Top: K.G. Allan (DSM), Wendy Lawrence (Stage Manager), Jane Hayward, (Acting ASM), David Barr (ASM), Marilyn Le Conte (Drama Centre), Terrance O’Lundy (Acting ASM) Fourth Row: Cécile Landau (ASM), Paul Iles (Public Relations Officer) Third Row: Elizabeth Kelly (Actress), Joy Dawson (Accounts), Molly Cottrell (Box Office), Douglas Ditta (Administrator), Joyce Smoothy, Peggy Driver (Box Office), Christine Cook (Theatre Secretary), Ann Summers (Wardrobe Mistress), Ken Walton (Master Carpenter), Stephen Mallatratt (Actor), John Southworth (Director) Second Row: Alec Linstead (Actor), Mary Moore (Designer), Lee Donald (Actor), Front Row: Tony Kenway (Actor), Ian Callander (Production Manager and Lighting Designer), Doc Watson (Assistant Director), Peter Smart (Actor), Leigh Malone (Assistant Designer), Tricia Thorns (Actress). The resident company, 18 October 1972, photographed on stage before the first night of The Birthday Show - Gammer Gurton's Needle (a comedy by 'J.S.', 1575) Box and Cox (a farce by J Maddison Morton, 1847) and Lethe (David Garrick, 1742).
Pam Ferris (Actress), Susan Ivatt (Wardrobe Assistant), Sylvia Benneworth (Garrick Bar Manageress), Pauline Betts (Bar Assistant), Mrs Hammond (Cleaner), John Kennett (Drama Centre Director), Eddie Caswell (Drama Centre), Marylou Nealon (Drama Centre), John Bowe (Actor)
Paul Iles joined the Ipswich Arts Theatre in 1972, as their first public relations officer:
Administrator Bill Johnston and director of productions John Southworth employed me in the first publicity role at the
What I now recall of Bill and John’s work is, by comparison to the banality of ambition in many early twenty-first-century regional theatre managements, an amazingly accomplished company endeavour. My mentors allowed me to attempt almost anything in my field: from booking cathedrals and churches for a tour of Murder in the Cathedral, inviting and looking after the national critics at the first night of Paul Claudel’s Break of Noon with company members Ben Kingsley and Ann Firbank, writing programme notes and articles for the East Anglian Daily Times, evangelising the theatre to Women’s Institutes in the Suffolk villages (at which I judged innumerable home-made jam and cake displays), negotiating with village halls for a theatre-in-the-round tour of Patrick Hamilton's Gaslight, publicising the children’s play Gawain and the Green Knight and Peter Nichols' Forget Me Not Lane on tour to the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, attending board meetings and sitting in on discussions with knowledgable Arts Council drama officers (Peter Mair, Jean Bullwinkle and Chris Cooper) and Tom Hill (the theatre chairman), alternating with Bill as house manager, assisting the Ipswich Theatre Club in their hosting of the 1972 annual conference of the Federation of Playgoers' Societies, attending the Council of Regional Theatre conference at the new Sheffield Crucible Theatre, to everything else demanded in an ambitious, true repertory theatre.
This training would be hard to obtain today, especially because of Bill Johnston (1934-2006), who had been an actor, then one of the first students on the Polytechnic of Central London-Arts Council course for trainee administrators. He had joined the company as manager in 1967, partnered at first with artistic director Nicholas Barter, and was promoted to administrator in 1971. Bill was an inspiring manager and teacher, an enthusiast with an encylopaedic knowledge of theatre and the town (who left in the autumn to be Administrator of Leeds Playhouse). My apprenticeship in communications therefore brought me close to the business of theatremaking. It coincided with the twenty-fifth anniversary of the company, a year which saw the formation of Ipswich and Suffolk New Theatre Trust and the first plans for the Wolsey Theatre, eventually opened in 1979.
