SEASON 25 (1953-54)
Major Barbara
Clérambard
King John
The Family Reunion
Happy as Larry & The Secondary Wife
A Bold Stroke for A Wife
September 1953
MAJOR BARBARA
by George Bernard Shaw
Directed by Eric Voce
Designed by Juliette Howard
Another glittering cast with lots of familiar faces but beyond that, nothing to report, I'm afraid - except that the Comittee of Management were upset about the badly printed programe (although the one we have in archives looks just fine!).
Surprisingly, considering how many Shaw plays we have done over the years, this is our only production of MAJOR BARBARA apart from the Student Production in 1965 directed by Michael Hoddell.
November 1953
CLÉRAMBARD
by Marcel Aymé, translated by Norman Denny
Directed by Abraham Asseo
Designed by Beryl Anthony
The director, Abraham Asseo, had to leave the country ten days before the opening night, so the final weeks' rehearsals were left in the hands of the Associate Director, Dorothy Fairlie, with some added support from Kit Emmet.
Stephen Joseph (pioneer of theatre-in-the-round and a good friend of The Questors) had expressed an interest in directing one of our shows but wasn't available for this one. He was however booked in to direct A JIG FOR A GYPSY later in the year.
Apparently there had been problems getting this set built and painted on time. The Committee of Managment were concerned that adquate arrangements hadn't been made
and ruled that the designer, Beryl Anthony, would need their approval before being asked to design again. (A bit harsh, but then I wasn't there!)
January 1954
KING JOHN
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Alfred Emmet
Designed by Graham Heywood
The best thing I can do for this landmark production is hand over to A Few Drops Of Water.
"Experimentation with staging of course continued, the most influential production of these few years undoubtedly being Alfred Emmet's production of KING JOHN, with set design by Graham Heywood, in January 1954. Apart from the — for those times — quite revolutionary use of a thrust stage, this production was also intended to be played without an interval; although the Committee of Management in prudent mood would not allow more than one performance of that particularly experimental notion.
"King John was played by Albert Hooper, who is remembered for many bravura performances as the Questors `Shakespeare heavy', Constance by Colette King who was to become one of the leading directors in the transition from the old to the new theatre, and the Bastard by Pat Bowley, an extremely talented Australian actor who left an indelible stamp on many Questors productions.
"The rest of the large cast included virtually all the male acting membership, plus a few hopefuls who were auditioned at around that time and who, if they are to be believed, were accepted for acting membership more on the basis of their capacity for spear-carrying than their acting ability!"
And amongst those "few hopefuls" were Vincent McQueen and Michael Green (who had both been co-opted on to the Social Committee, thus ushering in a whole new era) and Paul Imbusch, who in addition to becoming a star player at Questors went on to forge an outstanding career as a professional actor.
The cost of this production came at out £115, which was £30 over budget! But somehow Alfred got away with it.
March 1954
THE FAMILY REUNION
by T S Eliot
Directed by Clifford Webb
Designed by Dennis Farr
Some Questors trivia:
At one stage, Eugene O'Neill's play A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN had been considered for this spot.
This was the first of three productions that Clifford Webb directed at Questors.
We produced the play a second time in 1977, with Kit Emmet once more in the cast (in spite of the 23 year gap she was still playing one of the "younger" sisters!)
May 1954
HAPPY AS LARRY
by Donagh MacDonagh
&
THE SECONDARY WIFE
by Dorothy fisk
Directed by Colette King & Dorothy Fairlie
Designed by Norman Branson
This presumably original and shorter version of HAPPY AS LARRY was described as a delightful Irish comedy in which six tailors are ferried across the precipice of time to avenge a murder that took place fifty years ago; three haggard ladies of Hades respond to a call for help; a man is returned from the dead and the future corrects the misdeeds of the past.
The curtain raiser, THE SECONDARY WIFE was a new play by Dorothy Fisk and, judging from the photograph above and the fact that Vincent McQueen and Michael Green were involved, it looked like a lot of fun.
In a memo to the Committee of Management it was reported that Colette King was experiencing some difficulty in filling all the male parts for HAPPY AS LARRY. In particular she wanted to cast Ted Scrivener in the part of Seamus but he wasn't available for the whole run as he had to go off on a school trip. So she approached Pamela Richards, who was directing the Student Group, and asked if Edward Pitt (pictured some years later but at the time a second year student) could be released to understudy and play the role on the last three performances.
And so another Questors legend was born!
June 1954
A BOLD STROKE FOR A WIFE
by Susanna Centlivre
Directed by Barbara Hutchins (Kit Emmet)
Designed by Juliette Howard
I haven't found out much about this production except that it had been earmarked for the Venice Festival and the Torquay Open Air Theatre - neither of which, as far as I can tell, happened!