50th issue Spring 2014

FOR YOUR 2014 DIARY

Right now! - Earlybird postal booking opens for FESPA members for both Southwold & Aldeburgh seasons. See pages 6-7.

Tuesday 4 March - Advance telephone booking for FESPA members opens. See pages 6-7

Friday 11 April - 6.30 for 7.00 - FESPA AGM. Please note the venue this year is the William Godell Pavilion on Southwold Common. Just opposite the Water Towers. See page 4.

Monday 26 May - Public box office opens for Southwold Summer Theatre season at St Edmund’s Hall, Southwold.

Friday 13 June - Aldeburgh Festival opens

Saturday 28 June - Southwold Arts Festival opens (see back page)

Sunday 29 June - Aldeburgh Festival closes

Tuesday 1 July - Public box office opens for Aldeburgh Summer Theatre season at the Jubilee Hall.

Friday 4 July - 6.30. Friends’ Evening at ’Woodleys’, The Common, Southwold. Bring along a plate of eats to share. Enjoy a drink and a chat with members of the Company and fellow Friends. Please note new venue. Full details in May issue.

Saturday 5 July - Southwold Arts Festival closes

Sunday 6 July - FESPA Theatre Fete at the Godell Pavilion, Southwold Common, Starting at 12.00 noon. Please note new venue and earlier start. (See page 4)

Wednesday 9 July - Southwold Season opens with Taking Steps by Alan Ayckbourn

Thursday 24 July - Aldeburgh Season opens with Taking Steps by Alan Ayckbourn

Saturday 30 August - Last night in Aldeburgh: The Late Edwina Black

Saturday 13 September - Last night in Southwold: The Late Edwina Black

GOOD NEWS No increase in Summer Theatre ticket prices plus exclusive discounts for Friends. Everything you need to know on pages 6 & 7.

THIS SEASON’S PLAYS 2 • SIDI WRITES 3 • AGM 4 • NEW VENUES FOR FESPA EVENTS 4 • JOLLY BERRY SUCCESS 5 • BOOKING DETAILS 6—7 • FIRST SOUTHWOLD ARTS FESTIVAL 8

Registered Charity No: 1119037 YOUR ‘TASTING NOTES’ FOR THE 2015 VINTAGE by Summer Theatre Producer, Mark Sterling