This table shows the attendance and cash receipts for company productions in the year ending 31 March 1973:
Main House Productions Perfs Seats Sold Capacity Receipts Excluding Tours Thark by Ben Travers 20 2,921 42 1,168 Gawain and the Green Knight by Nicholas Stuart Gray 18 1,555 25 505 Forget Me 22 2,309 29 957 Home by David Storey 17 983 15 380 Gaslight by Patrick Hamilton 20 3,000 44 1,195 The Birthday Show 20 2,334 36 1,014 Brief Lives by Patrick Garland after John Aubrey 12 717 17 271 Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot 6 1,460 72 573 Getting Married by Bernard Shaw 20 2,835 41 1,162 Captain Pugwash by John Ryan 40 10,308 75 4,490 The Secretary Bird by William Douglas Home 27 7,281 78 3,055 Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare 23 5,548 70 1,932 When We Are Married by J.B. Priestley 20 3,897 56 1,596 Totals 1972/3 265 45,148 49% £18,298
Paid attendance for the 13 company productions was 6.75% higher than the 42,293 seats sold in 1971/72. Even so, to sell only an average of 170 seats at each performance does not seem too good - no doubt support would rise with the new theatre, as it had done in nearby Colchester, where the new Mercury Theatre opened in 1972 and which must have been a significant competitor during this year. Nevertheless, in Arts Council of Great Britain circles at least, Ipswich Arts Theatre was reputed to be one of the artistically progressive reps, in a town without the supposed benefit of a university and its potential audience. In 1972/3, its Arts Council main grant was £31,425, plus £950 for new and neglected drama and £3,575 for the theatre-in-education team. Adding local authority grants of £4,000, subsidy was therefore almost double the box office income, a very different ratio to today. (At Northampton, the Arts Council grant was then £22,000, for a 660-seat theate staging 18 in-house productions annually). Ipswich was 'three-weekly', with longer rehearsals than I had experienced at the 'fortnightly' Northampton Repertory Theatre; and, significantly, a large number of other activities to promote. A further 6,106 tickets were sold on tour (Arts on the Move, which received a subsidy of £5,000 from the new Eastern Arts Association), plus £3,445 for amateur productions, lunch-hour and late-night theatre, Monday night folk concerts and film screenings, pub theatre productions, a youth theatre festival and three visiting productions at the Tower Street theatre (the International Ballet Caravan, Emlyn Williams and Polka Children's Theatre).
An estimated 3,500 children attended the Drama Centre's theatre in education work - this was given at Chantry Secondary School, Beacon Hill School, Westbourne Secondary School, Whitton Special School, Priory Heath Secondary School and Copleton Secondary School, as well as sessions for young people in their leisure time, at the Drama Centre in Turret Lane. In all, 58,199 patrons in the year - that saw the introduction of value added tax.
It is interesting to note that at this time there was only occasional live performance in the Regent Theatre, St Helens Street - this was a Rank cinema until 1989 when purchased by the Council - nor mixed programming at the 'sister' civic venue, the Corn Exchange, where the main hall became a concert venue in 1975. The purpose-built variety theatre, Ipswich Hippodrome (built 1905, architect Frank Matcham) in St Nicholas Street, was by then a bingo hall.
John Southworth (1929-2004), who trained under Michel St-Denis at the Old Vic Theatre School, wrote about his vision for the new Wolsey Theatre:
What is a community theatre? Is this phrase just another example of modern jargon for something that we all know about already? It is true that in a sense theatres have always been community theatres, places where people from many sections of society can come together in a shared enjoyment. Nor is it entirely new in our theatrical history for playhouses to be adaptable for other social purposes. We have only to look at the Georgian theatres with their ingenious devices for extending the stage over the pit to make an uninterrupted floor for dancing. Maybe we are now picking up those threads. At any rate there has been a definite shift in the theatre's relationship to the community in recent years and it is this new attitude which underlies our thinking and planning for the future.
