Kenilworth’s little theatre with a big heart celebrates eight decades of treading the boards

A DETERMINED amateur dramatics group that has survived a World War, a severe bombing, a devastating fire and a shortage of power during waves of industrial action is proud to be here today to celebrate its 80th anniversary.

The 300 members of the Priory Theatre company, which runs monthly performances at its theatre in Rosemary Hill, are planning to party on into the small hours at a gala event on Saturday to mark the occasion.

Not only will they be celebrating their long history, but they are also indulging in the glory of being one of the first amateur groups in the country to gain the rights to perform the internationally-acclaimed stage version of Calender Girls.

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· Click on the multimedia link on the right for more pictures.

With an age range of eight to 93, the Priory “family”, as described by one long-standing member, all like to muck in and help with everything - and their hard work has resulted in around 400 productions being performed for audiences in Kenilworth over the years.

Sundari Sankar spoke to some of these people, whose hard work and dedication have made it into the successful company it is today.

Originally called the Kenilworth Players, the company was founded by George Tisdale and Gordon Barry Phelps in 1932 and performances were held at a stage at the Abbey Hotel in Kenilworth.

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But after six productions, the Second World War broke out and the Players disbanded. The stage, scenery and equipment they used were stored in a timber yard in Coventry for safety - a city which was, of course bombed. But somehow all the equipment survived.

In 1944, George Tisdale Senior, who was also a member of the Players, bought the disused Unitarian chapel in Rosemary Hill, which had been built in 1816.

His son decided that it could become the Kenilworth Players’ home and he organised for members to work hard on converting it into a theatre.

On Monday April 8 1946, the Priory Theatre - so named to commemorate the building’s original use - opened with Ivor Novello’s Fresh Fields. Every ticket for the six-night run was sold.

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The theatre was gradually completed, but then it was destroyed in a fire in 1976 - believed by members to be an arson attack - and had to be re-built.

Since then, there have been two extensions at the back and front of the theatre, another new foyer, bar and box office, a new props shed, dressing rooms and, more recently, a complete refit of the theatre.

All the work has mostly been carried out voluntarily by members.

Among them is the group’s current treasurer and show director, John Evans, who has been a member for 46 years.

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He says: “After the fire, only the walls were left standing. We were left with a shell.”

The company spent two years raising the additional money they needed on top of our insurance money. It cost less than £70,000 to rebuild, but, as John says, “in 1978, that was a lot of money”.

The group had to give up doing plays for those two years, apart from one performance at the Talisman, one at Warwick Arts Centre and one at the Belgrade, as it had to put the labour force into getting the building back.

John says: “The members did most of the work themselves. But we ended up with a better theatre than we had before.”

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Susi Walker, who has been a member for 36 years, recalls: “We held a New Year’s Eve party on the stage in 1976 to 1977. There was no electricity but we had a good time.”

The theatre reopened in 1978 with a production of An Italian Straw Hat - a play that is traditionally performed, I am told, when reopening theatres.

Susi says: “It used a lot of people and it was a full costume play.

“The feeling on the very first night of hearing an audience - especially this audience, as they were very much made up of members and friends - was really triumphant.”

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She adds: “It’s like a family. Whenever you are going through a stressful time, the theatre takes it out for you. I call it ‘Dr Theatre’.”

John, who joined shortly after he first moved to Kenilworth and, aged 21, was looking for a way to meet people, says: “The thing that makes the Priory stand out from other groups is that it’s not a group of people who act and a group of people who do the backstage work.

“Anybody can do anything and everybody does do everything.

“It’s a bit like a newspaper. You havea a deadline to meet and you have to meet it. The show is going out there and you have to be ready.”

And there are always moments, he says, when the company heave a collective sigh of relief that the audience did not notice things that have gone wrong.

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“Once there was a WI group which came to act out a very dramatic piece at a festival we were holding here.

“One woman who was nervous about remembering her lines pinned them to the back of the curtain. You can imagine the look of horror on her face when the curtain went up rather than opened out, so that her lines went with them!”

Another man with an endless string of amusing anecdotes about the company is octogenarian Keith Morris, who has been in the group, along with his wife Joyce, for 50 years.

He says: “I remember joining vividly.

“I was telephoned by my GP one day, who wanted to ask me if I would like to take part in a play.

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“I had to go to the director’s house for an audition and he happened to live in the poshest part of Kenilworth.

“I went into this mansion and then I had the embarrassment of having to kiss his wife.

“On rehearsal day, he said to me, ‘This is not going very well. Go into the foyer and practice’.”

Keith, who was 30 years old when he joined, has not only been an actor during his long tenure at the Priory, but he has also built sets, been the chairman, maintenance manager - and, it would seem, general save-the-day man when things go awry.

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He recounts one funny episode: “During the time when we had a lot of strikes, there was no electricity for a period. We had to use lamps and headtorches.

“In one play, somebody was supposed to play the piano, but they needed to read their music.

“Somehow it was agreed that if there was no power, then I would play the piano, so I had to do it in the dark.”

Susi joins in with another humurous moment that has obviously stuck in the minds of others in the room, as the giggles can not be contained: “In a production of Happy Families, one of the actresses fell down and broke her wrist.

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“She could not go on stage for two days, so the director decided that we would not need that character and instead, somebody behind the set could say the words.

“Then he came up with the idea of having some cardboard cut-outs. It ended up being a very memorable production.”

The company’s outgoing chairman Richard Collett, who calls himself “the new boy”, having been a member for a paltry 24 years, tells me that the group currently has 300 members, the youngest of whom is eight and the oldest is 93.

Each play usually runs for ten nights, which requires on average 12 people to work backstage, two on the bar, a house manager and two coffee assistants.

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As an amateur dramatics group, the company has to pay licencing fees to gain the rights to perform the majority of productions, so a typical show could cost to stage anywhere beterrn £3,000 and £6,000 - which comes entirely from membership, box office sales and charity nights, as the theatre is self-funding.

Richard says: “It’s all done by people giving up their spare time and have been doing so for 80 years. It’s a very special thing.”

Last October, the Priory’s first main house Shakespeare production, The Winter’s Tale, was entered into the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Open Stages project. The RSC sent a representative to the show and the Priory was then invited to take part in the second stage of the project, giving an excerpt from its production at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford.

The group has now progressed to stage three and members will perform a one-and-a-half-hour show at the Dell, the RSC’s open air theatre.

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Two of the cast, along with another Priory member, have also been invited to appear in the RSC’s forthcoming production of Pericles, which will be directed by professionals but acted by amateurs.

The Priory members will perform The Winter’s Tale at the Dell - in the park opposite the Courtyard Theatre - this Sunday at 12pm.

· Calender Girls opens at the Priory Theatre in Rosemary Hill on Saturday September 1 and will run until Saturday September 15 at 7.30pm each evening. Tickets cost £8 (concessions available). Call 863334.