This Year Sussex Playwright's celebrate 75 years of creativity. Our 70th year event was marked with the hanging of a plaque in the Circle Bar at the Theatre Royal where the Sussex Playwright's Club was conceived and held its first meetings in 1935. Sussex Playwrights' Club was founded by Charles Walker, with an initial membership of five others. Charles belonged to Southwick Players and they would occasionally perform plays by SPC members. Initially, the Club met at Brighton Little Theatre but later moved to Cooks Hotel in the Old Steine. The President was Hamilton Fyfe, a distinguished, retired journalist and good friend of George Bernard Shaw. Among the readings was one of LOTTIE DUNDASS by Enid Bagnold (who had already written NATIONAL VELVET). She lived in Rottingdean and her friend C B Cochran came down for the reading, with LOTTIE DUNDASS reaching the West End in 1943.
In 1945, a local 'Thank The Forces' fund was set up and the SPC held a public play reading (Constance Cox's NINE DAYS' WONDER) in the Music Room of the Royal Pavilion, which was sold out. Among the readers was James Hayter. Also in 1945, The Connaught Theatre (Worthing) launched a one-act play competition that was won by SPC member Vera Arlett with THIS IS THE GATE. The Club hired The Playhouse Theatre for a week in 1948 and staged Dorothy Pearson's THUNDER IN SPRING.
By the early 1960s, the Club was meeting monthly at The New Venture Theatre at the invitation of its founder, A Graham Phillips, who was very supportive and would consider staging plays by SPC members. In January 1967, R C Mansell Woodhouse was President and the Club's Vice-Presidents were Madame Florence Moore (who ran a Theatre Studio in Hove) and Dame Sybil Thorndyke. For the first-ever Brighton Festival in 1967, SPC was responsible for arranging a National Theatre Open Forum at the Royal Pavilion, with a panel including Tom Stoppard, Kenneth Tynan and Walter Esselinck (of the Gardner Centre) - and with John Stride and Edward Petherbridge performing an excerpt from ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD.
By 1974, the impressario Henry Sherwood was President and a play competition was named after him. Philip King became a Vice President and would often attend meetings. For some years, Ethel Bale - a speech and drama lecturer at The Florence Moore Theatre Studios - was the Club's secretary. Among the various SPC chairmen were Bruce Avis (Head of Westdene Junior School) who joined SPC aged 16 in 1939; Geoff Owen; Neil McKellar (who was also secretary); and headteacher and writer, George Shepherd. Constance Cox held various committee roles, being with SPC for over forty years; these included treasurer and secretary, holding the latter role for many years until her death in 1998. She was someone always willing to offer constructive advice to fellow playwrights, whether they were experienced professionals or complete beginners - and the financial legacy she left to the Club has helped to ensure its continuing success.
In recent years, the role of chair has been taken by Rex Baker, Dennis Evans, Patti Page and - currently - Nicholas Quirke. The late Edna Owen was a long-time treasurer, a role currently undertaken by Jerry Attwood. Denise Boxall (a reading member) has been the Club's auditor and since Connie's death Dennis Evans has been the Club's hard-working secretary. For over ten years, Lucy Nordberg produced the Club's quarterly newsletter, a role now taken over by Trevor Harvey. Publishing members in the past have included Noel Woolf (Samuel French) and Edward Thompson (Heinemann). A number of Club members have been elected to serve on the committee for three year periods at AGMs. For several years, Sheila Bain was among the initial judges for the Club's various competitions.
PAST MEMBERS OF SPC HAVE INCLUDED:
Constance Cox: numerous television adaptations, including Sunday afternoon serialisations for BBC TV and six scripts for the original FORSYTE SAGA; radio plays and serials; original stage plays, including THE ROMANCE OF DAVID GARRICK [with Donald Wolfitt] and THE MURDER GAME; stage adaptations of classic novels and stories, including LORD ARTHUR SAVILE'S CRIME; the book for two musicals, TWO CITIES and a touring production of VANITY FAIR [Julian Slade]; her plays are still in print with Samuel French for professional and amateur performance.
Philip King: numerous stage plays, mainly comedies, including SEE HOW THEY RUN, SAILOR BEWARE!, WATCH IT, SAILOR! and BIG BAD MOUSE - several were made into films with Peggy Mount, Irene Handl, Dora Bryan, Dennis Price and Wilfred Hyde-White; lists of Philip King's plays are frequently included in The Amateur Stage and are still available from Samuel French for professional and amateur performance.
Parnell Bradbury: co-writer of plays with Philip King and author of his own stage pieces. John Willmer, press officer (1945-54) and author of FULL CIRCLE, a fascinating book on the history of Worthing's Connaught Theatre
Olive Chase and Stanley Clayton: television and numerous repertory company (as well as amateur) productions of their plays.
Joan Brampton: numerous repertory and touring company productions.
William Dinner: co-author of THE LATE EDWINA BLACK - which was also filmed, starring Roland Culver and Jean Cadell - and of other play texts.
Kathleen Giddings: writer of one-act plays for the amateur market.
Peter Vincent: writer of TV comedy sketches and series.
Margaret Gibbs: numerous stage productions, including STORM IN A PAINTPOT and THE HAWTHORN TREE (the latter at the Q Theatre, starring Rachael Kempson, Michael Redgrave's wife); her plays were published by Heinemann, including several for children; she was a regular contributor of stories to BBC Children's Hour; she was still writing when she was 90.