Let us see the theatre of the future – our theatre – not as a temple in which an elite band of artists pursues some abstract ideal of culture surrounded by an equally exclusive following of devotees, but as a real centre of enjoyment available to everyone. This is not to say that we shall cease to strive for the highest standards but that we aim to make enjoyment of theatre more widely available and to give the audience a much more active role than has been the case in the past. This is a big factor in our decision to abandon the proscenium arch in our new building. There are good historical precedents for this. In fact it is only in the last 150 years that the proscenium has come to dominate theatre architecture and to separate actors and audience so completely from each other. We have only to look at the declining figures for theatre attendance over the last twenty-five years in every part of the country to realise that the picture frame stage is no longer the attraction that it was. There is a smaller moving picture in every living room which has put paid to that. Nevertheless, the theatre still remains a unique experience. We want to exploit that uniqueness by putting greater emphasis on the living relationship of actors and audience which none of the mass media can offer. The evidence we have suggests strongly that where this has been done, theatres are rapidly gaining ground in face of all competition and entering into a new and more meaningful dialogue with their public.
Another factor of equal importance in our thinking is the need for adaptability in our theatre for the future. It is often overlooked that until recent times, the average life of a theatre building was extremely short. This was mainly due to fires, the nightmare of every theatre manager, though this was not the only cause. The first Ipswich theatre simply collapsed during a performance – one would like to think by weight or numbers but more probably as a result of careless construction. The Puritans of the time, of course, attributed this disaster to divine disfavour! But whatever the causes, the continual destruction and re-building of theatres enabled a constant development and adaptation to changes in society to take place as we can see by looking at the succession of Suffolk playhouses from the sixteenth century onwards. Fire regulations and the requirements of the building inspector – when even a bathroom extension is built apparently for eternity – have changed all that. We must expect tha the new theatre of 1975 will still be in use in 2075. A theatre lacking in adaptability could be perfect for our present requirements but become a straightjacket for future dramatists and directors. With the speed of changes in society today such a situation could arise in ten, let alone a hundred years. At the same time, future directors can be given the kind of choice they have never had before, of deciding the form of presentation – whether theatre-in-the-round, thrust stage or end stage – that is most suitable for a particular play instead of having to adapt the play to the demands of the building. We are putting architecture at the service of drama instead of the other way around.
Another question that we asked ourselves is whether a theatre setting out to serve the whole community in the way I have indicated could or should be content with providing a nightly two or three hours traffic of the stage? Looked at realistically, would such a limited purpose justify the large amounts of capital involved and an important site in the town centre? Eating and drinking as a social activity has always been an important adjunct to theatregoing. If such facilities are to be provided for our patrons in the evening, to the standards of comfort and excellence rightly demanded today, why not make them available at other times of the day as well? Thus the community aspect of the new theatre is seen to grow in importance. From being merely a place for watching plays it becomes a centre, a rendezvous, a meeting place for everyone who wishes to make use of it and at all times of the day. While theatre remains its driving force and raison d’etre, it embraces and caters for as many other social activities as can be reconciled with organisational efficiency. Adaptability of stage and auditorium make possible the occasional use of the building for concerts, folk evenings, poetry recitals and as a broadcasting and television studio. Apart from the restaurant and coffee bar which will be open all day, adequate circulation space will provide accommodation for art and craft exhibitions.
The only existing example of this type of theatre is the Octagon Theatre in Bolton. This has another feature which we would like to emulate and to develop. The last five years have seen an extraordinary growth in the uses of drama in education and as a spare-time activity for young people. The Arts Theatre has been a pioneer in this field and with the active co-operation of schools and our local education authority, this important aspect of the theatre’s work has gone from strength to strength since it was initiated by Oliver Neville in 1967 – and is still expanding. Following Bolton's example and that of other successful new regional theatres, we plan to incorporate facilities for youth drama to go on independently of the evening performances. Thus we shall be able to provide the varied but complementary experiences of informal drama and theatre in the same building and at the same time.
