STAGE-WRITE June/July 2024
Chairman’s Foreword
Hello Friends! Welcome to my first StageWrite foreword as your new Chair of the FOST Executive Committee. For those of you who don’t know me, I have been a volunteer in the Box Office for the last seven years, working the busy Monday morning shift. If you don’t see me at Coffee, Cake and Chat, you know where to find me. I’d be delighted to see you if you want to say hello. My wife, Christine also volunteers at the theatre in the Housekeeping and Catering teams, so it’s a real family affair.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my predecessor, Vic Farrow, who stood in as Interim Chair for his sterling efforts in the role. I am looking forward to working with the Committee, which is comprised of dedicated, hardworking individuals, focussed on delivering FOST’s core aim of supporting the theatre in any way possible.
A key aspect of FOST’s financial contribution to the upkeep of the theatre has been a significant payment towards the provision of new downstairs toilets. A new lighting console is also being partly funded by FOST.
It’s been a busy Spring with some excellent shows, including tributes to Abba and Genesis, One Night in Dublin, a production of Legally Blonde plus the annual Isle of Wight Music and Dance Festival.
We’re also taking bookings now for big name comedians such as Jack Dee and Frank Skinner. On top of this Spotlight have also started their Summer Show, Beyond the West End. This is a brand new show this year and I can highly recommend it, having been to the first performance as a guest of the Housekeeping Team.
I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible over the coming year.
Paul Harris
A Message From The Editor
Firstly, my sincere apologies for the delay in completing the June Stage Write magazine. I hope you enjoy this special edition, I believe it’s worth the wait!
FOST AGM – 20th May 2024.
May I congratulate and welcome our new FOST Chairman, Paul Harris. I know that Paul will be an asset to the FOST Committee team, and as an active volunteer in the Box Office for a number of years, he has the knowledge and understanding of how the voluntary organisation operates within the theatre, which will be a huge benefit to all.
I was certainly on a mission this Quarter: busily transcribing the interview recording with Chris Gardner on his memories of growing up in the theatre world, and then subsequently working many theatres and venues across the UK before settling down here on the Island at Shanklin Theatre (Pt2). Hence the delay in getting this June edition to you on time.
I’m sure you will agree that the short delay was worth it after reading Chris’s many interesting anecdotes and stories contained within! May I wish both Rebecca and Chris all the very best in their retirement from Shanklin Theatre, you will be greatly missed.
Also included this quarter: Gwyn Dawson’s ‘Quick Quiz,’ Matt Day’s ‘Summer Crossword, updates on the Bucket Fund collection from Alana Bird and contributions from Jacqui Robertson. Thank you.
That just leaves me to wish you all an enjoyable summer and I look forward to presenting the next edition of Stage Write in the Autumn.
Kind regards, Michael Beston – Shanklin Theatre and Community Trustee.
Stage-Write magazine was originally founded in October 2010 by Ron Bird. I would like to personally thank Ron for his continued help & attention to detail in producing the June/July 2024 Stage Write magazine. This magazine was printed by the NHS Printing Services. Newport - Isle of Wight.
A Quick Theatre Quiz –
Created by Gwyn Dawson
All the answers in this arts-ish quiz begin with the letter E. If the answer refers to a person the E could be either the first name, surname or both. The answers are on page 38. Good luck. Gwyn
1. What is the surname of brothers Phil and Don who had a string of hits in the late ‘50s and ‘60s?
2. What is the name of Hamlet’s castle in the play?
3. What is the first name of Chief Inspector Morse?
4. Which author’s real name was Mary Ann Evans?
5. Who did the Hunchback of Notre Dame fall in love with?
6. Nimrod is played every Remembrance Sunday. Who composed it?
7. Talon is appearing at the theatre on 30 November. They are a tribute to which group?
8. Who composed the opera Hansel and Gretel? The name is also that taken by a well-known singer.
9. Who played Jerry Leadbetter in The Good Life?
10. What is the name of the female character from Far From The Madding Crowd who is wooed by 3 suitors?
Matt Day’s Summer Crossword
‘’This crossword I’ve called Golden Years as it’s inspired by me turning 50 in May. Lots of 1970’s references and the hidden phrase is back. Good luck!’’
The answers are on page 38.
ACROSS
8. And 9. Film released in 1974 based on an ITV flat-share comedy (3, 5, 3, 5)
11. Controversial 1974 action movie starring Charles Bronson as a vigilante (5, 4)
13. Popular biscuit for dunking (4, 3)
14. The ___ ___; disaster movie, one of the hottest films of 1974? (8, 7)
17. Singer of the 1974 James Bond film theme song (4)
20. Glam rock band who ended 1974 with a Christmas number one (3)
21. 27, 40 and 26. John Le Carre novel published in 1974 (6, 6, 7, 3)
23. Michael ______, director of 11 across (6)
24. Model of Ford (pictured) driven by The Professionals and Del Boy (5)
26. And 27. See 21 across
28. Music genre which developed in the mid to late 1970’s (5)
32. The Funky _____, number 4 hit by The Goodies (6)
34. First name of the pictured singer ____ Stardust (5)
36. Ticking in my ears starts this seventies Pink Floyd track (4)
38. Jokes which Tim Vine specialises in (4)
40. See 21 across
41. See 7 down
DOWN
1. British model born in Croydon in January 1974 (4, 4)
2. Mike ___, songwriter and performer of songs by 25 down (4)
3. And 6 down. US female singer who had a 1974 number one with Devil Gate Drive (4, 6)
4. Bob Marley shot him in ’73; Eric Clapton did in ’74 (7)
5. 70’s pop band who reached number 1 with Son Of My Father; hypocritic (anagram) (7, 3)
6. See 3 down
7, 10, 39 down and 41 across. Gruesome 1974 horror film about a serial killer (5, 5, 3, 8)
12. UK Prime Minister in 1974 (6, 6)
15. Anglo-Irish sisters who formed a singing group in 1974 (6)
16. and 19 down. 1974 comedy film, 26th in a series, starring Sid James as Turpin (5, 2, 4)
18. Sitcom set in HMP Slade which ran from 1974 to 1977 (8)
19. See 16 down
20. Funky ____, single by Jasper Carrott (5)
22. US hard rock band, big on make-up, who released their eponymous debut in ‘74 (4)
25. Underground pop act with ‘’common people’’ on instruments and vocals (7)
29. Animal named Tarka - the star of a 1979 adventure film (5)
30. Chocolate bar with nougat, caramel and hazelnuts, dropped from Celebrations in 2006 (5)
31. 1974 novel by Peter Benchley about a killer shark (4)
33. Thirteenth letter of Greek alphabet which as a Greek numeral represents 50 (2)
35. ___ Guest, director of 14 Hammer films and, in 1974, Confessions of a Window Cleaner (3)
37. Relatively quiet? (3)
39. See 7 down
The answers are on page 38.
