Actress, 88, quits...after finally breaking a leg
AN AMATEUR actress has brought the curtain down on her 71-year stage career – after really breaking a leg.
Sonia Collyer, 88, joked her injury “may have been a result of people telling me to break a leg [theatrical slang for ‘good luck’] for all those years”.
Sonia has acted in 37 plays and directed 28, one of which was seen by the late movie mogul Ken Russell.
But after slipping in her kitchen and breaking her right leg, Sonia does not see herself treading the boards again.
However, the grandmother remains president of her beloved New Forest Players troupe and will continue to help with productions.
She added: “One of the last roles I played I was an old lady in a wheelchair who didn’t say anything, which seems quite apt now.”
The retired drama teacher and examiner, of Milford on Sea, joined the troupe in 1948 and met husband Michael two years later when they acted in the play Outward Bound.
She said her favourite role was in 1958 when, aged 28, she played Catherine Winslow in Terence Rattigan’s The Winslow Boy.
Another highlight came in 2009 when Sonia directed the troupe’s production of The Boy Friend.
The play was incredibly well received and Ken Russell, who wrote the 1971 movie adaptation, even took in a performance.
Sonia and Michael were married for 65 years before he died in April last year after a long battle with Alzheimer’s.
Their romance began when he chaperoned her home from rehearsals.
She said of their acting days: “It’s been a wonderful part of our lives. All three of our sons took part as they grew up and it has been a real family affair.”