1930s | oldstokereptheatre

The 1930s

Appreciation of the Arts

The 1930s was a decade that was defined by a global economic and political crisis that culminated in the Second World War. For the Players it started with an extension of their dramatic activities with two lectures on the art and craft of speech being given by Madame Lilian Ginnett, professor at the Guildhall School of Music in London. Later that year she would also offer private lessons at the Repertory Studio.

The company’s only production of 1930 was The Lilies Of The Field, presented over three nights in May. The Staffordshire Sentinel described it as ‘excellent’.

1931 saw three plays performed at the Repertory Studio. In January there was Ambrose Applejohn’s Adventure, in April J. M. Barrie’s The Admirable Crichton and in November Loyalties by John Galsworthy.

A Permanent Home

On Wednesday 20th April 1932 there appeared in the renamed ‘Evening’ Sentinel an intriguing request for a large room to rent by the Repertory Players. The following month the same newspaper explained that “owing to licencing difficulties” the company had “been compelled to give up their studio theatre in Percy Street, Hanley”. The article went on to say that the company’s next production, The Skin Game, would be performed at the Trentham Institute instead, with the intention that any profits would go towards “the new premises which it is hoped to occupy”. A review of the production appeared in the Evening Sentinel on Thursday 2nd June which ended, “many who visit Trentham Institute will join in the hope that the society may soon be established in a studio theatre offering still further scope to their talents”.

On Wednesday 1st March 1933 it was announced that the Players had leased St. Jude’s Church hall in Beresford Street, Shelton and were converting it into a ‘cosy’ theatre “seating 200 people, comfortably, and in intimate touch with the stage”. The hall was built in 1879 under the supervision of the Rector of Stoke, John Herbert Crump. As a mission church it’s purpose was to meet the spiritual needs of the growing population. The Players spent three months transforming it into a performance space and rehearsals for the first production – Lean Harvest by Ronald Jeans – were apparently accompanied by hammering, sawing and painting. The stage was described as having a 24-foot proscenium opening with “few of the greater refinements. At the sides it will have spacious dressing-rooms, plain but serviceable.” The auditorium was “raked generously” and there was the promise of a buffet “so that the intimacy of the hall and its convenience and attractiveness will be tremendously enhanced.”

There was virtually no foyer, the entrance doorway led almost directly into the rear of the auditorium. Seating (part-raked) was confined within the line of wooden pillars supporting the roof. The stage was flat and was approximately twenty foot deep. There was no orchestra pit, any musicians having to be accommodated on the same level as the front seats. Nevertheless, over the next seven decades it would become a treasured space, much loved by its members and patrons alike.

Opening Night

The new Repertory Theatre was officially opened on Monday 27th March 1933 by the eminent educationist Sir G. Percival Heywood, Bart. The Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent (Ald. T. Mitchell, M.B.E.) was also in attendance.

The first night audience were treated to an “excellent production” of Lean Harvest by Ronald Jeans. With the popularity of cinema increasing, the Evening Sentinel were keen to challenge the company to keep up the standards of live theatre they were well known for: “These amateurs are keen and capable. They are keeping alight the cultural flame of good drama – for the living presence will persist beside the photographic – and they are determined to maintain the high standard of plays so far produced. And they are particular to say they will not be highbrow, but they would fall of their purpose if they did not meet the undoubted demand of an intelligent public, who do want to see good plays – even unusual plays. They must not however neglect the treasury of the drama of the past.”

By the end of the year the Players had staged a further four productions – The Magistrate (May), The Cradle Song and Shall We Join The Ladies? (double bill in October) and Hay Fever (December). All were met with critical acclaim.

The Bijou Theatre

1934 saw four plays being performed at the Rep, including The Admirable Crichton in April. During the run of the play, the Evening Sentinel published a report on the ‘bijou’ theatre. As well as a description of the facilities available to members of the company and their audiences it also provided readers with a sense of the hard work that took place behind the scenes. The writer was impressed with the electrical equipment “which would do credit to a professional theatre”. Mention was also made of the scenery and costumes made by the Players themselves. It was noted that visitors were treated as a member of the family rather than “a letter and a number”.

Working Together

In October 1934 the Evening Sentinel gave a report on what was being billed as the Players “most successful season”. It spoke highly of the recent production of The Queen’s Husband and made reference to the “surprising comfort” of the venue. Part of the success of the new theatre was put down to “the good feeling existing between all members, both those who act and those who look after the less obvious, but none the less necessary, routine work”.

A few weeks later the Evening Sentinel reported that “about 80 members of the Stoke-on-Trent Repertory Players and friends spent an enjoyable evening at a dance held in the Dunrobin Hotel, Longton”.

On Saturday 8th December 1934 a reporter for the same newspaper described their experience of watching the Players’ production of Passing Brompton Road – “The outstanding fact of this amateur company is that they can put on two entirely different plays, in fairly quick succession, with almost a complete change of cast – and each member of the company can do his or her part very well indeed. This exemplifies keenness, enthusiasm and understanding.