Chris Gardner: Shanklin Theatre Technical Manager - Where have I been? Pt 1
Chris and Rebecca Gardner have been working at Shanklin Theatre as theatre technical and stage managers since 25th May 1987. They both retired from the theatre in May this year after 37 years of loyal and exceptional service.
I wanted to capture as best I could the story of Chris’s career in show business in his early years leading up to his time spent at Shanklin Theatre as a token gesture of appreciation. So, back in January, we sat down together and had a good old chin wag over many cups of tea & coffee.
We start Chris’s story on the 15th of April 1958 when Christopher William Gardner was born at Southmead hospital in Bristol to parents Zena Christine Yvonne Gardner & John Leslie Gardner. In his early years, Chris attended Southville Primary and Portway Secondary Schools in Bristol.
Before leaving school in 1974, Chris worked his first professional Pantomime during the 1973-1974 season on ‘Aladdin’ at the Bristol Hippodrome, St Augustine’s Parade in the centre of Bristol. Chris worked alongside the stars of that time including Larry Grayson, Dilys Watling and was the personal dresser for Rod Hull & Emu. Here’s how Chris got into the ‘theatre scene’………..
Chris’s parents at that time owned a private hire taxi business, and being located very near to the Hippodrome they would be the first point of call for transport requirements to-and-from the theatre. Being a reliable taxi company, they were being called upon more and more often by the theatre and ended up exclusively providing a taxi service on a permanent basis for the Hippodrome. Chris went on to say: ‘Dad used to cart people around such as Laurel and Hardy, Ollie used to sit in the back of the car and be very solemn, Stan would sit in the front and not shut up.’
‘As the private hire business is primarily evening work, the stage manager asked dad if he was interested in crewing on the matinees when it was more difficult to get their normal crew who had day jobs. At first, he wasn’t interested as it only paid around 10 shillings a show and he could earn that in one fare. But he gave in eventually and helped them out increasingly as he found he enjoyed it. Mum was asked if she would like to do wardrobe work, which she did. Unfortunately, the private hire business got into difficulty (that’s another story) so they both ended up there full time.’
Chris started work on the Matinee shows at that time, dressing for Rod Hull. ‘I would leave school as quickly as I could, get on the first bus into the centre of Bristol and straight into the theatre just in time for my first change. When we were doing two shows (Matinee & evening shows) the cast couldn’t leave in between shows as they weren’t allowed out.’
Image right - taken on the 20th of December 1974. Larry Grayson & Dilys Watling in the Aladdin Pantomime
Larry Grayson said to me one day, ‘cor, could you get out over the road and get me some fish and chips? there’s a chip shop across the road.’ But chips in the theatre are considered to be an absolute no-goer, so no, I can’t I said, because Jack Marriot the stage manager would absolutely kill me if I came in with chips. ‘Oh, see if you can smuggle me some in he said.’
So I used to go over with my school bag, get them to triple wrap the fish and chips and put them in my school bag and run past the door of the stage door keeper and straight up to Larry’s dressing room, and give him the fish and chips. And then, Rod & Dilys got to find out about it, so I had to go over to the chip shop more often
and risk my job smuggling in fish and chips! That was my first professional Panto in the 1973-74 season, that’s about fifty years ago roughly, fifty odd pantos and I was at a panto each season, some seasons we did about five.
Mum and Dad then went over to HTV (TV news for the Bristol & West Country area) where I did a little bit of television work, extra work and horse handling on the TV series, Arthur of the Britons with Oliver Tobias, Jack Watson and Brian Blessed. That went on for quite some time, so I did a lot of horse handling and extra work on that. And then I decided I wanted to be a film camera operator, and went off to try and do that but it all fell through due to College courses being cut.
Above – Chris with Brian Blessed (Shouty Man) in May 2014
Mum and Dad built the set and did the fit-up (the term ‘Fit-up’ is theatre term to describe building the set for a show) for the Ivor Emmanuel Summer Show at the Hoe Theatre in Plymouth for John Redgrave Productions. They took a few weeks off from HTV to do that, then Dad fell
ill with a burst ulcer, which was all to do with stress, so he decided not to go back to HTV, and then ended up as Stage Manager at the Hoe, because Roger Hopwood who was Stage Manager left to work for John Redgrave. So Dad stayed there and I used to go in and started working at the Hoe, this was in 1975-1976. The film career didn’t happen and I was too lazy to find anything else.
I then ended up going to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 1977. I did one year in a stage management and technical course. This was at the same time as Amanda Redman (New Tricks & Good Karma Hospital), who was in her final year there, along with Nick Farrell (Frost), who acted in the film, The Jewel in the Crown. There was a whole bunch of others there too. I didn’t really like it there, but I enjoyed the experience of learning stage management and technical courses, but it was the fact that it was rep, (repertory) and I was brought up in variety. Rep and plays and all serious stuff, and I’m not really into that, but I did learn a lot. After finishing the course, I went back into variety, working for John Redgrave Productions, and he was unable to give me an Equity contract, so I didn’t get an Equity Card for some years. In those days you couldn’t work unless you had one, but you couldn’t get an Equity Card unless you were working, catch 22.
So, when the Redgrave thing finally finished, I went to Blackpool with a girlfriend I had at that time, and I went around there knocking on doors. I have never been an ambitious person, so long as I was working and someone was paying me, I was happy. It really didn’t bother me what I was doing as long as it was in Theatre.
I heard that Keith Woolfenden, an old friend of mine was working with Keith Harris (ventriloquist) at the Grand Theatre, in Blackpool. I went down to see him and he introduced me to Bob Duffy, the stage manager. He said, ‘we’re looking for a stage electrician.’ I said yes, I can do that, ‘when can
you start,’ he asked, I stepped on the stage, and said, ‘point me at a lamp!’ and I ended up doing that season with Keith Harris. I got on very well with him and I really wanted to work with him for the next season in Great Yarmouth. I thought, how can I ask to work with him? I was sitting on the side of stage one night, and he said to me, ‘I’m trying to find a way to take you to Yarmouth with me next year, would you be interested?’ I answered, ‘ ooh, I don’t know Keith, I’ll have to check me diary’. – Yes was the swift reply! So, he sort of head-hunted me up to a point. He had spotted how I had sorted a number of issues with set and props and was handy with the tools.
Toward the end of that season, Keith Woolfenden was talking to Brian Durkin, a Manchester producer, who had just bought a production of Pinocchio that he wanted Keith to do. He wanted to try it out with a group called the Houghton Weavers, The North’s top comedy folk group, to do a week’s rehearsal and a week’s show in Southport, and then a week at the Grand Theatre in Blackpool. Then if it worked out, take it on tour. Keith said, ‘I can do the first bit, but I can’t do the dates for the tour after that. So what I suggest you do is, get yourself a good ASM (Assistant stage manager) who can come and sort all the set and props out, do the first three weeks, and then when you come to the tour, just promote the ASM to the stage manager and they’ll know the gig’. At which point Brian said ‘oh yeh, that’s a good idea,’ and Keith just looked at me, winked and said, ‘I’ve got you just the man!’ So I heard him create a job, and then get it for me in one fell swoop.