herself to be Janet’s cousin and reveals that they both have HOW THE OTHER HALF LOVES by come into a substantial legacy. Suddenly, Max has to row back Alan Ayckbourn the plot before Janet dies so he can claim a share of the fortune. Suzy pretends to be Janet for a while but then an old Southwold:8th – 18th July; Aldeburgh: 23rd July – 1st August. friend appears who knows Janet so that isn’t going to work… It isn’t long before the Ticklewells demonstrate that they have a ruthless streak of their own and Max’s plot rapidly comes The unexpectedly huge success of Taking Steps last year apart. demonstrated that there is an appetite amongst our audience for Sadly, , an old friend of Sidi Scott’s, passed the plays of Alan Ayckbourn. The six-year gap between away in January of this year. Ayckbourn productions seems to have increased enthusiasm for his plays and we are hoping that the excitement generated OUT OF ORDER by Taking Steps will be reproduced by our programming How by Ray Cooney The Other Half Loves to open the 2015 season. rd th th nd How The Other Half Loves predates Taking Steps by nine Southwold: 3 – 15 August; Aldeburgh:18 – 22 August. years and so belongs firmly in the early part of Ayckbourn’s work. It concerns three couples whose husbands all work for After producing a successful series of Ray Cooney comedies – the same firm: Frank Foster, the senior manager; and Bob Move Over Mrs Markham and Not Now Darling to name but Philips and William Featherstone who work in his department. two, we decided to give him a rest in 2014 in order to stage the Frank prides himself on knowing everything that is going on at remarkable and unique Noises Off. Now the prolific farceur is the office – unfortunately, he is ignorant of the goings-on at back with Out Of Order which, despite being set a stone’s home, primarily that his wife, Fiona, is having an affair with throw from the Houses of Parliament is by no means a political Bob. The affair is about to become public knowledge due to comedy. the fact that Teresa Philips is deeply suspicious of her husband. Junior government minister Richard Willey is an expert in In a plot that becomes more hilarious as it thickens, Bob and current affairs – his latest being with Jane Worthington, Fiona use William and his wife Mary as their alibi – without secretary to the Leader of The Opposition! However, his plans telling them; and the lie builds to the point where, in one for an all-night session at Westminster – the hotel not the house, William is accused of having an affair with Fiona while, Houses of Parliament – quickly evaporate. What should have at the Fosters, Mary is blamed for having an affair with Bob! been an evening of champagne and silk sheets becomes one of There is a staging conceit to this play similar to that of madness and mayhem as Richard is forced to enlist the help of Taking Steps. However, where that play took place over three his strait-laced private secretary to save him from the wrath of floors of the same house on one level, How The Other Half the Prime Minister! Set in his hotel room with the comings and Loves takes place in two different houses occupying the same goings of several wives and girlfriends, outraged husbands and stage space. The scope for visual comedy is increased when obsequious staff through doors, windows and cupboards, even the Fosters and the Philips’s invite the Featherstones to dinner the room itself becomes a comic character! on consecutive nights although we are witness to both events simultaneously! Presented by authority of Studiocanal: THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT by ANYBODY FOR MURDER? by Brian Philip Goulding Clemens and Adapted from the Ealing Comedy screenplay by T.E.B. th st th th Southwold: 20 July – 1 August; Aldeburgh: 4 – 8 August. Clarke. Aldeburgh: 10th – 15th August; Southwold: 17th – 29th August. Brian Clemens and Dennis Spooner were leading lights of popular television in the 1960s and ’70s. Dennis Spooner In the late 1940s/early ’50s, T.E.B. Clarke wrote three of the worked on the early seasons of and later, with screenplays that came to define Ealing Comedy as a brand: the Gerry and , on Stingray and Thunderbirds. seminal Passport To Pimlico, The Lavender Hill Mob and Brian Clemens is most notable for creating The Avengers. latterly The Titfield Thunderbolt. They began a successful scriptwriting collaboration when both Like Passport, The Titfield Thunderbolt depicts a small, were working for ’s ITC Entertainment and have somewhat fanciful ‘English’ community standing up against their names on many episodes of , The the might of petty bureaucracy. Both films tapped into Persuaders, Department S, etc, etc. Brian Clemens started nostalgia for the wartime spirit of ‘we’re all in it together’ that writing for the stage in the early ’70s and later wrote several was rapidly waning in post-war austerity Britain. The Titfield comedies and thrillers jointly with Dennis Spooner between Thunderbolt also connected with romantic ideas about steam 1979 and 1986 when Spooner died. Anybody For Murder? locomotives at a time when they were being replaced with deftly combines elements of the two genres. Set on a remote Diesel engines. Titfield premiered in 1953, a full ten years Greek island Max and his lover, Suzie, plan to murder his ahead of the Beeching cuts that were to devastate the rail wife, Janet, by means of a contrived boating accident. network. Although T.E.B. Clarke’s premonition of the Everything is going according to plan when George and Mary disappearance of the small village lines failed to predict the Ticklewell arrive to rock the metaphorical boat. Mary declares scale of the devastation, he had a clear idea of how the