In a short article it has not been possible to do justice to all the features of this exciting new project which nevertheless is utterly practical and feasible. I hope I have said enough to whet your appetite for the detailed plans which are to follow. One factor is basic and indispensable-your enthusiasm. It is this that can provide the cement to hold our bricks together and that will transform a dream into fact and theatrical history.
John Southworth was Director of Ipswich Arts Theatre for eight years, then returned to freelance acting and research on early English theatre. He wrote The English Medieval Minstrel (Boydell, 1989), Fools and Jesters at the English Court (Alan Sutton, 1998) and Shakespeare the Player: a life in the theatre (History Press, 2003).
The founding of repertory theatre in Ipswich J.T. (Tom) Hill was Founder Honorary Secretary of the Ipswich Arts Theatre Trust and Chairman of the Management Committee. Director of Education in the town, he was a supportive and enthusiastic presence around the theatre, knowing all the staff and providing many vital links to the community. This is his programme note for the twenty-fifth birthday souvenir: Work began immediately. We had very good friends in various quarters so that when we were unable to buy this or that material because of short supplies, we were able to borrow it until we could eventually buy it and replenish our friend's stock. Work went on throughout the summer of 1947 and the doors were opened on the 20th October of that year. It was a rush to the end. We had a short pre-opening meeting in my office at 5.00pm and when I looked in at the theatre at a quarter-to-six it still seemed full of scaffold poles and other equipment and workmen were rushing here and there to get ready for the opening at 7.00pm. A feature writer in the local press forecast that within a year we should have closed our doors. Other people gave us no more than three years of life. As it happens, our first ten years were as successful as anyone could have hoped. At the end of that time we were not only still open but had £6,000 or so invested from our surplus and, in one year, an average attendance of over 82 per cent. Then television cameto East Anglia. Within another three years the £6,000 had gone; we were £3,000 in the red and were within a hair's breadth of closing. The outstanding lesson of the twenty-five years is that there is nothing so uncertain as trying to keep a theatre open. Your fortunes are up and down like a yo-yo and however prosperous you may seem today, a couple of plays that are not to the public taste will bring you into the depths of a deficit in a very short time. Above all, without the now quite impressive financial assistance from the Arts Council of Great Britain it would be impossible to continue. We have had literally hundreds of actors at the theatre and there is only space to mention a few who moved on to be known nationally. In alphabetical order they are Wendy Craig, Paul Eddington, Rex Garner, Elvi Hale, Pat Heywood, Colin Jeavons, Sheila Keith, Ian McKellan, Clive Revill, Michael Spice and David Waller. The next twenty-five years will now be in the hands of others. May they be as successful as we, the founders, have been. Dear Mr. Smith In October 1964 the Ipswich Town Council decided to build a theatre in its new Civic Centre. The understanding at that time was that it would be leased to the Ipswich Arts Theatre Trust which has, as you know, since 1947 been running a successful Repertory Theatre of a remarkably high standard in the former Lecture Hall in Tower Street. Plans for the theatre were developed, but in 1969 the cost was estimated to be in the region of £450,000, which was felt to be too high. The Council asked the Trustees to prepare a brief for a much cheaper theatre, and in 1971, after careful consideration of their own needs and of other new theatre buildings, the Trustees submitted a brief for an adaptable theatre, able to provide for endstage, thrust stage and theatre-in-the-round presentations. A similar theatre was built in Bolton in 1967 for a modest sum - as theatre costs go - and has been operating very successfully since then. Messrs Vine and Vine, the Civic Centre architects, have now prepared sketch plans for such a theatre. The brief also specifies, as a future development, a Drama Centre joined to the theatre building and providing a home for the Arts Theatre’s flourishing work with young people. The Trustees now know, in confidence, that the Town Council has it in mind to propose a different arrangement for the theatre. Instead of building it and leasing it to the Trustees itself, the Council plans to offer the Trustees the Civic Centre site at a peppercorn rent together with a capital grant of £75,000, leaving it to the Trustees to find the balance from the Arts Council, other Local Authorities, and a public appeal. The Trustees would then be responsible for building the theatre. It is understood that the Town Council would like to see the project well under way by 1974. While