed atmosphere. Of course, they have insisted on a special menu of British fare so as not to upset their routine. Tickets are now available from the theater office and are sold in limited numbers to discourage scalping of tickets at outrageous prices.

This article was submitted by Harriet Louise Horsefall, president of the Rex Strayballs Fan Club..