A theatrical trip down memory lane
OUR series of walks down memory lane relating to our main season debuts of years gone by concludes here.
We’ve travelled from September 1970 right the way through to September 2000, calling in at 1980 and 1990 along the way.
This week we look back at some of the highlights of the last two decades! In September 2005, the pre-season launched with an ambitious youth production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods.
The show features classic fairytale characters; act one tells us their stories as we know them but act two is a cautionary look at what may have happened after the happy ending. In 2014 the stage musical was adapted for the big screen and starred Meryl Streep and James Corden.
The show is so popular that we also opened our 2014 season with a second performance of Into the Woods, this time as a joint venture between the youth and the adult members. Later that month the adults presented Ray Cooney’s Caught in the Net.
The play is a sequel to Run for your Wife where we meet a bigamist cab driver, juggling two families with hilarious consequences. The club opened the 2004 main season with this show which featured Ted Bullen as the main character, John Smith.
Ray Cooney’s Caught in the Net Helen Bennett & Jacqui Wade played his wives Mary and Barbara. The trio reprised their roles for Caught in the Net and were joined by Rikki Spofforth as John and Barbara’s son Gavin, and Helen Garrahan as John and Mary’s daughter Vicky. Gavin and Vicky meet, fall in love and are amazed to find their fathers share the same common name and resolve to get them to meet, unaware they are one and the same. In September 2010 the youth theatre tackled another magnificent musical, Les Miserables.
The sungthrough adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel following the life and fate of reformed convict Jean Valjean was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews.
The musical is now 35 years old and is still a firm favourite with theatre goers. The show was directed by Stephen Hughes-Alty who also performed as the titular character of the adult show that followed a few weeks later; Humble Boy. The play by Charlotte Jones is inspired by Hamlet.
Felix Humble returns home following the death of his father and is distraught to discover his mother, Flora, has already cleared out all of her husband’s belongings; including his beloved bees.
The tension is compounded by Flora’s intention to remarry and the discovery Felix’s former girlfriend has a seven-yearold daughter called Felicity.
The moving drama is entirely compelling and delighted our audiences.
Did you see any of these shows? Share your memories with us. If you have any programmes from SDC shows you have seen, we would be grateful for the opportunity to take a copy.