SEASON 30 (1958-59)
Finnegan's Wake
Julius Caesar
Everybody Love Celimare
Maria Marten
Marching Song
Questrionics
The Scythe and The Sunset
There was a lot going on before this season got started.
The Moscow Arts Theatre had visited Mattock Lane and laid the foundation stone in the Stanislavsky Room (with the assistance of a very young David Emmet.
Our new President, Michael Redgrave had officiated at the opening of the Shaw Room (seen here shaking hands with Michael Horden).
Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, who had been in London filming "INDISCREET" had expressed "genuine delight" in being asked to associate themselves with our New Theatre project, and had given autographed books to be auctioned or raffled at some suitable opportunity on behalf of the New Theatre Fund.
The Maskrafters from Georgetown College, Kentucky paid us a visit with an original folk-play with music entitled John Henry.
And our first production of the season "aroused interest all over the country" according to Alfred Emmet, but certainly left some of our members a little bewildered.
September 1958
Passages fromFINNEGAN'S WAKE
by James Joyce
freely adapted by Mary Manning
under the title of THE VOICE OF SHEM
Directed by Colette King
Designed by Norman Branson
"The action of the play does not take place"
"NEVER has a Questors production had so much national publicity.
"NEVER has one opened with such small advance bookings.
"NEVER have the bookings built up to such an extent during the run.
"NEVER have so many of the audience walked out at the interval.
"NEVER have we been so besieged by telephone calls from people who wanted
to see the play.
"SELDOM has a cast enjoyed playing in a show more.
"SELDOM has a show aroused so much controversy as FINNEGANS WAKE"
So declared the December Newsletter.
And here's what A Few Drops of Water has to say about the production.
"This English premiere utterly confused the audiences, who found Joyce's text, even in its adapted form, quite incomprehensible. Nevertheless, it is remembered for a stunning and innovative setting, in which a flight of forestage steps from stage to auditorium floor level was used as a major acting area, giving an enhanced actor-audience relationship. Another first and a device which has subsequently been much used in the commercial theatre."
The cast that "seldom... enjoyed playing in a show more" included Ned Gethings, Larry and Jo Irvin, Tony and Dolly Barber and Alfred Emmet.
October 1958
JULIUS CAESAR
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Raymond Moss
Designed by John Rolfe
After James Joyce, members were probably relieved to be offered what the director, Raymond Moss, described as "a full, familiar and straightforward play with swift action, short soliloquies and few philosophical passages!" Although he was alert to the dangers of too many togas which could make the cast look like "a lot of gentlemen sitting on marble benches in a Turkish bath."
This was a Gala production, celebrating 25 years since the first Mattock Lane production, DRAGON'S TEETH on 13 October 1933. It was also a huge cast and just about everyone was in it so I shan't try to list them all. And It was John Rolfe's first design for Questors - the first of over 100!
Negotiations with the Whitbread Brewery had raised hopes of opening a bar in time for the first night of JULIUS CAESAR but "one or two snags" meant the opening had to be postponed to December. Meanwhile they were still deciding on a suitable name. In fact it wasn't until the Summer of 1959 that the Grapevine eventually opened - and then only on Sundays and the evenings of a performance.
December 1958
EVERYBODY LOVES CELIMARE
by Eugene Labiche and Delacour
translated by Lynn and Theodore Hoffman
Directed by Alfred Emmet
Designed by Juliette Howard.
An English Premier of a new translation of one of Labiche's overlooked farces performed (according to one press review) with "speed and ingenuity" - as all farces should be! It certainly attracted wide interest.
In the cast were Larry Irvin and Dolly Barber and incidental music was provided by Erc Kirby and Kit Emmet (who some may not know was a trained musician).
December 1958
MARIA MARTEN or
THE MURDER IN THE RED BARN
Directed by Michael Green
Another Michael Green Extravaganza.
I think the playbill/programme says it all. Although it looks to me as though the "elaborate scenery...constructed at enormous expense" may have consisted of a curtain and a few items of furniture!
They apparently had real firearms though! And judging from Cogswell & Harrison's website ("London's Oldest Gunmaker"), the firm that supplied them, they must have been very impressive props!
January 1959
MARCHING SONG
by John Whiting
Directed by John Holbrook
Designed by Edward Mendelsohn
Apart from being a face in the crowd in JULIUS CAESAR (October), this was Frank di Rienzo's Questors debut. He was a familiar face on our stage right up until 1991.
My attention was drawn to the following notice in the Newsletter which might give pause for thought to those current members who are fortunate enough to own a motor car:
BY SPECIAL REQUEST OF
THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE OF THE METROPOLIS
Will those members who are fortunate enough to drive to the Theatre in a motor-car please take particular care to see that their vehicles do not cause obstruction to adjacent residents. It is suggested that cars be parked on the side of the road opposite to the Theatre. As we are told in the road safety posters, "Courtesy Pays." Lack of courtesy sometimes involves an appearance before the Magistrate.
So you've been warned!
Incidentally I discovered from Committee of Management papers that there was drama backstage during the final dress rehearsal of this production when the actor playing Father Anselm, who had in Alfred's words shown "little loyalty to the show" by missing cues and being continually late or absent from rehearsals (behaviour which "was not in accordance with the sense of loyalty which we expect from our members"), walked out at the last minute and had to be replaced.
April 1959
QUESTRIONICS!
An Original Revue
Devised and produced by Barbara Hutchins (Kit Emmet)
Settings by John Rolfe.
An all-Questors Revue in the "Modern Lunatic Idiom."
The home grown talent included Michael Green, Vincent McQueen, Dolly Barber, Larry Irvin, Sylvia Estop, Paul Imbusch, Joan Pyle, Alan Drake, Tony Worth, with Kit Emmet and Ian Jones at the piano.
During a dress rehearsal of this revue, the long awaited Grapevine Bar opened its doors for what Mike Green called a "dummy run." He remembered Kit Emmet giving the historic instruction after the rehearsal: "OK everyone, notes in the new bar".
After this extravaganza there was a short break while the auditorium was redecorated in "brick dust, ilex green and lemon tint." Must have looked lovely!
Then...
June 1959
THE SCYTHE AND THE SUNSET
by Denis Johnston
Directed by Pamela Richards
Designed by Jane Kingshill
This was the English premiere of a play about the Easter Rising of 1916 and was staged while the Questors was hosting a Little Theatre Guild Conference.
Larry Irvin and Philip Wright were in the cast.
It is also notable as being the first production for which the new Grapevine bar was officially open - but only during evening performances and on Sundays.
It's difficult to believe now that not everyone approved of the new bar, not even George Benn: "Bar at last a reality. Named Grapevine. Separate membership but essential you are a Questor. No outsiders. Many opposed to idea of bar (including self) now demanding bar stools. Get so tired standing up all evening."