I did it for £80 a week and a full Equity contract, which was actually worth £140 a week if you did it to the letter at the time as that was the minimum rate. Brian was frightened to death to hand it over, he said, ‘if I hand it over, you could sting me for £140’, I insisted the contract is what I want, because with that contract I can get an Equity card. I assured him I would not go back on my word. I did the three weeks. I got my Equity card out of that. I got on really well with Brian and he offered me Pantomime at Thameside Theatre with the Houghton Weavers Don Crann and Old Mother Riley, which went toward the 30 weeks I needed to get my full Equity card.
(Equity is the trade union representing “performers and creative practitioners” in the UK. With over 47,000 members, most British actors, models, and even puppeteers are members and getting an Equity card is usually an important first step in a performer’s career. Equity’s main role is to negotiate minimum pay and conditions for its members, to ensure members are being paid for the work they have done, lobbying on a
member’ s behalf with employers and government as well listing an official acting name.)
Chris’s work as Stage Manager carried on throughout 1983 working at the Grand theatre in Blackpool with Keith Harris, Bobby Crush and Derek Rutt. Also at Southport theatre and the Blackpool Grand with the Houghton Weavers performing ‘Pinocchio.’ Tameside theatre with the Houghton Weavers performing ‘Babes in the Wood,’ which all built up Chris’s weeks for his Equity card.
Throughout 1984, Chris worked at the ABC in Great Yarmouth, again with Keith Harris, Bobby Crush, Derek Rutt and the Half Wit’ s and the Dominion Theatre in London showing the Humpty Dumpty pantomime with Keith Harris.
Chris went on to talk about the Dominion Theatre and meeting Rebecca. That was my one and only West End run which was bloody marvellous, I really enjoyed it, it was great fun. I did that pantomime for six years, the following year we did it at Birmingham. Just prior to that was when I met Rebecca in Nottingham. The crew that put the set in for The Keith Harris summer seasons were from the Theatre Royal in Nottingham, which was the technical manager from the Royal Consort and the Stage Manager from the Theatre Royal. They are both the same complex you see, and I got on really with them and just before they left, Dave Mason stuck his head up to me and said, ‘if you want any work, give me a call’. I said ‘yeh, I want work.’ So I got some work in Nottingham and did two autumn seasons crewing; the Operas and the Ballets were worth a lot of money. As I said, I ain’t proud, just because I was a stage manager I was quite happy to go and do some crewing work.
Image right – Ken Dodd with one of the Diddymen that made him famous
It was during the second season that I met Rebecca, I was doing a Ken Dodd show at the time as it happens.
Then I went to Birmingham Hippodrome to do Humpty Dumpty with Keith Harris. By that point I had my full Equity card so I took over as stage manager, and they needed a ‘Dresser’ (a dresser is a theatrical stagehand who is involved with maintaining costume quality at each performance). Keith Woolfenden asked me if Rebecca would be interested, which she was and that was the first time we worked together; that was about three months after we met, so that was our first ‘work together’ thing.
Image below, left to right – Keith Woolfenden, Keith Harris, Chris Gardner & Derek Rutt on their way to Tenerife on a Lads Holiday in 1986. ‘Much sun was taken and alcohol consumed. It was one hell of a week!’
Then I went on to do Sunderland Empire in 1986/87, and then in 1987/88 it was supposed to be the Hull New Theatre, but I got the job over here. When I say over here, I mean the Isle of Wight.
I was looking after three venues on the Island, Ventnor Winter Gardens, Sandown Pavilion and Shanklin Theatre. I was technical manager for all three, because it was under the control of South Wight Borough Council back then. But my connection with Shanklin Theatre goes back to 1987, as I did six weeks as stage manager with ‘Oliver’ here in 1982 with Gordon Peters, it was a John Redgrave production. That was the same year we started with Tommy Cooper, two days at the Palace Theatre in Plymouth.
Image left – Rebecca with Windsor Davies modelling a jacket she made. Keith Harris & Orville photo bombing at Birmingham Hippodrome 1985
That basic show moved to the Festival Theatre in Paignton for a week with Charlie Williams as the top of the bill. That’s where we built the show Zee’s Summer Magic, which would eventually go into the Sandown Pavilion with Charlie Williams, Di Lee (Peters & Lee) and Tony Maiden (Black Beauty). And every night was a different show because we were putting new stuff in. The main act was a fellow called Eric Zee who was an illusionist who did big stuff, his final piece was putting Angie, his pretty assistant into a cage, then he put a cloth over her, whips the cloth off and there was a leopard in there instead.
So we had a different show every night in Paignton and when we finally came over here we put it into Sandown, and I started it off, then I handed it over to my predecessor here, Chris Wilcox. He went on running it and I went away and started building ‘Oliver’ which then came back over here to Shanklin Theatre. I did ‘Oliver’ here and down the road was Zee’s Summer Magic with changing tops as it was known, which included Tommy Cooper, Norman Wisdom and Larry Grayson. So I was quite often down there saying hello to the old ‘Crew’ as it were.
I also did a summer season in Plymouth with Dickie Henderson. He used to do a thing called The Old Redeyes which was an impression of somebody doing an impression of Frank Sinatra and doing it very badly basically, he used to call it old redeyes. It was so funny, absolutely brilliant, he would be falling over and he had cigarettes, they had to be a certain type of packet in order to get the cigarette out, he would tap on the packet and it should have come out all cool and that, but when Dickie did it they all fell out onto the floor and that, so they had to be the right type of packs, so in Plymouth he found somewhere to get them.
But when I did the start of the season here on the Island before I went away and did something else. Dicky said, ‘can you find me the same cigarettes, I can’t find the right packs anywhere!’ They had to be like the paper packs. I found a tobacconist at the bottom of Sandown High Street that sold them. I would go down there and buy them for him. I remember, he was on the stage one night, he started to go into the routine, went to get a pack out of his pocket that he usually had pre-set, but had forgotten to put them in. He said, ‘I know, Chris will have a pack of cigarettes on the side of the stage’, ‘Oh Jesus Christ’ I said, ‘he’s forgotten to pick ‘em up!’ But I had an emergency pack ready for him. He was a lovely man, you know, I’ve still got a stool of his, he asked my Dad to get it re-upholstered, took him a while to get around to it, never actually got around to it and then Dickie died. I didn’t know how to get it back to him after he died!
In 1984, Chris spent the season at the ABC Theatre in Great Yarmouth.
1985 I took over as stage manager for Keith Harris during the summer season at the Bournemouth Pavilion, which was Keith’s last big summer season on his own, but we still carried on doing the pantos for a few years. When the Sunderland Empire Panto came around, there had been a change of management at Cardiff New Theatre, who had originally built the set, props and costumes in the Welsh National Opera workshops and they were no longer going to send a technical team to put it on.