2 community would be affected by the loss of its transport system and, inevitably, gave the story a happy ending. It is a Change... Threat or Hope comedy after all! Philip Goulding was given permission to turn the film into a When I look back on 2013, two highlights stand out and give me stage play in 1997 and it has received several outings – particular satisfaction. One was our lovely, nostalgic tribute to notably the 2005 Hornchurch production which featured Jill’s 30 years of bringing theatre to Southwold, with our reprise Southwold’s own Paul Leonard. of her very first offering—Jolly Berry Christmas. The second, in complete contrast, was the Summer Showcase for our bursary students, celebrating so convincingly (and reassuringly) SEPTEMBER TIDE the quality of tomorrow’s talent. You either think change is threatening or invigorating. Me, I by Daphne du Maurier. Revised relish it! Why? Because things that stay the same eventually version by Mark Rayment run out of steam and die. Things that change keep being Aldeburgh: 24th – 29th August; Southwold: 31st August – 12th reborn. September. Our Summer Theatre itself has had to adjust to some fundamental changes over the past few years. Change of leadership, change of demographic profile, change of artistic We have produced two of Daphne du Maurier’s stories here in expectations in our audiences, not to mention a complete recent years: a stage adaptation of Don’t Look Now in 2004 transformation in the economics of performance. It’s all been and the play My Cousin Rachel in 2010. September Tide, a less very disconcerting and challenging but the Company has well-known title, precedes both of them in the du Maurier become stronger and more resilient as a result. canon. Telling the story of a conventional widow cocooned There’s a lot of change happening to our local artistic life this from life in a Cornish clifftop retreat, it in many ways mirrors year… Would you believe a new Southwold Arts Festival as du Maurier’s own life: the tranquility of Stella’s existence is well as the established Aldeburgh one! (See back page). Then there’s FESPA’s own summer programme with new venues and shattered by the intrusion of thrilling Bohemian reality in the new traditions for our AGM, our Friends’ party and our fete—all form of her daughter – recently graduated from art school, and now in Southwold instead of Walberswick. (See page 4.) her surprise husband, an artist on the verge of an exciting Southwold’s and Aldeburgh’s newly extended season of career. It has been suggested that Daphne du Maurier had an culture, theatre music and entertainment will now stretch from affair with Gertrude Lawrence for whom she wrote September mid-June to mid-September. Isn’t East Suffolk a splendid place Tide and that she was expressing her jealousy of the to spend the summer! freewheeling, amoral life of the internationally acclaimed actress. The title also hints, of course, at a person’s autumn years which can be a slow, comfortable descent towards the ultimate winter. But not always... As Stella’s friend Robert puts it: “You never know what will happen with a September Tide. More damage can be done at this time of year than in all the other months put together.”

3 OUR 2014 AGM Friday 11th April, 6.30 for 7.00 - William Godell Pavilion, Southwold Common

his year, our AGM is to be at the William Godell Pavilion on T Southwold Common which, as you’ll have read in the adjacent column on this page, will also be the location of our Summer Theatre Fete. You will see that, with this issue of FESPA News, we have enclosed a separate sheet on which is printed the agenda for the meeting and the minutes of last year’s. Please bring this along to the AGM.

Special General Meeting You will also see on this sheet, that the AGM is to be preceded by a five-minute Special General Meeting. Its purpose is to consider a small but, we believe, important amendment to our Constitution. The reason for it is to provide a little more flexibility to the rules governing the election of trustees, specifically to ensure that Friends have the power to safeguard the continuity of FESPA’s governance. The effect of the change would be that, once a Trustee has completed his or her maximum permitted two three-year terms, they may stand for re-election for further successive one-year terms. An obvious benefit would be that we wouldn’t find ourselves in the unfortunate situation where an officer of the charity, doing a vital job and prepared to continue, is compelled to resign even though no other qualified candidate is available to stand. Your trustees strongly urge you to attend this Special General Meeting and to vote in favour of this motion.

The fun part of the evening After the short business part of the proceedings, we will all be agog to learn from the Company the details of this year’s shows— not least who is to be in them and what parts they are to play. Then we all break for a glass of wine and a catch-up, then reconvene to hear our guest speaker whose identity will be announced on our website soon.

Please don’t come to the AGM empty-handed The Fete stall-holders would really appreciate it if you could help them stock up early by bringing the following along to the AGM.

 Unwanted gifts in their original packaging for the tombola  Bottles of wine and soft drinks (in date) for the bottle stall  Bottles of spirits and liqueurs for our Hi-Spirit raffles  Home made jams, chutneys, marmalades, pickles  Unwanted toys and games in good condition

Please leave other items until nearer the time or we may find ourselves with storage and transport problems! SO MANY WAYS TO STAY IN TOUCH Visit: www.southwoldtheatre.org and www.fespa.co.uk A special request to gardeners from Malcolm and Pip Guest: when you are doing your spring sowing and planting, please Twitter: @suffolktheatre or find: think about the plant stall and pop in a few extra. Southwold & Aldeburgh Summer Theatre on Facebook

4 AT LAST THE 1936 SHOW!

Now here’s a curiosity! We found this advertisement in a 1936 edition of The Southwold Visitors List. This was a little directory for tourists designed to let you know who else of note was staying in town that week and at what address you could track them down. Basically a social networking facilitator, not to say a threat to anyone wishing to mind their own business. But the point is—just look at what you could be enjoying at St Edmund’s Hall that August in the middle of a deep depression! Four shows virtually hot from the West End—each on for just three nights and the first one at any rate featuring the ‘Full West End Company”. Reserved seats selling for 3/6d—about £10 in today’s money—unreserved for as little as 1/3d (just over £3.) How was this possible? Who was behind this ven- ture?

