Don't Rain On My Parade

 Wednesday 11th February. 5.50 a.m. I know it's too early, but I have changed all the bedding. It's most definitely not one of my favourite jobs, but my next slot on the washing machine rota is this afternoon. I keep putting it off, and my thinking is, 'don't put off doing what you could do today, or words to that effect. Putting on a duvet cover is my worst job, but it is done, and the old bedding is now in the laundry basket and in the hallway.

Thursday 12th February. 9.10 a.m. The digital thermometer currently reads 22ºc. It seems yet another soulless sort of day, slightly overcast, no sun.

Friday 13th. 6.20 p.m. Yesterday morning, I took the Zoomer puppet to the Thursday Life Group to introduce him to the members of the group. The idea is to use puppets at church for the children's ministry. I hope to find other people to work on this, because, basically, I can only operate one puppet at a time. It won't be just the performance, but the making of the puppets as well as the staging that will be needed.

An unsettled day. It's been raining. almost constantly. The weather forecast tells us that snow is on the way.

Sunday 15th February. 2.35 p.m. It rained really heavily when I left to drive to church this morning. As I write this, it has stopped raining, but it's now overcast.

Monday 16th February. 9.50 a.m. On this day in 1969, I began my first stage management job, as a Student A.S.M., at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham. The first production was an adaptation of 'Jane Eyre.' 

It is bright and sunny as I write this. It just shows how fickle the weather can be in this country. I hope it stays that way.

The digital thermometer reads 22ºc. 

Tuesday 17th February. 10.20 a.m. It's 'Pancake Day' or, to give it its proper name, 'Shrove Tuesday.' It's 40 days before Easter.

I have made batter for pancakes. I always got to make batter for pancakes and Yorkshire pudding when I lived at the farm. I think my mother must have shown me how to make it. It's not exactly difficult, but I make it several hours before I cook the pancakes, as it's important to let it stand and let it thicken. I put butter in it which makes the pancakes taste far better.

We live only a short distance from Olney, famed for it's pancake race. I'd love to go, except it would be extremely difficult to park, knowing that a lot of people would turn up to watch.

Family Summer Holidays- Part 4

Frinton holds more memories from when we went there for our summer holidays during the '60's. We stayed almost exclusively within Frinton, but there were one or two forays into the outside world and I do remember going to Walton-on- the-Naze, which is further up the coast, although we may have walked there along the sea-front. It can't be more than a couple of miles. There is a pier there, which Frinton has never had.  You can see this pier from Frinton. I have to admit that Frinton does have a sort of snobbish air about it. It has none of the, what I would call 'classic' seaside attractions such as a pier, which would have made Walton and even Clacton, which is further down the coast, so attractive to us children. The entertainments on these piers would have been a draw for us children and I seem to remember my mother taking us to Clacton one evening to go on the pier but I have an idea that she might not have approved of it, the sort of 'kiss-me-quick', candyfloss, bright neon lights and cheap entertainment not probably being to her taste. These resorts had summer shows on, with stars of stage and the world of pop music headlining. I recall that Leslie Crowther spent his holiday at Frinton, presumably he was in summer season at Walton or Clacton and chose Frinton to relax as it wasn't going to be quite so popular as either of the other resorts. I think he was starring in a popular children's television show on BBC television called "Crackerjack", at the time, as well as compering some sort of Saturday evening show or other.

Although Frinton doesn't have the classic 'summer season' style theatre entertainment, it does have the famous Frinton Summer Theatre. I think it may have been this which started me off on my interest in theatre. It remains, quite remarkably, the last remaining Equity standard company producing weekly repertory theatre in this country. They do seven plays, of a week each, over seven weeks. I worked in rep as first a Student A.SM. , then a fully-fledged A.S.M.(see earlier posts.) and worked my way up to D.S.M. I did three-weekly rep with some theatres I worked for, but never weekly. These theatres were subsidised with Arts Council and Local Authority money, but, unfortunately, these forms of theatre are virtually dead. Due, mostly, to Government cuts. Most theatres that are left and were your traditional 'rep' now have programmes made up of touring productions, although some companies do attempt to put on homegrown productions in short seasons that are similar to the traditional idea of 'rep.' One such company is the Royal Theatre, in Northampton. Some companies do co-produce plays, so that costs are spread further. 

The Summer Theatre in Frinton is in what is little more than a village hall, or, at least, that is what it looks like from the outside. It is apparently celebrating it's 75th anniversary in 2014. It has been the training-ground for some well-known names within the acting profession, such as Vanessa Redgrave, Gary Oldman, David Suchet and Lynda Bellingham. During the 70's, the period I was working in 'rep' you had to have an Equity card, Equity being the union for those working in professional theatre. You started off with a Provisional membership (a red card) and only got your Full Membership (blue) after you had worked 42 weeks on Equity contracts, and you could only work in professional theatre with a full Equity card. These 'rep' companies were where actors could learn their craft, playing a range of different parts in a fairly wide range of plays over a season which could run for 6 months to a year. One week you could be a lead in a Shakespeare play and the next you could be the butler, or maid or a minor part. You'd be performing one play whilst rehearsing the next one. The stage of the Summer Theatre is 17 feet by 13, which seems a remarkably small space. I can't imagine how they manage to perform on such a tiny stage, what with having a set, wings 'off-stage' and all the back-stage equipment that would be necessary to put on a show. And to produce something of a really amazingly high standard is even more remarkable.