The set was huge, it took three articulated lorries to transport the set, props and costumes. Keith Harris was frightened to death as there were no plans on how to put it together. I said that’s not a problem. I’ll put all the set together. Keith said, ‘you can’t, I ain’t got any plans,’ I said ‘I don’t
Image above – Dickie Henderson
need any plans, I’ve been working with the thing for two years, I know all the props, set and everything intimately! I’ll come and do the first few days of rehearsal, then Keith Woolfenden will can take over the rest of the rehearsals and I’ll catch up later, don’t worry about me.’ So that’s how we did it for Sunderland.
I was supposed to go to Hull with it the next year, but I had got the job of technical manager here on the island. I hadn’t actually signed the contract, it wouldn’t have been a problem if I had, to be honest. Keith would have let me go. Rebecca had already signed hers, she was the ASM by the time we got to Sunderland on the Humpty Dumpty pantomime. I wasn’t going to be able to do Hull as stage manager, but Keith and Barry Stead asked me to be production manager and get the set built and a new stage manager run in, which I did for the next three years.
We did Nottingham then Oxford, and they took me on as production manager. So I would go up, put the set together, the plans were all in my head. Once they were up and running, I would come away again. Rebecca did Hull on her own with another ASM, but by the time we got to Nottingham (Rebecca’s home town), she couldn’t do it as we had our first and only child by then, this was in 1988. Abigail was born on 8.8.88 in St Mary’s hospital on the Island, the same date as Princess Beatrice was born, if anybody is interested. I wasn’t! Rebecca and I got married on the 15th of April 1988 on my 30th birthday. What a birthday present that was, we wanted to get married on the Saturday, but we left it too late and couldn’t get a booking at a register office, so we had it on the Friday instead.
My godparents came to see us, although they couldn’t make it to the wedding itself. Their names were John and Nell Moody, John was one of the founder members of the Welsh National Opera. My middle name is William; the reason is that John and Nell had a son that was tragically killed in a canoeing accident, he went over a weir and drowned. They were obviously devastated and Mum and Dad said to them after I was born would you become my godparents. They took me on and I got presents from them every year. They were lovely people, and when they came to our wedding, they handed me an envelope and said, ‘have it now, don’t wait until we die. ’ It was my inheritance, it was a cheque for a thousand pounds; in 1988 that was a lot of bloody money; it’s a lot of money now! I couldn’t believe it. ‘Look, a cheque for a £100, Christ no, there’s three noughts, that’s a £1000!’ So I carried on as production manager for that show, even after I had started over here.
Sandown Pavilion closed in 1999, I spent a lot of time coming over here because I was still technical manager for Shanklin Theatre. November 1993 was when it went to private management. I also lost the Ventnor Winter Gardens, thank Christ! David Redston & Tony Wright took over with Dave Ballanger as it was then.
A brief history of Sandown Pavilion
Sandown Urban District Council became owners in 1918 and, following amalgamation with the neighbouring Shanklin authority, a new 1000 seat, shoreward-end pavilion was opened on October 23rd, 1934.
The pier-head pavilion continued in use as a ballroom. The pier was sectioned during the Second World War for defence reasons and the condition of the landing stage deteriorated. A new concrete ‘double-decker’ landing stage was finally opened in 1954.
In 1968, the council decided to rebuild the pier. Work began in 1971 and included replacing the old, fire-damaged pavilion. Developments included a new bar and cafe. The area between the Esplanade and the Pavilion Theatre was under cover. Lord Mountbatten carried out the re-opening ceremony on 22nd July 1973.
Sandown Pier Ltd, under George Peak, bought the pier in 1986 with the provision that South Wight Council leased back the theatre for ten years
The Pavilion. Sandown in 1937
with a peppercorn rent of £50 a year. Nearly £1 million was spent on refurbishment that winter. The theatre was then run under a management contract by Isle of Wight (Theatres) Ltd.
A fire caused £2 million of damage on August Bank Holiday 1989. The pier fully re-opened on June 18th, 1990 (the shoreward end had re-opened within 30 hours of the blaze).
Although the theatre finally closed in the 1990s to be replaced with a bowling alley and golf course, Sandown Pier remains a popular attraction with a restaurant, shops, kiosks, amusements, fishing and various pleasure cruises from the head.
After the Pavilion closed, the interior seating was removed and installed at Shanklin Theatre. In 2011 shortly after the Shanklin Theatre & Community Trust took control of the Theatre, a new Matrix seating system was installed giving a total seating capacity of 615.
Chris then started to reminisce about certain entertainers he had worked with back in the day.
The interior seating at the Pavilion
Harry Worth
Harry in his TV series used to stand half against a shop window and give the illusion he was elevating from the ground, I tell you what, he was like that off stage, I never worked with him but he came in to the theatre to say hello to everyone when I was doing panto with Norman Wisdom, he was doing panto down the road, and as he walked in he had a suitcase with him, he had the hat and coat on that he wore in the TV series. He put the suitcase down and started chatting to everyone, got distracted and then couldn’t remember where he had left his suitcase; everyone was searching for it. He was just as dotty off stage as he was on.
The Mistins
They used to play the xylophone on roller skates, they would come on the stage, Audrey was from Birmingham, and Roger was from Belgium, they would play a number together, then he would play another on his own. She would sit down and conduct the orchestra, she didn’t, she was bloody rubbish, then she get up, get him in the xylophone and he would start playing, going round and round, faster and faster and spinning at a right rate of knots playing the xylophone, lovely couple, great act but they only knew three numbers!
I remember doing the Hippodrome at Eastbourne with Ken Goodwin and John Boulter in 1980, Roger and Audrey were on that and we did three changes of programme. Of course he only knew three bloody numbers, so he had to go and learn two more numbers. They always opened with the same number, closed with the same number and the spinny roundy one he would just change in the middle! I remember saying to him once - cause a lot of acts if they get into trouble, they prefer to get out of it themselves, so they’ve got a way of getting out it, sort of thing. I said to him one night in Plymouth, if you come off that thing, do you want help? ‘Oh god yeh, Audrey would never get me out on my own.’ He never did as it happens, but he did it in France once at a club. It went wrong, he spun off the stage and landed in the front row. The chief executive of Renault was in the front row, and the headlines the next day were ‘The chief executive of Renault run over by a xylophone!’
