SEASON 31 (1959-60)
The Cave Dwellers
The Knight of The Burning Pestle
The Birthday Party
The Drunkard
The Beggar's Opera
Three Sisters
September 1959
THE CAVE DWELLERS
by William Saroyan
Directed by Michael Sisk
Designer Norman Branson
This was the English premiere of a new American play about a group of down-and-outs (an old actor, an old actress, an ex-boxer, a homeless girl) living in an abandoned theatre.
" All buildings are caves and ...the theatre is the cave at its best...the last arena where all is always possible."
This was Michael Sisk's one and only production at The Questors. He was a professional director from America who was in Paris on a drama study when he was recommended to us.
It was also Dorinne Ingram's first appearance on our stage.
The Stage described it as a thrilling play:
"Ned Gethings is intensely moving as the sad, pugilistic "Duke" and Gay Rorke does well as the girl he befriends and loves. Dorinne Ingram as the Queen and Frank Smith as the King are outstanding."
October 1959
THE KNIGHT OF THE BURNING PESTLE
by Beaumont and Fletcher
Directed by Raymond Moss
Designed by Marjorie Golsby
Described in the Newsletter as:
A light-hearted burlesque in the earthy style of the First Elizabethans. It is a satire of the too-romantic dramas of the age, but the folly that it castigates is the folly of human nature. In the parlance of the Second Elizabethans "It takes the Mick".
This was the second of three productions directed by Ray Moss, the first being JULIUS CAESAR (1958) and the third being EPITAPH FOR GEORGE DILLON (1961). As an actor, Ray is remembered for his superb and powerful performances during this period as HENRY V (1957), as Tyrone in LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (1963) and as BRAND in the opening production in the new theatre in 1964. He left Ealing to take up a post as Drama Adviser in the West Country (christening his cottage "The Questors"!), but later was appointed Drama Adviser to Ealing, in which capacity he was able to be of great assistance to The Questors. He died in 1986.
This production witnessed the emergence of Sandra Turner (Healy) from the student group. Other favourites in the cast included Dolly Barber, Carla Field, Philip Wright, David Evans and Alan Drake
December 1959
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
by Harold Pinter
Directed by Michael Almaz
Designed by George Benn
Bolton Little Theatre and The Tower pipped us to the post by a few months when they gave the first non-professional productions of THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, but we do seem to have made the biggest impression, especially with Douglas McVay in the Middlesex County Times who wrote:
"The impossible has been done. The amateurs have beaten the professionals at their own game. The production of Mr. Pinter's play by Michael Almaz now running in Ealing is not only every bit as good as last year's London staging by Peter Wood. It is, if anything, a shade better. It could walk straight into the West End tomorrow with no questions asked. It does triumphant justice to an exciting piece of drama."
Jo Irvin, who played Meg, recalls:
"I knew none of [the controversy surrounding the play] on the Sunday afternoon when I went with my new baby, to show him off and have a "Gwen's" tea with friends and husband. It happened to be the afternoon reading and casting of The Birthday Party. I listened to the reading, with Harold Pinter sitting in on it, looking a bit gruff. I was fascinated by the play, and told Alfred how much it had delighted me. I had no intention of reading for it... But Alfred talked me round and said there were not enough people reading and it would help him and Michael if I could read...Alfred had me reading the young girl who Stanley fancies. I did, but also asked to read Meg which, to cut a long story short, I went on to play.
"At the time we were all a bit bewildered by it, and waited for Pinter to give us a clue or two, but he remained quiet at the audition and continued to be so when Almaz outlined his ideas for the play, and the set.
"Pinter turned up for the first night, as I remember, and although he had been told about the set becoming less and less during the play, he said not a word... he was in the bar yelling his head off because of it, much to the amusement of the bar staff, who had no idea who he was or why."
Ffrangon Whelan, whose husband Peter played Stanley, remembers:
"Meeting Harold Pinter had quite an effect on Peter as (not surprisingly) the author seemed so fed up and depressed at the bad critical reaction the play had received. When Pinter had seen the first night [at The Questors] he was depressed again as he did not like the production.
Peter somehow seemed to be amused by this. I think because Pinter was so vehement. Michael Almaz (Director) had added a surreal touch of his own to the set and by the end of the play there was not much set left on stage, particularly noticeable was the parrot (Michael’s idea) which started off feathered but had become a skeleton in the last act. Peter felt this was not a good idea as it looked comical as a skeleton - every time Peter saw the Monty Python parrot sketch he thought of THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, not what Pinter would have wanted!"
