KIDDERMINSTER PLAYHOUSE
1946 - 1968 A Souvenir
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FINAL STAGES 1967 - 1968
Three weeks before this final season opened the Minister of Transport's inspector came to Kidderminster to hear the last arguments about the route of the road. He saw the theatre for himself and went away to write his report. Judgment, in the form of the Minister's decision based on that report, had still to be delivered when we went to press.Notice has been given. to the Lands Tribunal on the issue of compensation.
Last July the council offered a capital grant of half the cost of a new theatre - up to a maximum of £50,000 - the decision to be reconsidered if the Nonentities succeeded in the claim for full reinstatement value. So, after 18 months, the second demand of the famous petition was met.
The Director and the Mayor on behalf of the Council have signed a joint declaration of intent to build a new theatre and have submitted it to the Arts Council. There remains to be settled the method of operating a new trust which would take over where the Nonentities left off.
Work inside the theatre went on as usual, with little sense, in the early stages anyway, of impending doom. The Nonentities opened with Diplomatic Baggage, which was followed by four weeks repertory, Dead on Nine, Boeing Boeing, Woman in a Dressing Gown (a personal triumph for scenic artist Lesley Lindsay, who took over a marathon part at very short notice), and Say Who You Are.
Carpet Trades had an enjoyable week with the Romberg musical New Moon (Don Darby in a well-deserved leading part opposite Pauline Evans) and Colin Young scored another success in Sheila Jacobs's production of The Right Honourable Gentleman for the Nonentities, who also revived When We Are Married.
Repertory plays before the pantomime were Chase Me Comrade, Hobson's Choice, See How They Run and Gaslight.
Those in the final season The Master Builder, Come Blow Your Horn, Blithe Spirit and finally ending professional work, as it began, with Shaw, Candida.
Plans for the final months, after the Christmas season of Babes in the Wood, include Twelfth Night, Dark of the Moon and the final show, Gloriana, by the Nonentities and South Pacific by the KAOS.