Classic shows gracing stage
THIS week we are taking another look back at what plays were gracing the stage of the Little Theatre during this week in years gone by.
The list of plays that were showing in decades past have interesting titles that could be taken to be about the current situation in Britain.
Fifty years ago this week, in 1970, the SDC season opener was Collapse of a Stout Party; a play by the actor and writer Trevor Peacock.
He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Jim Trott in The Vicar of Dibley. Had things gone to plan, we would have brought you the stage version of this in May 2020. Peacock was known to have written it in 1965 and one of the actors in the original cast was Patricia Maynard. Maynard has played a wide range of parts on stage and screen, and had a guest slot on EastEnders playing the mother of her real-life daughter, Hannah Waterman.
The phrase itself is one said to have been a Victorian punchline, relating to something so amusing or surprising as to deflate the large person.
It is not to do with having to drink your Guinness and leave the pub by 10pm.
40 years ago, in 1980, we performed The Ghost Train. The suspenseful thriller by Arnold Ridley – later Pte Godfrey in Dad’s Army – was not about empty carriages, bar a few essential travellers, but concerned a group of passengers who find themselves stranded at a rural station overnight.
The author was inspired by a similarly spooky stranding and was heralded a modern classic.
Thirty years ago, in 1990, was the first season that we had opened with a youth production.
For three nights in September 1990 Zigger Zagger was brought to life.
Peter Terson’s 1967 play has been described as a football opera and was penned specifically to be performed by young people. In the piece we follow Harry, a 16-year-old leaving school with no qualifications or direction.
He is unsure which path to take; pursue a career or throw it all in and join in with football hooliganism.
The classic use of a Greek chorus is perfect for the chants of the stadium attendees.
It was the first play to be specifically written for the National Youth Theatre and enjoyed an anniversary revival in 2017.
Do you remember any of these plays? Were you in them, or did you see them?
We are blessed to have members who are taking the time to collate records of the plays we have presented each season and a steady collection of programmes and show photographs is being compiled, but there is still much to be done.
If you have any programmes from SDC shows you have seen, we’d be grateful for the opportunity to take a copy.
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