Ken Goodwin
Ken was a lovely man, very funny, sadly hit with Alzheimer’s in the end. Matter of fact, the first summer season I did in Sandown in 1994 that the Isle of Wight Theatres put on, he was top of the bill; we did three nights a week with Ken, and I think it started to slip in then. I think that was the beginning, I may be wrong. He would do a gag about an Irishman going up in a helicopter. He went up on his maiden flight and crashed, and they
said to him why did you crash? He said I was really cold, so I turned the fan off! So, Ken got on stage, he starts the same gag off, ‘an Irishman gets into this um, he gets into this erm, oh what’s it called, um’, I’m sat in the back of the auditorium on the sound and lighting desk, I thought, he’s forgotten what it’s called, so I shouted out from the back – HELICOPTER. Ken says, ‘helicopter, he gets into the helicopter’. So, I often wonder if it was a little sign of it then, because it was quite late on by then. This would have been around 1994.
Alvin Stardust & Norman Wisdom
I had a chance to reconnect with Alvin when he did come down to the Con Club. He did a couple of shows there with Vic, so we were reminiscing about a panto we had done together. He saved my life; John Redgrave Productions didn’t pay good money to the crew and all that worked with him, but that’s by the by really, but the Palace Theatre in Plymouth really soaked up his money. Putting the Palace back on the road, because we built it from nothing, it was derelict, it had been derelict for sixteen years when we moved in. We put it back on the road and re-built it. We did it in 11 very hard weeks of work to get it up and running. The first Panto season was with Frankie Howerd. The following year it was Norman Wisdom, Alvin Stardust Danny John Jules (The cat in Red Dwarf) Donald Hewlett, Michael Knowles and Dino Shafeek (It Ain’t Half Hot Mum) an expensive cast. He didn’t have enough money to pay the artists, and Alvin got a bit humpty about that, not surprisingly, and said, ‘I ain’t going on’ basically.
Image above – Alvin and Chris at the Shanklin Conservative Club in the summer of 2014
The season had started, and there was supposed to be someone else stage managing it. He fell out with Redgrave, the production manager fell out with Redgrave and they both upped and left. So Redgrave ended up
running the corner for a bit, which is the stage management part, but then he put me in and said, ‘you run it,’ and went away. Of course there were all these money problems, and I was basically just the stage manager. I was paid a very nice compliment by Norman Wisdom’s right hand man Tony Fayne. I was going around, trying to keep everyone happy, because of the money issues, and Tony said, ‘well everybody looks to you as company manager’, I’m not the company manager, I’m only the stage manager, ‘everybody looks on you as company manager, you’re the one that’s keeping it running’ he said, I thought, that’s a very nice compliment, and it was a compliment because I never saw myself as a company manager.
So Alvin wasn’t getting paid, they always managed to pay Norman, but Alvin said one night, ‘no I’m sorry, I’m from a Rock ‘n’ Roll background, no pay, no play.’ Shit, I thought, I went running out to front of house, we got 1,200 people sat down there in the audience, more coming in ready to see the show Robinson Crusoe, Alvin was playing Crusoe, so without him we were buggered! I was trying to ring John Redgrave, can’t get hold of him, can’t get hold of the theatre manager because John and he were living in the same place and they had taken the phone off the hook. So I got a taxi to go round there and knock on the door to give them a message, but they didn’t answer the door either! I was getting nothing and running back and forth and it was getting closer and closer to the start of the show, god almighty I thought, I don’t know what to do. I can’t start the damn thing as I ain’t got a Robinson Crusoe. Dino Shafeek was playing Man Friday, so he wasn’t on until the second half, because he didn’t usually come in till later, and he happened to pass me in the corridor. He said, ‘oh, I’m quite surprised to see you here with the show started’; Well it hasn’t started yet I said, ‘It has, it’s all going’, WHAT!! I said, @%!!%!.... who the bloody hell started that? How the bloody hell am I going to get round this! The guy doing the sound was Alvin’s man, a fellow called Geoff Clennell who I’m still in touch with now, but he wasn’t up on the sound desk, so we had no sound man, no Robinson Crusoe, how the bloody hell @%!!%!....
The show started but Alvin wasn’t on stage until fifteen minutes into the show. I went up to his room. I said ‘Look Alvin, the show has started, all I can say is that it wasn’t me that started it, there’s no point in me starting it without a Robinson Crusoe. I’d rather have gone out on stage before it started and say to the audience, ‘look, we’ve got a problem, the show’s off,’ but now we’ve started, I don’t know what to do. I told him all the problems I had, trying to get hold of John etc, so I said, if there’s any chance you can find it in your heart to come out and play one more. I said it’s not like
you have to come in, you’re already here, if you could go out and play one more for me, and the best I can do is try and sort it all out tomorrow, and if it ain’t ready by tomorrow then we’ll pull the plug, but that’s all I can ask.
So he sat there and mumbled to himself. I left him to it with the hope that he would do it. When his entrance came, they used to do a tune called ‘Sea Cruise.’ The girls went on and did a little bit of dancing and then they do what we call a round of round, the band would play a round of round of four bars, the girls would hop foot to foot and then Alvin would normally come on and go into his full opening number. So we got to Sea Cruise, they started the first bit but he still hadn’t turned up. The dancers were hopping from foot to foot for a lot longer than choreographed, and I’m looking at the door to the dressing rooms thinking ‘oh god.’ Eventually, the door opened and Alvin came through holding one finger up and mouthed…‘ONE!’ I mouthed back, ‘Thank you!!’ I was SO grateful. He went on and did it and the next day I was able to sort it out and he got his pay. So when we met up at the Con Club I reminded him of it and he said, ‘I remember that well.’ I said I don’t blame you for not going on, but Jesus Christ, I was absolutely frightened to death, how do I tell 1,200 people ‘sorry, Robinson ain’t coming’….. That was in 1980.
That was a hell of a season that, but it was good fun. Norman Wisdom hated matinee shows. I never liked matinees. I think because we were evening people you know, we just didn’t like doing the afternoon shows. It was tough too, doing an afternoon show and then another on the same evening. When the matinees came along, Norman would come down and we would sit down and moan about it together! But the first night of that one, the curtain went up at 7 o’clock, and what used to happen in those big name pantomimes, very often, you’d do the story line if you like, and at the end everyone would come out and do their little spot. Donald and Michael would go out and do a bit, Alvin would then go out and sing a song, and then Norman would come on and do his spot, nothing to do with the pantomime at all, just doing his spot, and then they’d do the finale. So, the first night it went up at 7 o’clock, at half past eleven it came down! The story was over by 9 o’clock! It was ridiculous, the audience were punch drunk by the end! This happened because Redgrave buggered it up basically, he tried to please everybody. ‘Yes, you can do this, you can do that.’ The other thing that happened was that Alvin went on, did ‘My Coo Ca Choo’ which was his massive hit, and it was fantastic the way that he did it. It used to start with the girls going on and doing a routine, they’d finish that routine and one of the girls took the mic off the centre stand, put it on the floor, the followspot. (A followspot is a type of profile
lantern that can be moved around to follow a performer on stage by an operator), hit the mic, and the rest of the stage went to black. Then the beginning of the song would start with a fantastic guitar rift. Alvin would walk on dressed all in black with his signature black leather gloves, bend down, pick the mic up and start the song. The followspot would follow the mic up, and when he went into the first line of ‘My Coo Ca Choo’ with his hand movement in the glove, the punters went absolutely bloody bananas, and at the end of it he’d get a bottle of Champagne, shake it up, pop the cork off and spray the audience with it, take his leather gloves off and throw them out into the audience, rip the sleeves off his shirt and throw them out and the audience went absolutely mental! It was brilliant.
