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Living
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1.
Painswick Am Dramatical from Acting Funny, 1997
Miles Curtis-Hayward, Nina Harris,
Maggie Drake & Richard Murray 2.
Lady Macbeth & the Letter from
Macbeth, 1935
Lesley Wolowiec 3.
Lost In The
Pauline Foreman 4.
Pukka Sahib from
5.
A Handbag...! from The
Importance Of Being Earnest, 1948
Pauline Foreman, John Torr, Sheree Carver 6.
Excerpts from Salad Days from Salad
Days, 1984
Richard Murray, Annie McCallum,
Enid Walklett & Chorus 7.
Luck Be A Lady from Guys &
Dolls, 1985
Richard Murray & Chorus 8.
From Bard To Worse from Acting
Funny, 1997
Jack Burgess 9.
The Master And The Maid from
Jean Burgess, Alistair Anderson, Tony
Gibson and Valerie Dugan 10.
Shirley Valentine from April
Foolery, 1998
Lesley Wolowiec 11.
Ladies In The Lords from Acting
Funny, 1997
Pauline Foreman, Georgina Sutton,
Jackie Herbert, Nina Harris, Avril Dorey, 12.
Resting Place from Mixed
Doubles
Judy Reed & Derek Hodges 13.
Finale: Stepping Out! from Stepping
Out!, 2002
Jean Burgess, Susanna Davis, Liz
Fisher, Jackie Herbert, Nikki Leat, Chorus:
Sophie Allen, Alistair Anderson,
Jean Burgess, Jack Burgess, Sherrie Carver,
The Production Team Production Coordinator..................................................................................................Jack
Burgess Special thanks to Painswick Post
Office and The Shetland Shop for ticket sales Programme Note It was in July
1923 that Miss Lucy Hyett produced As You Like
It in her back garden, i.e. the idyllic grounds of Painswick House, and
created Painswick Players. For the next 38 years, this truly
formidable lady was responsible - virtually single-handedly - for 56 separate
productions, involving some 93 plays, including a dozen Shakespeares.
To mark the occasion, Painswick Players tonight presents Living Legends,
a celebration of eighty years of drama in Painswick. Living
Legends started life as a modest
birthday celebration. Someone said in passing that it might be quite nice to
throw a party for members and friends. And perhaps put on some ad hoc
entertainment from past productions. The mention of the word ‘party’ had the
predictable effect, of course, of widening the circle of friends exponentially.
And the ad hoc entertainment quickly burgeoned into a major theatrical event.
Nearly everyone who had ever been a Painswick Player over the years seemed to
want to take part. Then Julian Slade of Salad Days fame said that he
would like to take part and suddenly absolutely everyone wanted to take part.
The next
headache was what to select. In the 80 years since Miss Lucy Hyett put on As You Like It, Painswick Players and
its successors (Country Players and PaDS) have
staged no fewer than 176 productions. We’ve done it all. Tragedy and farce.
Musicals and murder mysteries. High drama and low comedy. Shakespeare and Cenarth Fox. (Cenarth who?… Don’t ask!). After much
debate and many bottles of our infamous and strangely self-replenishing stock
of cheap Hungarian red, a programme gradually emerged. Some things chose
themselves. With Julian Slade and a number of the original 1984 PaDS cast back on board, a selection from Salad Days
became a must. Another easy choice was the 1985 hit Guys & Dolls,
with Richard Murray returning to the Players after years of ‘exile’ with
Cotswold Playhouse. We wanted to
reflect Lucy Hyett’s original commitment to
Shakespeare and we have chosen Macb…sorry, The
Scottish Play in which she famously outed
damned spots as Lady Macbeth in 1935. Another classic, which cried out
for inclusion was Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of being Earnest,
staged first in 1948 and then again in 1984. Guess which part has been
selected? Altogether now… ‘A hand…!’ And, of course,
popular demand (both from cast and audiences) ensured the inclusion of the
finale from last year’s toe tapping Stepping Out! Season these
selections with half a dozen memorable sketches from the Acting Funny (1997)
and April Foolery (1998) reviews and the 1986 Music Hall and you
have a truly celebratory evening of 80 dramatic years in Painswick. Jack Burgess Review: Painswick Beacon: July
2003 Living Legends – The
Movie! It was a memorable evening. The audience was warm: they could hardly be
anything else with a couple of hundred bodies (or 179, if you’re the Fire Officer)
packed into the Painswick Centre. In fact, the scene was quite extraordinary,
with people wedged in everywhere, sitting on the lighting desk, standing
round the sides, hanging from the beams… (OK, I’m lying about the beams).
But, was what we were trying to do – celebrate and tell the story of eighty
years of drama in Painswick in eighty odd minutes – actually possible? The Living Legends format - a dozen excerpts from very different productions
and eras, all rehearsed separately - was always fraught with problems. Had we
got the mix right: the balance between serious and comic, music and drama,
poetry and prose? Would all the excerpts be ready in time? Could this
eclectic mix of bits be glued together to make a seamless show? And, of
course, would we get an audience to watch it? Just over a week before the performance, the tickets were about half sold
and we had our first attempted run through. As the one responsible for
linking it all together, I had one of those ‘Ikea moments’… you know: one of
those moments when you realise that the chic
bedroom suite you thought you were assembling is going to look more like a
prime contender for the Turner Prize. A few days later and a recognisable show was beginning
to take shape. And ticket sales were picking up. Come the final dress
rehearsal, there was a real buzz that something special was happening. And
the ‘SOLD OUT – STANDING Nevertheless, there was still plenty of ‘creative tension’ around
backstage as the curtains opened for the opening number, Painswick Am. Dramatical from the 1997 Acting Funny revue.
We needn’t have worried: the audience responded immediately. Everyone seemed
to want to celebrate with us. Here was an audience looking to enjoy itself
and be part of history. I only had to mention Julian Slade’s name to get a
tumultuous round of applause. They were even laughing at my jokes! (which
have long been part of history – Editor) It was indeed all vintage stuff:
even the programmes made their traditionally
dramatic late entry just ten minutes before the start (flown in from It would be invidious to single out individual pieces. So I shall: the
sparkling Salad Days excerpts (with Richard Murray and Enid Walklett recreating their original 1984 roles), the
explosive Luck be a lady tonight (with Richard Murray again as Sky
Masterson), the electrifying Lady Macbeth from Lesley Wolowiec,
the choreographed brilliance of Alistair Anderson and his Master & The
Maid silent movie team, the memorably pukka
Georgina Sutton (and her memorably pukka
knees!), the sheer cross-legged desperation of Pauline Foreman’s Ladies
seeking the Ladies in the Lords, the stylish ‘handbag’ scene from Importance
Of Being Earnest (with Pauline Foreman and newcomers John Torr and Sheree Carver), the
evocative and beautifully paced Resting Place from Judy Reed and Derek
Hodges, and the foot-stamping Stepping Out! finale.
And if all this were not enough, we had Julian Slade as well. It was a
memorable evening. Jack Burgess, PS: If you’re kicking yourself for missing Living Legends – or
couldn’t get in – you can still catch the movie! The whole evening was
captured on video and is now available. Just call Jean Burgess on
01452-812167 for a copy. Incidentally, the video includes highlights from
following day’s 750th Charter Market celebrations, including our historically
unique King Henry Deferred & The Pirates of Painswick performance,
which opened proceedings. Return to top of
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