KIDDERMINSTER PLAYHOUSE
1946 - 1968 A Souvenir

History

Contents

50 YEARS ON 1953-1954

This was the Jubilee year, the 50th anniversary of the opening of the old Opera House with Floradora on October 5th, 1903, celebrated with the 50th full-length play to be produced by the Nonentities. A giant birthday cake with three tiers and lit with 50 candles was cut by Derek Salberg of the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham, and pieces distributed among the audience.

The play was Under the Sycamore Tree, a farcical fable about an ant colony - not a cosy or an obvious choice but an un doubted success, with Josephine Jarrett as a regal Queen Ant, John Spilsbury as her councillor and a promising first appearance by Pauline Ryley.

Life With Father introduced Tony Reeves, John Hackett and Rita Drewe. An adaptation of Pinocchio, with lyrics and music by Kenneth Rose, was an undoubted triumph and has since been played all over the world. Black Limelight followed and the season ended with one of Robert Gaston's most striking productions, The Marvellous History of Saint Bernard, with devils and archangels among the cast, which included the late William Mills.

Some of the new repertory artists, like Marigold Sharman, Rhoda Lewis, Rosemary Martin, Mysie Monte (ten years in The Mousetrap) are still in the public eye. Frank Elliott later went back into industry and others included Rosemary Towler, William Moore, Reginald Green and George Lee.

The director offered to give prompt and fair criticism to any play offered for production. He received 500 and read the lot in three months. Six were retained and the first to be staged, Satellite Story, by Anthony Booth later went to Town. The second was Long Ago in the Morning by Helena Jones, a first play which was followed by several successes.

The long list of repertory plays included : Time and the Conways; She Stoops to Conquer; The Perfect Woman; The Day's Mischief On Approval; Wild Horses; A Murder Has Been Arranged; Twenty to One (with Lupino Lane as guest artist); The Last of Mrs Cheyney; Housemaster; Shooting Star; King the Castle; The Merchant of Venice: Get Weaving (a revue) ; Ten Little Niggers; Ma's Bit of Brass; The Deep Blue Sea; Top Secret: Master Crook; The Love of Four Colonels; The Red Headed Blonde; The Blue Goose; Are You a Mason ?; Meet Mr Callaghan; Full House (with Binnie Hale); A Priest in the Family; Here We Come Gathering; Meet the Wife; Happy Marriage; Thark; This Happy Breed; The Ghost Train; and Jeannie.

The tours brought Arsenic and Old Lace; Not a Clue; Henry V; Sweet Sorrow; and We Took a Cottage and the musical occasions included Lilac Time, a revue called Hey Presto! and the pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk. The theatre's full-length play festival was a new venture, Carpet Trades presented Rose Marie and the KAOS Show Boat.

The rating fight continued with a Court of Appeal decision reversing the decision the Lands Tribunal had given in favour of the society - but only on a technicality. The precedent established was not disputed. The director and the society's legal adviser, who had borne all the expenses between them, obviously could not afford to appeal to the House of Lords and victory was conceded. Happily, the law itself was later changed.

Finance

The Nonentities made £l,063 and the Playhouse lost £3,402. The debt went up by £2,005 to £7,325. The rate of loss had been slowed down but the theatre was still losing £36 a week - or 3d. on everyone who paid for admission. A 3d. surcharge was added to the price of the ticket, at a cost of many complications with touring managers, renters and royalties, and the subscription went up from £l to a guinea.

Theatre generally was in a bad way at this time. Thirty major theatres were for sale; the Worcester Theatre Royal was standing idle, Dudley Hippodrome had closed. The Playhouse was the only theatre in Worcestershire and was to remain so for a decade; Shropshire had none. To the north the nearest theatre was in Manchester, to the west in Bristol. Increased subsidy seemed the obvious answer to closing but a move to increase the Town Council's contribution from £500 to £750 was defeated - on the ground that the town could not afford the luxury of a theatre. Indeed, a move to withdraw the grant entirely was only narrowly defeated.