THE1950s
9143 – Amateur Dramatics
I was brought up in a family where amateur dramatics were part of its daily life. Not least, my Uncle Sid was the producer for the local amateur dramatic society, which operated in the village hall. As a result, we regularly used to have to go and watched them perform one-act plays in competition within the Unilever group. In any case, my mother was the prompter, and helped with various costumes. I also met the very glamorous leading ladies, especially Margaret Hughes who was supposedly the epitome of sexiness.
I never actually performed myself, though I nearly was one of the children into Dodie Smith's 'Dear Octopus' . In fact, this never happened since my school work was deemed too important.
At school I used to run the front of house for all performances, but was only once on stage. That was in the school review, where I appeared in the 'Old Birkoniennes' choir -- in which the most masculine rugger playing sixth-formers appeared in drag. I was a star of this, since we were all singing falsetto and I had to break my voice and sing base before being tugged off stage by the conductor. He was one of the masters, but who had played Peer Gynt at the Abbey Theater in Dublin. I got rave reviews from the school magazine, though they were written by my colleagues. Anyway, as result, I was offered, without even having to audition, the part of Sir Epicure Mammon in the 'Alchemist' - which was to be the school play that year. Unfortunately I was just about to leave the school and never took that up.
Thereafter, it has been my wife who has been involved in the local stage activities. She sings, and is in the local chamber choir. Above all, she likes to sing in amateur operatic or Gilbert and Sullivan. Accordingly, I have had to sit through all the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas -- and I hate every single one of them.
She also sang with the Opera Milton Keynes company. This was a opera group, supported by the local council, which really was excellent. The money that came in from the council meant that they could afford to hire in soloists who -- though not top-liners -- were on their way up. In particular they put on one of the best performances of the 'Marriage of Figaro' I remember seeing.
I suppose the climax of Pat's musical career was when she was asked to substitute for one of the chorus in an outdoor concert at the Milton Keynes Bowl. On stage with the 50 strong choir, she sang to 30,000 of us in the audience. It was a beautiful night and actually was a very good performance all round
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