Below - Bernard William Jewry (27 September 1942 – 23 October 2014), known professionally as Shane Fenton and later as Alvin Stardust
And then Norman comes on, starts doing his little bit, of course, the audience have gone from Rock ‘n’ Roll down to very old school comedian, he went down like a French kiss at a family reunion. He came off the side of the stage and said to me at one point, ‘that’s the last time I follow that load of f@@@ing crap’! ‘NORM’ I said, ‘you’ve still got your mic on.’ He went down even worse then, the punters were hearing it, ‘oh for god’s sake’ I said.
So, the next night we had a massive cut in the show, we got it down to about two and a half hours in the end I think, we had to lose two hours out of it somewhere. So, we put Norman on before Alvin and that worked fine, oh god that was fun. And we couldn’t afford to replace Alvin’s shirt every night, so my mum had to keep making new sleeves for it or sowing the sleeves back on the shirt, not too strongly as he had to rip
them off. In the end she found some cheap black material and made new sleeves up for him and managed to find some cheaper leather gloves and stuff. Alvin didn’t cover the cost of this as this was part of the production costs.
Leslie Crowther
This image was taken by Chris Gardner of Norman Wisdom during a Sunday concert at Sandown Pavilion in July 1988. He is seen here hi-jacking someone else’s drum kit.
Chris often regrets not sitting next to Norman rather than just taking a picture of him alone
I did work with him at the Wembley Conference Centre in 1986 with Rebecca as well. I took over as stage manager; I was looking for an ASM, and I was told by the guy I took over from who was a very good friend of mine, he got me the job in the first place, he said get an assistant, don’t do it without one because if you do it without an assistant they’ll never pay for one ever again. So, I was desperately looking around for one, and I didn’t know anyone in London, and I suddenly thought, Rebecca, hang about, you’re here, yeh, yeh, so we did it together. So, she came on as my assistant, and we did Wembley together. Leslie came and did a one nighter with us over there, and we used to have a massive thrust stage (a thrust stage (a platform stage or open stage) is one that extends into the audience on three sides and is connected to the backstage area by its upstage end), and he was going to play the piano. We had to hire a piano in, hire a company to put the piano up, and it was then going to go right out onto the thrust stage, and have a stool with it, two microphones and lid up, that would be it. So, we organised it with Leslie, ‘you go out and do your hello everybody bit’, and meanwhile we would come in behind you, so we’ll organise it with the crew. They’ll push the piano out, Rebecca would come out with the stool, another guy would bring the two mics out, you go out, place it on the marks on the stage, I’ll put the lid up and place
the mics where they need to go and walk off. So, we all knew what we were doing and everything will be bloody marvellous.
When it actually came to it, we go out there, they place everything, turn around to walk away - bearing in mind they are walking a long way upstage now - I go to lift the lid of the piano up, but they hadn’t put the pins in the back of the lid, and the lid slides off. I just managed to catch it in front of 3,000 people and managed to put it back, of course they’d gone off stage by now, I shouted, ‘PINS, PINS, FOR GOD SAKE BRING ME SOME PINS’……. I was trying to keep quiet whilst Leslie was doing his opening number. I thought ‘if he just goes on nobody will notice me, of course, what did he do, he came up to me and said, ‘what’s going on here then?’, ‘what’s happening here Chris?’ I thought, oh for god’s sake go back and do your act, I’ll sort the bloody piano out. This is live in front of 3,000 people! Luckily, Rebecca heard me, and she grabbed some pins and came running back out and we got the lid secured whilst Leslie is taking the p@ss out of me, I slipped the pins in, put the lid up, put the mics in and ran off!
I had called on Rebecca’s services because I needed an ASM and I didn’t know anybody in London. I tried ringing the one person I knew, but couldn’t get hold of him. We were sat up in my office, I had a lovely office, it overlooked the front forecourt, 15 foot plate glass window. When I see pictures of the conference centre, I say, ‘oh look, there’s my office’. So, we ended up working together. It can be hard heavy work, and you needed someone with physical strength. I thought, oh sod it, we’ll work round that, which we did. And we were the last freelance people in the building, then it went to staff jobs after that. I did apply for the job, but I didn’t get it. I’m actually quite glad as I didn’t like London, anyway. I don’t like working up there. We were living in a caravan out near Potters Bar at the time, in a place called Cuffley.
Don Mclean
I did a couple of weeks with Don in an Easter thing down at the Princess Theatre in Torquay, don’t ask me what year that was, can’t remember. I was company stage manager for it. It would have been April because it was on my birthday, and he had a personal appearance at the psychiatric hospital. He said, ‘can you come with me?,’ ‘yeh, yeh, great’ I said. So we went out in his very nice Saab, and I’d never been to a psychiatric hospital in my life, so I was quite apprehensive. But Don was lovely with them, absolutely lovely, and they were all around him and he dealt with it all beautifully. He did his personal appearance and after that we went to his friend’s house that he used to play squash with. He used to play Squash a
lot, and his friend lived in Torquay and had his own Squash court in the grounds, it was a really nice house. We went round and had tea out on the bloke’s lawn, little finger out and all that kind of thing.
Barry Cryer
I said to him, ‘I’ve got these autograph books that you might be interested in looking through.’ (Chris’ parents had been collecting autographs and memorabilia of many stars of the stage and screen over the years. They are very big books). ‘Ah yeh, drop them down in the interval and I’ll take a quick look’ he said. I thought, I wouldn’t have time in the interval, so I took them down about an hour before the show started, I said ‘I’ll just put them here and you can have a look at your leisure,’ ‘Jesus Christ’ he said, ‘I didn’t realise they looked like that, oh bloody hell’. And then of course he started going through them, and he was saying ‘oh, I used to work with him, I’ve written for him, I’ve written for him too. Oh he said, look at that, look at this,’ and he was there for over an hour looking through the books.
Chris’s parents had been collecting autographs and pictures of stars that appeared at the Bristol Hippodrome since 1954, and filled a full album apart from the last few pages. So Chris took over collecting for the album and kept it going for them. Chris went onto say: ‘I don’t get it out for all the artists, because a lot are not that interested, or I don’t think they might be.’ (Chris has now almost completed a second album full of pictures, autographs and memorabilia).