And, best of all, these Players work together completely harmoniously, whether their immediate task is playing the lead or collecting the tickets or serving coffee in the interval. The Repertory Theatre is now an institution – and immensely valuable educationally”.

Visiting Companies

January 1935 saw the Repertory Theatre play host to the Grand Opera Club’s production of Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte and the Stoke-on-Trent Shakespearean Society’s production of The Taming of the Shrew. The following month the Players themselves were back treading the boards in Honours Easy by Roland Pertwee.

In July pupils pf Miss Sadie Forster (who ran a dance studio at Majestic House in Stoke) gave a dancing display at the Rep to raise funds for the North Staffordshire Cripples’ Aid Society. According to the Evening Sentinel it “served to demonstrate the cleverness of the young performers and the careful training they have received in all departments of the terpsichorean art” Some of the pupils were only three years old and it was reported that their ‘Babies’ Ballet’ and ‘Babies’ Hornpipe’ routines “gave pleasure to an appreciative audience.”

In June 1935 Rep members Eric and Olga Pidduck organised an American Tea fund-raiser for the company in the grounds of their property ‘Broadeaves’ in Trentham. The invitations contained a request that visitors should ‘bring something and buy something’ which resulted in one guest arriving with a Cairn puppy! After tea there was an “amusing entertainment” entitled The Reps Take A Holiday or The Sillies of the Field (both titles making references to past and future productions). The content of the performance was a satire on the activities of the Players’ themselves. This was followed by a number of games and Mrs. Cumberbatch giving clairvoyant readings. The Pidducks held another American Tea the following June.

October 1936 saw the Players perform another new play written and produced by member Cyril Shingler. The Old Man Remembers was a satirical comedy and the Evening Sentinel was keen to praise the writing: “The author…keeps the spectator’s interest and curiosity at a light pitch right to the fall of the final curtain.”

1937 saw only three plays being produced –

Doctor Knock by Jules Romains (March),

Libel by Edward Wooll (October) and

Family Affairs by Gertrude Jennings (December).

Finest Production

February 1938 saw the Players stage one of their most celebrated and popular productions – The Rose Without A Thorn by Clifford Bax. This ‘Tudor Romance’ tells the story of the relationship between Henry VIII and Katheryn Howard.

Praise for the show was unprecedented with the Evening Sentinel calling it the Rep’s “finest production”. Their review of the play stated “at the end of the performance the entire cast took six or seven curtain calls”. It went on to say: “It is some time since the Repertory Players did a play of the stature of this one, and this is by far the most distinguished production they have staged during the past four seasons.”

So high was the demand for tickets that the theatre made the decision to add an extra Saturday matinee performance to the run. Even this gesture could not satisfy public demand and the Hon. Business Manager Alan C. Swann had to resort to writing to the Evening Sentinel to respond to one reader’s suggestion of selling season tickets. He began by explaining the reasons why some people could not get tickets: “Seventy-five per cent of all available seats were sold before the first night, and within 48 hours of the opening performance every remaining seat had been taken up. Every seat – save a few odd ones – for the special matinee performance was sold before the advertisement relating to it appeared.” He went on to say that by the end of the run the play would have been seen by over 2500 people.

December 1938 saw over 100 Rep members attend “a most successful dance” at the North Stafford Hotel, Stoke. Guests enjoyed a programme of dance music played by Ray Brookes’ Band from Wolverhampton. The event was so successful it was felt that it would become an annual event in the Player’s calendar.

In January 1939 there was some good news for one member of the company in particular. Millicent Joyce Mellor had been offered a part in a radio version of Arnold Bennett’s The Card. The twenty year old had joined the Rep in December 1937 and had already appeared in four previous productions.

There was further radio-related news in May 1939 when it was announced that “eight of the most prominent acting members of the Repertory Players” had been cast in a B.B.C. broadcast of F. Sladen-Smith’s one-act play St. Simeon Stylites. The ‘reading’ was aired as part of the B.B.C. Midland programme on Monday 9th May at 9.00pm and, although the Evening Sentinel felt the play was “not great”, they thought the company “must have shown the B.B.C., as well as the public, that the Repertory Players have attained a very excellent standard”.

One performer stood out more than the others: “Mr. Eric W. Pidduck, in the title-part, bore the heaviest burden, and he proved as good an actor to hear as he is to see, which is saying much. He conveyed throughout a vivid impression of the crabbed saint-to-be who has become a figure in the world merely by withdrawing from it.” He was “ably supported” by Joan Bailey, John Hollinshead, Sheelagh Hollinshead (deputising for an indisposed Olga Pidduck), Alfred M. Timmis, Cyril Shingler, John Harris and Laurence Steele.

In July 1939 the Evening Sentinel reported that there was a need for a theatre in the area that could be used by other amateur companies. The article noted that the Repertory Players were fortunate to have their own “splendidly-equipped theatre” for which plans for the 1939-40 season were already underway.