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The Development of Drama in England. The Early Theatre in Worcester. Plays at the Town Hall. The Queen's Players. The Plague and Puritans. The Restoration and Estcourt the Mimic. The King's Head Theatre. John Ward and His Daughter Sally. The Kemble Company Players.
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The Bankside Theatre, South Quay, Worcester
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In the 1950s, a small company of professional actors, filled with the optimism of the immediate post-war years, converted a warehouse on the South Quay, at Worcester, into a theatre; and to support and promote professional drama in the city, a club was formed called The Worcester Arts Theatre Club. The hope was to convert the building into a complex with an auditorium, a clubroom upstairs, and refreshment facillities.
They had no public subsidies or private endowments, and were relying only on club subscriptions and box office receipts. In May 1950, the membership was about 300, and the facilities were very primitive. The company announced that the warehouse/theatre 'cannot yet offer comfort either to actors or it's members, for there were no proper theatre seats, or suitable stage and back-stage equipment.
The company changed its programme every fortnight, presenting plays at 7.30 p.m, 'and have so far (May 15, 1950) presented: Scenes from Shakespeae, Bernard Shaw's A Village Wedding, Christopher Fry's A Phoenix Too Frequently, Happy and Glorious by Wilfred Walter, and the production of John Van Druton's comedy The Voice of the Turtle'. |
| Posted: 04/09/2005 14:47:34
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