The Charge Of The Light Brigade
Around 1966, my Mum and Dad got a job working on Charge. There was a costume store set up in the Colston Hall in Bristol. I said to Mum, ‘I’d love to come and see the costumes.’ ‘Oh alright, come in and have a look’ she said. I
was about eight or nine years old at the time. I went in and had a look. While I was poking around these tables looking at all these lovely costumes they had, Tony Richardson (an English theatre and film director, producer and screenwriter, whose career spanned five decades, who also directed the film ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’) came in with a couple of other people and started to look at the costumes too. My Mum thought, ‘oh no, this could be awkward, so you’d better go.’ I left, and Tony Richardson, apparently came up to my Mum afterwards and said, ‘who was that lad that just went out?’ My Mum thought, ‘oh no, I’m in trouble now’ she said, ‘my son actually, I’m ever so sorry, I shouldn’t have had him in here’. ‘No, no’ he said ‘not that. I like the look of him, bring him in for a fitting. I’ve got some things for him’. So that’s how I ended up wearing the beautiful cream velvet coat, I wanted to keep it, but they wouldn’t let me.
Image left – Chris & Vanessa Redgrave during the filming of ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ c1967. Chris is wearing the cream velvet coat referenced above
So, I ended up doing quite a few bits and pieces as an extra and a runner on set. A film director walks around with like a view finder around their neck, (a viewfinder is a small viewing glass that bears resemblance to a telescope and enables a film director to see what the framing of a shot will be like depending on the given lens and shooting format). So, Tony put the viewfinder around my neck and said, ‘right, you follow me, so I always know where my viewfinder is.’ So, I was always following him around with the viewfinder. He wanted me to do the ‘Bloody Child’ from Macbeth, where the apparition comes up from the cauldron, through the trap in the stage. We did that at the Bristol Old Vic before it had been refurbished, so it was all the old equipment there. My Dad had worked at the Old Vic, so he knew the trap. So he came down and operated it, and I spent the whole day going up and down the trap, which was absolutely wonderful as far as I was concerned. I had always wanted to have a go on one, it was the bloody business!
There were the three witches around the top of the cauldron, and there was another fella called Sir Donald Wolfit, (an English actor-manager, known for his touring productions of Shakespeare) who used to entertain me in between shots. Because in between filming there was a lot of hanging about, and he used to sit down and tell me lots of stories and stuff. The other one that should have come up from the trap was the Boy King, and that was going to be played by a girl who was the daughter of one of the designers. We’d been sat down chatting in between shots at the bottom of this trap, she’d watched me going up and down on it all day.
But when it came to her turn, she wouldn’t do it. She screamed her head off, she wouldn’t go anywhere near the trap.
Tony shouted, ‘what’s the hold-up?’ ‘She won’t get on the trap!’ ‘Get Chris cleaned up and get him fitted out with his bloody costume and get him back here now!’ said Tony. So, they ended up rushing me across Bristol in a taxi with a makeup lady. She was cleaning me up and fitting me in a costume, putting elastic bands in my hair so I could put the wig on. I had to go over to Colston Hall to have the costume fitted correctly and then come back. It cost him thousands as it was a big production feature film; there were hundreds of people standing around doing nothing. So, I stood on the trap and went up and down for another day, bloody marvellous!
We were there for about four days, and I was going up and down the trap for two of them. In the film, if you blink, you’ll miss it. They pan across the stage, you’ll just see me coming up through the trap as the Bloody Child, and bosh, that’s it!
The image on the next page was taken from one of the scenes in the film. This is one of the few times you actually see me in film, it was in the wedding scene. If you’re really quick you’ll catch me running up the path, just before I got told off by Vanessa Redgrave. She said, ‘you’re throwing the bloody rice too hard,’ but with a big smile on her face. But, by eck, you have to be quick. (This was in 1966, a year before the film, The Charge of the Light Brigade was released).
Image - ‘The Bloody Child’ up-staging Sir Donald Woolfit!
Mum and Dad were only booked to do the Bristol location. The production was going up to London to finish off. They were doing another eight weeks up there. So my parents decided to take a chance, and travelled up
to London. Anthony, my older brother, Mum, Dad and me, in a VW camper van. They happened to know that the costume headquarters would be set up in North Road. So Dad sort of happened to drive by and they saw us and said, ‘oh, hello, what are you doing up here?’ ‘Oh, we just came up for a few days’ holiday ‘said Dad, ‘Ahh, you don’t want any work, do you?,’ ‘well, oh all right then’ said Dad, the crafty b@@ger. So, we ended working on it in London, and that was like the finishing bit. In one of the scenes, I don’t know the name of the road, but if you stood with Buckingham Palace to your back looking up The Mall, the next road over on the left we did a lot of work up and down there, in fact they were all very posh houses.
We used to get £2 a day working in Bristol for extra work, and £4 a day in London. For an eight-year-old back in 1966, that were a lot of money. And double bubble on a Bank Holiday weekend. So, on such a weekend, they closed the road off, covered all the parking meters up with artificial bushes and hedges, put cobble rubber mats down to get rid of the tarmac, because you wouldn’t have had tarmac back then, it was all cobbles. Then Tony said to me, ‘hey Chris, do you think you could get up there underneath the horses head?’, (this was a full size mock-up glass fibre statue of one of the stone Wellington horses outside Buckingham Palace). ‘Yeh, I can do that Tony’ I said, so I scrambled up, just sat up there. Tony shouts ‘Action’, thirty horses set off. About a hundred people all started milling around as part of the scene, I’m up there, and underneath the horses head. There is this rein that came from the horses bit and over its shoulder, I caught hold of the rein, I thought, oh this is fun innit, and started swinging it back and forth. Eventually Tony shouts ‘CUT,’ ‘Chris, come down here’, he said, ‘it supposed to be f@@@ing stone, stop swinging the bloody reins about!’. ‘Reset for another take’ he said. So they had to reverse the thirty horses and start the scene again because I’d been sat there swinging the reins about. However, this is one of the few occasions I can be seen in the whole film. Blink and you will miss it.
I hope you enjoyed reading about Chris and Rebecca’s early career and life working in the theatre’s across the UK. My plan is to sit with Chris again very soon and chat about their time spent working at Shanklin Theatre from 1987. I would like to personally thank them both on behalf of the Trustees, for contributing to the running of Shanklin Theatre since the Trust took over in 2011. It’s certainly been a journey, a journey that’s only really just begun for the Theatre and all who work and volunteer their time that make it what it is - a real ‘success story!’
Michael Beston – Shanklin Theatre and Community Trustee
Bucket Collection Report
Feb 2024 - £989.75 - 10 shows
Mar 2024 - £346.55 - 7 shows
April 2024 - £874.71 - 12 shows
In February, our spring season opened, with £281 collected from the fabulous production of Carmen by the Ukrainian National Opera.
Phantom of the Opera raised over £480 for 5 shows
On 23rd, a History of British Mass Murderers packed the theatre.
Then, to end February, David Suchet sold out the theatre with Poirot and More - A Retrospective, with a collection of £128.