the Trustees appreciate that there could be an argument for delaying this project until the reorganisation of Local Government has taken place in 1974. the alarming rate at which building costs are rising, and the willingness of the Ipswich Council to make an immediate contribution encourage the Trustees to feel that there is a better argument for getting this long-needed theatre built as soon as possible, The four sources of income open to the Trustees are taken to be the Ipswich Town Council, East Suffolk County Council, the Arts Council and a public appeal Ipswich have set the ball rolling by offering a quarter of this estimated building cost (plus the site at a peppercorn rent), and the Arts Council have indicated that a contribution of £75,000 from them would be in line with the 25% of total cost they often contribute to such schemes. If your authority and a public appeal each contributed £75,000 then the £300,000 total would have been reached. I am writing to ask if, at an early date, representatives of the Trust might meet with you or your representatives to discuss this proposal and your Authority’s likely attitude. Yours sincerely J. T. HILL Chairman of the Management Committee And Secretary to the Trustees, Ipswich Arts Theatre Trust When the Education Committee was talking about the wonderful world we must make after the end of the war, it included a theatre in those talks and in 1945 things began to take shape. First, there was the question of premises in which we could make a start and very conveniently situated in
I approached some friends on the Ipswich Institute Trustees and they agreed to help by granting a lease for use as a theatre. There was now the question of (a) how to run it; and (b) where the money for conversion was to come from. I knew that attempts had been made in the years before the war to start professional theatre in Ipswich but any efforts had died, to some extent because of a feeling of "what is he going to get out of it?"- the appropriate "he" being, of course, anyone who was trying to run it. There was, too, the question of "respectability" because the theatre was still, in some minds, not quite proper. There were, fortunately, other people in the town who felt as I did about the need for a theatre and they very willingly agreed to join me in putting a project forward-I am thinking particularly of Mr. Martin J. Slater, the Architect, who agreed to act as Honorary Architectural Adviser, Mr. T. A. Symes, who was willing to act as Honorary Solicitor, and Mr. H .Spruytenburg who was willing to do anything! I presented a report to the Education Committee suggesting the theatre be run as part of our informal education activities and was delighted when they said that, although they liked the idea of a theatre ("provided there is no cost to the rates") they felt they had already got too much to do in other spheres to take any responsibility for it. I was delighted because I was sure that if it was to be a municipal theatre in the fullest sense of the word we should have been so tied up with standing orders and everything else like that, that we could not have survived. We got together a number of people willing to act as trustees, including the Lord Bishop of the Diocese (at that time, Dr. Brooke) and the Chairman of the Free Church Council (Rev. W. Watson) and although the then Rev. Peacock, the leader of the Roman Catholic Community, could not join us as a trustee he gave us his open support. All in all then, we had achieved "respectability" and this we intended to continue to retain by presenting plays to which all members of the family and all age groups could go without being embarrassed by what they saw or heard.
The Education Committee agreed to call a meeting in the Town Hall to launch the scheme and so many people turned up that we had overflows on the Town Hall stairs and in the Magistrates' Room. The meeting agreed to back the project for reopening the cinema as a theatre and to contribute about £4,500 for the cost of adaptations. An interesting point was that the local press and four other individuals gave the best part of a thousand pounds of this - the rest (over 400 individuals) gave donations varying down to ten shillings, so you will see how many gave their own little bit to make the theatre possible. We were still not there, however, as we were in the days of permits for everything. The Right Honourable R. R. Stokes, then Member for the Borough and Minister of Works, had agreed to join the Trustees and, although he could not arrange for a permit immediately, he said that if I called at the Ministry office at Cambridge immediately it opened on the 1st April, 1947, I could have a permit for £999 from their 1947-48 allocation. I well remember going to Cambridge with Mr. Slater, being on the doorstep when the office opened and leaving a little later the proud holder of the piece of paper, which opened the door for us. In those days, once you had a permit, you could apply later for supplementaries as necessary! Wonderful days they were!