Photos , programme and press cuttings for THE BIRTHDAY PARTYDecember 1959
THE DRUNKARD
by W H Smith
and a Gentleman (believed to be Phineas T Barnum)
Directed by Michael Green
Designed by Mary Venus
Unfortunately we have no photos.
"The world's longest running play"running for 25 years in San Francisco and then a further 7 years in Los Angeles.
It's the tale of a drunken hero, a faithful friend, a loving wife, a rascally lawyer trying to gain possession of a cottage, a forged will — all plus a bar-room brawl, a wedding and a street fight for good measure.
Carla Craik (Field) starred as the village beauty supported by a premier cast of Betty Ogden, Paul Imbusch, Alan Drake, Sylvia Estop, Vincent McQueen, Ffrangcon Price, Neville Bradbury .. and among the drunkards, Alfred Emmet, Dennis Estop, Laurence Nixon and Sandra Turner (Healy).
The production also featured for the first time The Teetotal Quartet with Joan McQueen, Arthur and Dorothy Boyd Taylor and Donald Barrett, later revived on a number of occasions as The Temperance Quartet with Kit Emmet and John Howard joining the Boyd Taylors (seen here).
January 1960
THE BEGGAR'S OPERA
by John Gay
freely adapted by Barbara Hutchins, Eric Kirby and Vincent McQueen
Directed by Barbara Hutchins
Designed by John Rolfe.
The Stage announced this production as :
"A contemporary version of The Beggar's Opera, directed by Barbara Hutchins with settings by John Rolfe and costumes by Kim Zeigler. The highwayman, Macheath, becomes a con man in this treatment of Gay's opera and a modern orchestra has been engaged after exhaustive auditions among the skiffle groups of Ealing's youth clubs".
Many years later Eric Kirby’s son, Steve, remembered how much his father had enjoyed the "culture shock" involved in working with a skiffle group!
“W
ho can forget Vincent McQueen & Co as Teddy boys, singing "I'm a burglar / On the North Circular" (to the tune of Lilliburlero). Two of the other Teddy boys were future professional actors - Shaun Curry (a character actor on TV) and, of course, Paul lmbusch who often worked with my father at The Questors - and there are many other familiar names in the programme."
Kit Emmet also remembered the skiffle group with great affection.
"The boys (The Counts) were a great asset to the show and it was great fun working with them. I remember it all so well and still cherish a very battered copy of the script and an even more battered few sheets of Vincent's lyrics which were so clever.
"We were a big hit with our audiences, many people booking to see it more than once and on the last night it was standing room only at the back of the theatre. A lot of that success was attributable to the four "Counts".
"Thanks boys!”
April 1960
THREE SISTERS
by Anton Chekhov
Directed by Alfred Emmet
Designed by Jane Kingshill
This was the first of four productions of THREE SISTERS at The Questors, the most recent being in 2010. It was programmed to celebrate the centenary of Chekhov's birth and later in the year a scene was revived as part of the formal opening of the Stanislavsky Room in the presence of Dame Edith Evans.
This production was a fitting climax to a varied and impactful season. A sense of it's power and the quality of the performances can be gained from Douglas McVay's detailed and effusive review in the Middlesex County Times. Here's how he describes the opening scene:
The spotlight falls, first of all, upon a girl dressed in white, with a turquoise sash and ribbon, gaily celebrating her birthday in a Russian provincial villa circa 1900, and recollecting with her friends the life she had led in Moscow, eleven years before, when her father was alive. She is called Irina: but immediately our attention is drawn away from her, to another young woman with deep brown hair who sits, like Hamlet, detached from the merriment, dressed in "nighted colour'; a young woman who sits on a sofa reading, indifferent to her companion's chatter, breaking silence only by a brief, careless whistle, though across her dark-eyed, red-lipped, peach-blossom face fleet from time to time expressions of boredom and sadness.
Then, suddenly, at last, she snaps shut her book, straightens, stares musingly into space, and recites, in an instant of surrounding quiet,
"An oak tree green by the winding shore,
Upon that oak, a chain of gold"...
This is how Ffrangcon Whelan appears to us as Masha, the second of Chekhov's "Three Sisters" in the opening minutes of Alfred Emmet's presentation currently running at the Questors Theatre until May 12. It is a mesmeric appearance, and enough to justify a trip.
The full review (which is well worth a read) can be found here.