Muriel Slater: numerous plays performed, with many published by Evans under the pseudonym Georgina Reid.
Carl Bernard: actor (appearing in plays at CFT, etc.) and a writing member.
Vernon Beste: writer of numerous plays.
Alison McMaster (Margery Baker): author of numerous novels published by Robert Hale and of plays for the amateur market.
Sandra Freeman: BBC radio plays and stage plays, with productions at Arundel Festival.
Osbert Mills: writer of situation comedies.
Jack Bingham: writer of plays for 'lunchtime theatre' and small venues.
RECENT AND CURRENT MEMBERS INCLUDE:
Judy Upton: several plays produced at the Royal Court, including ASHES AND SAND, which was also made into a film; winner of numerous prizes and awards for her plays, which have been given a number of touring productions; specially commissioned work includes LAZARUS for the new Durham Mystery Cycle (2010); her plays are published by Methuen.http://www.judy.ukwriters.net/
Giles Cole: writer of BBC radio plays and of stage plays, with several published by Samuel French; actor and, previously, a reader for the BBC's script department.
Ken Lucas: numerous plays, mainly for the amateur market; a regular competition winner, with several texts published by NPT.
Rex Baker: plays published for the amateur market (NTP); poetry also published (Forward, etc.).
Michael Morley: numerous plays performed with several published for the amateur market (NTP and Player Playwrights); author of a book of short stories.
Richard Allden: a full-length play, SPY, published by NTP.
Barbara Hendrick: numerous short plays written for and staged by amateur drama groups.
Eve Blizzard: writer of plays for performance by amateur groups/WIs, with several published by NTP, etc.
Fred Partridge: writer of radio plays broadcast on the BBC and of numerous stage plays, a number of which have been published by NTP and are available for amateur performance.
Vic Leeds: writer of a musical and of several performed plays, with a full-length text available from Jasper Publishing.
Lee Torrance (Sidney Sadgrove): author of numerous BBC and RTE plays, full-length and one-act plays ( many published by NTP), including recent productions at Lewes Little Theatre.
Josephine Carter: plays for the professional and amateur market, including a recent touring production by Forest Forge, and with plays published by Samuel French.
Trevor Harvey: author of one-act plays (several available from Jasper Publishing), with numerous amateur productions, including performances at Arundel and Brighton Festivals; co-writer of a staged full-length musical;author of a published children's novel and with humorous poetry included in around 200 books for children (Macmillan;Oxford; Puffin, etc.).
Lucy Nordberg: writer of plays staged at Brighton and Edinburgh Festivals and of a verse drama based on King Arthur.
Olive Holman: playlets staged at the original Komedia and at the Red Roaster Cafe.
Terrance Deadman: composer, who has written settings for several Clare poems which have been performed and recorded.
Ian Black: author of several performed plays, including a recent production by a group in Lancing, West Sussex.
Louise Monaghan: author of several performed plays, as well as a new work especially commissioned by West Sussex for the Steyning Festival, 2010.
Other current or recent writing members include Mike Rowlands, Ted McFadyen,Pat Jackson, Doreen Almond, Liz Coward, Fay Marshall and Neil McKellar
Several professional and semi-professional actors are among our readers at Club meetings, including Anita Gilson, Patti Page, Dennis Evans, Nicholas Quirke, Jenny Leworthy, Joan Fraser, Rex Baker, Sheila Bain, Veira Shelley, Bea Mitchell-Waters, Barbara Hendrick, Thomas Everchild, Philippa Hammond, Josephine Carter, Cherie Cherchie and the occasional special guest, such as television and stage actor Paul Moriarty. (The late Peter Stockbridge, stage and television actor, had also read occasionally for the Club.)
Compiled by Trevor Harvey
Elizabeth Tait was a reader for SPC in the 1960s and 1970s - long-standing members of the Club will remember her as Betty Adams. Elizabeth writes with fond memories of SPC:
MEMORY HOLD THE DOOR
'Little did I realise when, feeling very nervous, I first attended a play reading for Sussex Playwrights' Club that using voice alone would lead to broader scope for acting than the usual 'amdram' productions.
This was a long time ago, when meetings were held at Cook's Hotel. The title of the play eludes me - but I do remember that Walter Hix, the then well-known critic of local amateur productions, took a leading role.
At these meetings, it was so stimulating to have the chance of making different characters come to life and, subsequently, of listening to the constructive comments given by various experienced members of the Club.
I remember that broad farce was particularly difficult to put across, with only the text and no props or visual or sound effects. On the other hand, serious drama was (on balance) easier to put over. I am sometimes reminded of those early days when I hear about current productions of a former member's work.
Taking part in those play readings opened the door to a whole new world of character-acting for me. One was no longer bound by age, shape and size. I went on to make some good friends at the Club, not only reading when asked but also working with a small group taking play readings to local retirement homes. This group was formed by my friend, the late Richard Grierson, who had been an SPC member and whose short plays often featured in our repertoire.
Now, with my husband David, who has devised a series of talks on aspects of Sussex history including the old dialect, I take great pleasure in reading from a variety of texts and using occasional character voice.'
- Elizabeth Tait