From the past twenty-five years one remembers some outstanding people. Firstly, I think, comes Warren Jenkins – known affectionately by us as Jenks – and now Director at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. I can mention here a little incident which occurred about eight years ago. My wife and I had spent a very happy three weeks' holiday in Malta with two other Trustees and were on our way to Liverpool Street Station by taxi from the airport when at one set of traffic lights who should we see in the car next to us but Jenks. It was obvious from his expressions and arm movements that he was going through the play he was producing! We went from light to light by his side and at each set of lights the same performance took place until finally at the lights by the Bank of England he looked our way and you can imagine his surprise when he saw our faces smiling down at him from a taxi. I have also recollections especially of A. R. Whatmore, Val May, Robert Chetwyn and Oliver Neville as Directors. From our administrators, two are outstanding. First was Michael Thompson; he was with us during very difficult times and the care with which he watched the spending or saving of every farthing helped us to keep going. He left to go to Western Television and his subsequent early and sudden death was felt very deeply by all of us. Recently, of course, we remember with real respect and affection, Bill Johnston.
During the 1970s the theatre building boom for resident repertory theatres that had begun at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry (1958) continued apace, with new ones opening at Newcastle upon Tyne, Farnham, Leicester, Hornchurch, Birmingham, Colchester and Sheffield. The following document illustrates how the Ipswich Arts Theatre initiated the construction of their new theatre, financed - like others - in partnership with the Arts Council of Great Britain and local authorities, plus a public appeal.
Quantity Surveyors have estimated the cost of Messrs. Vine and Vine’s plan at £200,000, at present day prices and without fees or equipment. Our latest advice is that we should add £30,000 for fees at 15% and £20,000 for furnishing and equipment, bringing the total at present day prices to £250,000. Estimating that the project could not be under way in much less than two years we are advised to add £50,000 for inflation at 10% per year, bringing the total to £300,000.
Arts on the Move: first steps in tour producing
The tours of Gaslight and Murder in the Cathedral were booked for Ipswich Town Hall, Stowmarket Congregational Church, St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Peterborough Cathedral, Soham Village College, Otley Parish Church, Thetford Parish Church, Aldeburgh Parish Church, Stoke-by-Nayland Parish Church, Blythburgh Parish Church, Aldeburgh Parish Church, St Margaret’s Church King’s Lynn, (Murder in the Cathedral), Wickham Market Theatre Centre, Debenham Village Hall, Hitcham Village Hall, Stowmarket Congregational Church Hall, Sidegate Lane Neighbourhood Hall, Battisford and Coombs Hall, Otley Community Centre, Chelmondiston Village Hall, Thebarton Primary School, Stoke-by-Nayland Community Centre and Walberswick Village Hall (Gaslight).
Letter to prospective venues, June 1972:
Following last year's successful tour of On Two Summer Nights I am writing to tell you about our plans for the new season.
Gaslight is a thriller in the Victorian style by Patrick Hamilton and is available from Thursday 31 August, to Saturday 9 September inclusive and from Monday to Thursday 18 to 21 September 1972.
As far as we know this will be the first production of the play ‘in the round’, and the immediacy of this staging should get everyone involved straightaway. A young wife is left alone in the evenings by her husband: some time after he has left the house, the gaslight dims. The upper floor is shut off and unused. Is she right in feeling that she is not alone, that some stranger is prowling about upstairs? If so, who is he and what is he doing? Or is it all the result of an over-sensitive imagination? Is she going insane as her husband suspects? See the play to find out; if you have a clue already, please keep this information secret!