5 6 7 THE OTHER GREAT SUMMER HIGHLIGHT Southwold’s second annual Arts Festival programme has just been trailed...

ast year the first ever Southwold Arts Festival proved a huge her Joyce Grenfell: Letters from Aldeburgh. There will also be song L success attracting thousands of visitors over eight days of and verse from ‘Jill Freud and friends’. music, drama and art. Its timing, just after A special art exhibition will display the the Aldeburgh Festival of music and just remarkable range of work from one-time ahead of the opening of the Summer Theatre Southwold resident, Reg Carter, famous for his season, was perfect, producing an unbroken comic postcards and paintings and less known as summer-long banquet of culture and the first illustrator of the Beano comic. There entertainment. will be other art exhibitions too—in both Southwold and Reydon. This year’s festival will run for eight consecutive th th The evening events, some of which include days from Saturday 27 June until Saturday 4 book-signings, July and will once again encompass an eclectic will bring some mix of arts-related entertainment including some huge names to high-profile names. Last year, visitors the town appreciated the opportunity of organising their including the days around morning and afternoon events, so BBC’s Political this year the organisers have extended the programme to provide four Editor, Nick Robinson, the events each day including morning, lunchtime, afternoon and evening performance poet, Roger McGough sessions. The main venue will be St Edmund’s Hall but other local and Ruby Wax who will bring her venues will also be used. acclaimed show ‘Sane New World’ to Festival Director, Lin Le Versha, said “We hope that visitors will go the festival. There will also be drama from one event to the other to get the most from the week and to enjoy with the ‘Kepow Theatre Company’ the wonderfully diverse range of entertainment that will be provided. and jazz from Bob Kerr’s Whoopee We are particularly pleased to have a Band, an Young Musicians showcase each lunchtime offshoot of the surreal ‘sixties Bonzo Dog including Salon Doo-Dah Band. Baroque, There’ll be more music from the Olivia Castle, international folk band from Canada ‘The Daniel Massey Good Lovelies’ and, to celebrate the 4th July and some new and bring the festival to a close, there will be classical Saturday 27 June—Saturday 4 July a special concert featuring broadcaster and musicians”. award winning jazz singer Clare Teal. The festival will begin with an exciting The planning for this year’s street party including stalls, entertainment, programme is now almost complete music and children’s events. There will be and a summary will be available in a children’s parade based on the theme of the next two weeks. Keep logging into ‘Wheels’, encouraging the creative use of southwoldartsfestival.co.uk. bicycles, prams etc. Festival team member, Sarah Green said “Last year’s Street Festival was certainly a day to Tickets will go on sale on 3rd March. remember with crowds flocking to Southwold to enjoy the free Meanwhile, for more information, entertainment and to soak up the atmosphere. We are planning for contact Festival Director, Lin Le another great event on Saturday June 27th at which time the High Versha 01502 722111, 0780 4780 Street will be closed to traffic”. 032, or Deputy Director, Chris Ure: Many of the morning events will be talks of local interest including 01502 725793, 07931 518 992. the story of the radical Aldeburgh sisters Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Millicent Fawcett and also a presentation of the story of the famous pirate ship: Radio Caroline. There will be guided walks tracing Clockwise from top: Nick Robinson, Roy George Orwell’s links to the town and a very special arts talk and Debbie Hudd, Ruby Wax, Bob presentation by the Southwold Decorative and Fine Arts Society. Kerr’s Whoopee Band, Olivia Castle, Roger McGough. Children’s shows will include The Dinosaur that Pooped and The Wimpey Kid. Afternoon sessions are packed with immense range and variety including a one-man show about Stan Laurel by Jeffrey Holland of Hi-de-Hi! fame and fascinating talks about their extensive and prolific careers by both Denis King and Roy Hudd. There will be two plays in Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads series and our own Sidi Scott will be reprising

Edited by Barry Tolfree 01502 722582 [email protected] Printed by Leiston Press 01728 833003 8