Notes from the Stage Manager's Box (10 page)

After a mild battering John gave in and Jane got the part of Nanette.

The first act ends with Nanette singing the title number – No, No Nanette. After a few rehearsals John was still not happy with Jane’s interpretation. He sat her down and asked her to watch. He sang the song and at the line where she says ‘No, No Nanette’ he stamped his foot. ‘She’s angry,’ he told Jane. ‘She’s fed up being told what to do so she rebels and says no.’

Suddenly Jane understood. From then on she
became the part John wanted. I always considered him a genius after that.

The photo below was taken by a member of the staff at Lombard Street Office, John Butler, MRPS (Member of the Royal Photographic Society). He was working towards this qualification at the time which involved producing a portfolio in black and white because that better illustrates the photographer’s grasp of the medium.

We always have had photos taken of the cast and of the production. They were all in colour as was this one which
has to be here in black and white.

(Jane Aldred as Nanette)

Looking through the credits for this show I noted that the set was supplied by the
Golden
Lane
Theatre
. This would have helped defray the cost as Hello Dolly would have been a big budget show and somewhere, anywhere the budget has to be bal
anced. We were working for a Bank after all!

The committee now included Peter Davis and a few o
ther newer and younger members.

Clubs such as ours that hope to produce two shows a year have several things to balance. One is funds. Do you go for one big show and another lower budget one or spread your available funds
equally
over both. You have to take into account that some of the lesser known shows may not bring in the audiences but the big Broadway musicals have the muscle to attract audiences but cost more to stage.

Members may wish to stage a show but if it is currently being performed by a professional company you will not get a license. Then you have to be able to book a week at the theatre that matches your schedules. Along with this comes the availability of your chosen director, musical director, choreographer etc.

But the real tension in artistic organisations is that between the older and younger generations. The committee members that have been around for some years will prefer to continue to stage the tried and trusted
shows; Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is one name that was often mentioned. There is nothing wrong with this, it brings in the audiences but youth always wanted something modern.

Other shows such as Oliver or Mary Poppins or even The Sound of Music were suggested. The ever knowledgeable Frank Squire warned that any show that involved children would have an impatient crocodile of angry mothers and precocious children waiting for the audition to begin and be winding its way around the alleyways and byways of the City hoping to get a start on a stage career.

What also has to be considered is that shows need to support both the talented and the enthusiastic. In other words a company show.

The Best Little Whorehouse in
Texas
was briefly mentioned but Frank Squire correctly explained that this was not the kind of thing that the Bank’s Executive Directors would want plastered all over its branches. Strangely this was actually performed some years after I left.

Frank really wanted to stage Mack and Mabel; the story of a
romantic relationship between
Hollywood
director Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand
. We knew he wanted to play the part of Mack before his retirement but again audience recognition and
expected
revenu
e
s played a part in its rejection as a show for ourselves.

This discussion was taking part in early 1985 when events took a decision out of our hands.

The
Arts
Educational
School
left the
Golden
Lane
Theatre
. They moved to Chiswick
in
West London
and
Golden Lane
was sold for development as a modern office block.
It
now has two extra floors
on top
and they
make such a lovely old building
look so ugly.
Like my granny with a floppy ill fitting hat.

I apologise to the young lady that wrote this as I have lost her name and the chat room from where it came but this sums it up perfectly.

Golden Lane was a wonderful place, and I was very sad that it became offices. Going inside that place after so long was a mixture of emotions, and apart from the entrance hall and stairs leading up, its all modern and sickeningly devoid of character. But I swear I heard an echoing piano... just as if I was sat on the floor with other pupils waiting for room 22 to be free. Oh yes! and the bloody clock out front works... it's just not the same!

It meant that as well as
having to decide
on a show we had to find a new home.

(The Sedgwick Centre)

As so happens out of uncertainty and chaos comes perfect order. I think it is called serendipity which my old Collins Westminster Dictionary explains as: ‘a knack of stumbling upon interesting discoveries in a casual manner’.

I mentioned at the close of the last chapter that in early 1985 we had no theatre and no forthcoming show. It was not a good situation for a Theatre Club to find itself in.

Then at a Nanette rehearsal someone mentioned reading about the building of a community centre nearing completion in the Aldgate area. The area was known as Gardners Corner (or Gardiners Corner after a famous department store)
although it was
really
an enormous roundabout
and rarely a day went by without local radio
mentioning a traffic jam,
accident or road works in the vicinity. It had a reputation!

After a few phone calls I discovered t
hat the building known as the Sedgwick Centre was owned by
insurance company
Sedgwick Forbes (and then Fitzroy Robinson Partnership in 1988),
and was intended as a sports and leisure centre for its employees. As anyone who has been involved in this sort of thing knows
,
planning permission is given for such projects subject to the owner giving something back to the community. It is commonly known as a Section 106. The proviso on this permission
from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
was that the facilities should also be offered to the local community.

Along with this
was a commitment to redevelop the surrounding area and traffic lanes so that no one would have to put their life on the line when trying to cross the road to access the centre.

The theatre
was named the Chaucer Theatre and I never thought about asking why. Only just now
when looking up facts and references for this book
did I discover that t
his is where
Aldgate Gate stood, o
ne of the gates by which you could enter the old walled City of
London
.
Geoffrey Chaucer, author of the Canterbury Tales,
once
lived above the
city gate of Aldgate.

I now find that the Sedgwick Centre is home to the Royal Bank of
Scotland
who just happen to own National Westminster Bank plc. How ironic.

I made an appointment to see the centre’s manager who I recall was an attractive young lady in her mid twenties
with long straight blond hair w
earing
a black business suit. It was the first of many more easy on the eye conversations
with her
over the following years
.
I wish I could recall her name (it seems to be a prevailing problem as old age sets in, although I have no problem with faces). Subject to the committee agreeing the financial terms we had a theatre.

Now we had a
modern theatre it was just a simple matter of choosing a suitable show. The argument put forward was that having secured one of the best equipped theatres in the area the show should be one equal to the quality of
the
venue and one that would guarantee a full house and be equally popular with young and old.

I don’t know who suggested it but there was no need for a vote – the show of everyone’s choice was Grease.

It is not real
ly necessary to describe Grease; everyone is familiar with the film version starring
John Trav
olta and Olivia Newton John. It
had been staged successfully both in the
US
and in the
UK
and every well known leading man
including Richard Gere, Patrick Swayze and David Hasselhoff
had played the part of Danny
Zuko
. Fortunately despite its popularity no other professional company was staging it so we got a licence.

Then we hit the first snag. There is no set for Grease. We had managed to hire a set for all the other shows from Stage Sets but the owner of the company said that not only did he not have a set that looked remotely like the interior of Rydell High he didn’t know of anyone else who did.

Grease was one of those shows beloved of set designers who did not go the Sid of G
olden Lane’s preferred
school
of art
but used scaffolding, ladders
and packing cases to provide the
essential ingredient
s
for
a post modernist setting.
We did not have such a set designer in our ranks.

During the first week of rehearsals John Hebden rang me and said that he had found the ideal set. He had wandered in to the Bloomsbury Theatre during his lunch break where the Cambridge Arts Theatre were presenting Grease. He hadn’t had much time to speak to anyone but this set was just what he and
by default
we, needed.

I rang the box office and booked three seats for that evening’s performance for Roy Follett, Peter Davis and myself. We had a drink in the bar and found the producer Jonathan Thoday, introduced ourselves, and agreed to meet after the show. We didn’t know what to expect
being there
simply on the basis of John’s enthusiasm.