In March, the story of Guitar Heroes was a great show, raising £85. The I O W Music, Dance and Drama Festival occupied the theatre from the 9th to the 24th.
The local theatre group First Act presented Monster Mayhem on the 26th and 27th and raised over £55.
Tribute Act, Lionel, the music of Lionel Richie, made £57.
Jack-Up Events put on two nights, one in February - A Night of a Thousand Freddies (£60) - and one in March - The 60s with The Zoots (£97).
April had two great Musicals, Legally Blonde (£150), and Me and My Girl from the Savoyards (£380).
A great time was had by all with One Night In Dublin, with £117 in the buckets.
Lastly, comedy with Al Murray keeping the laughs and beer flowing with matinee and evening shows, getting £140. Cheers, everyone!
The Summer Brochure is out now, so don’t forget your copy, and some cash for the buckets.
Thank You!
Alana Bird
FOST Monthly Members’ Draw Winners for February - March and April 2024
February 2024
FOST No
Anthony Greville 1472
Barbara Roberts 1013
David Richardson 0557
March 2024
FOST No
David White 0169
Michael Beston - Donated back to FOST 0407
Stephen Freeman 2005
April 2024
FOST No
Richard Bond 1885
John Thomas 2118
Chris Quirk 0351
Congratulations to all our winners, each of whom received a £10 Theatre voucher.
Prize Draw winners - 4th May 2024
The Draw took place in the theatre bar under the supervision of the FOST Committee.
1st
2nd
Ms Gardner
Mrs NC Botell
3rd Mrs R Oddy
4th Mr PM Rea
5th Mrs D Sharma-Rudge
6th Mr Earley
7th Lord JS Venn
£500 3173
£200 3873
£100 0428
£75 0369
£75 2518
£50 4312
£50 1344
The Prize Draw team is an important part of the Theatre, raising funds for its maintenance and upkeep. The team is a dedicated group of volunteers who work well together selling Draw tickets before shows. Prize draw tickets are £1 each and available to purchase during evening shows in the auditorium, at the Box Office when open, at the monthly Coffee Cake and Chat and at some external events attended by FOST.
The Draw date is printed on the ticket.
FOST PATRONS
The FOST committee recognises the value of the support of our FOST Patrons and would like to express their gratitude by offering them additional benefits. Printed FOST ‘Stage-Write’ NewsletterPatrons who normally receive ‘Stage-Write’ via email may choose to have a printed copy delivered to them. Patrons Social Evening - A biennial event for FOST Patrons will be organised at the Theatre in recognition of their contribution. The current list (dated 17/05/24) of FOST Patrons is below.
If you wish to upgrade your membership to Patron (£25/year or more), just email: FOSTmembership@shanklintheatre.com
Sandra Aldridge
Elizabeth Allen
Ellis
Shirley Armstrong Michael Ellis
John Ash Jo Everitt
Graham Benson Sylvia Fallows
Christine Benson Nicholas (OBE) Finney
Veronica G Bingham
Michael Bingham
Ron Bird
Alana Bird
Jacqueline Flux Lizzy
David Frankling Marie
Caroline Gibson Chris O'Connell
Peter Gibson
Amy Bird Sue Godden
David Bird
Hagan
Ruth Bird Christopher Hardy
John L Brett Lorraine Harley
Margaret Bristow
Elaine Carter
Debbie Clement
Andrew Corkish
Charlotte Corkish
Neil Hedges
Jim Holland
Vivien Howell
John Hulse
Jackson
Paul Coueslant Jennifer Jones
Maggie Currie
Kelvin Currie
Stockman
Tricia Sztypuljak
ThorntonField
O’Driscoll Sue Thurgood
Trevatt
Uren
Wardle
Steven Julians Carol Pointer Heather Whitchurch
Gwyneth Kersey
Pamela Dana Fiona Klein
Beryl Daniels Geoff Klein
Lynda Darby
Larry Darby
Martin Darch
Jean Davies
Gwyn Dawson
Carole Dennett
Dr Marilyn Dyason
Pointer Maxine White
Wilson
Wompra
Simon Lacey Julie Riggott Anthony Wood
Tim Marshall
Nick Mattocks
Sarah McCarthyFry
Pat McCree Alan Rodway
Linda McLinden Patricia Rodway
Patricia Metcalf Michael Sayers
Wood
FOST CORPORATE SPONSORS
FOST Corporate sponsors are businesses passionate about the Theatre who support it with their Corporate membership. In return, their company is advertised in our FOST website which is open to anyone and our FOST newsletter circulated to over 700 members from the Isle of Wight and beyond. Corporate membership is £100 a year ISLE OF WIGHT DISTILLERY
DELYSIA FARMSHOP
John and Diane Day
THE VILLAGE INN - Shanklin
RON BIRD & SON
JANE OLIVER
FIRST ACT Theatre Group
100% ELECTRICAL
Philip Jennings
SHANKLIN JEWELLERS
Paul Denslow
THE SNOWDON
Michael and Sally Beston
TLDESIGNWORKS
Tim Leal
THE CLIFTON
David Beeson
ISLAND WEBSERVICES
Tim Marshall
Stage Write Summer 2024 crossword answers
ACROSS
8. Man About 9. The House 11. Death Wish 13. Rich Tea 14. Towering Inferno 17. Lulu 20. Mud 21. Tinker 23. Winner 24. Capri 26. Spy 27. Tailor 28. Disco 32. Gibbon 34. Alvin 36. Time 38. Puns 40. Soldier 41. Massacre
DOWN
1. Kate Moss 2. Batt 3. Suzi 4. Sheriff 5. Chicory Tip 6. Quatro 7. Texas 10. Chain 12. Harold Wilson 15. Nolans 16. Carry On 18. Porridge 19. Dick 20. Moped 22. Kiss 25. Wombles 29. Otter 30. Topic 31. Jaws 33. Nu 35. Val 37. Mum 39. Saw
A Quick Theatre Quiz by Gwyn- Answers
1. Everly 2. Elsinore
3. Endeavour
4. George Eliot
5. Esmeralda
6. Edward Elgar
7. The Eagles
8. Englebert Humperdinck
9. Paul Eddington
10. Bathsheba Everdene
FOST Executive Committee:
Chairman – Paul Harris
Membership Secretary – Christine McCarthy
Policy & Support – Michael Beston
Promotion – Jacqui Robertson
Secretary – Liz Hinkes
Treasurer – Peter Frankling
Volunteer Liaison – Suzie Thurgood
Volunteer Training – Tony Needham
Contact: FOSTpromotion@shanklintheatre.com
Stage-Write magazine, published by the Friends of Shanklin Theatre.
Whilst every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of Stage-Write magazine, the publishers do not accept any liability or provide any guarantee that the information is accurate, complete or up to date. The publisher and its contributors have used their best efforts in preparing these pages and this publication, but make no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, with regard to the information supplied.
Editor: Michael Beston, June/July 2024.