Organisation. In each area we visit, the Arts Theatre is looking for a ‘host’ organisation (such as a Women’s Institute, a Village Hall committee or a school) to co -operate with us in distributing publicity and selling tickets. We will, of course, send full details nearer the time of exactly what is necessary but here are some preliminary indications. We will provide (free of charge) posters and leaflets. We suggest that seats are not numbered nor tickets sold for particular seats. All would be the same price, and buying a ticket would guarantee a seat but not a reserved position. We will be happy to supply a set of admission tickets.
The Hall. If we are to visit your area we shall need a hall which will seat at least 80 people. We do not need a stage, but will act in the middle of the floor with the audience either on all four sides or, if the hall is too narrow for that, on two sides of us (in other words, at the two ends of the hall, or traverse style.) If you do have a stage it will be useful for some of the audience to sit on. We shall need an acting area of, ideally, 15 feet by 17 feet, but these measurements can be adjusted to suit smaller halls. We also need to leave room for gangways for access into the acting area, and for the audience to reach their seats. We would also need two small rooms for dressing rooms (2 actors, 3 actresses) or one larger room which might be divided.
Capacity Possible' Take' Guarantee requested
80-89 £28.00 + £24. 00
90-99 £31.50+ £27.50
100-109 £35.00 + £31. 00
110-119 £38.50 + £34.50
120-129 £42.00 + £38.00
130 + £45.50 + £41. 50
Larger halls and visits to schools by special arrangement.
If you feel that you can ask for more than 35p for each seat then of course you are free to do so. Our fee would not be increased proportionately! At 35p each it is quite possible for the host to make about £4.00 or more.
Murder in the Cathedral is T. S. Eliot's first and perhaps finest play, about the murder of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. John Southworth will play Becket in this cast of twelve. The production has been specially planned for presentation in churches and cathedrals. It opens at the Ipswich Town Hall Festival of Music and the Arts and it will be seen later at the
I do hope we shall hear from you. Professional theatre could be on your doorstep this autumn!
Yours faithfully
PAUL ILES
Public Relations Officer
Photograph shows Gaslight company members on tour: John Bowe (Policeman), Tony Kenway (Rough), Kathleen Rayner (Elizabeth), Wendy Lawrence (Stage Manager), Tricia Thorns (Nancy), Leigh Malone (Designer), Cécile Landau (ASM), Peter Smart (Mr Manningham), Pam Ferris (Mrs Manningham).
See the New Wolsey Theatre website here.
The Arts Theatre is now the Rep Public House.
The Ipswich Arts Theatre Trust archive is held at the Suffolk Record Office, Ipswich Branch.
Ipswich theatre: a select bibliography
Elizabeth Grice, Rogues and Vagabonds: the rise and fall of the theatre in East Anglia during the 18th and 19th centuries, Lavenham, Terence Dalton, 1977.
East Anglian Theatre: a catalogue of the exhibition devoted to the history of the players and playhouses of Norfolk and Suffolk, Norwich, Norfolk Drama Committee, 1952.
H.R. Lingwood, Ipswich Playhouses: chapters of local theatrical history, Ipswich, East Anglian Daily Times, 1935.
Paul Iles, (ed), Ipswich Arts Theatre 1947-1972: a souvenir for the Birthday Show, Ipswich, Ipswich Arts Theatre Trust, 1972.
Sybil Rosenfeld, 'An Ipswich Theatre Book', in Theatre Notebook, London, Society for Theatre Research, 1959, Vol. XIII, No. 4, pp.129-133. [Essay about H. R. Eyre, manager of the Ipswich Theatre in the 1880s and his manuscript on the history of his theatre, including finances, scenery and touring circuits].
Lennie Knowland, (ed), The Rise of Theatre in Suffolk, 1200-1979: with a foreword by Sir Peter Hall and Trevor Nunn; to celebrate the opening of the Wolsey Theatre, September 1979, Ipswich, Ipswich and Suffolk New Theatre Trust, 1979.
Terence Davis and Trevor Morson, Ipswich Hippodrome: the place to go, Ipswich, Terence Davis, 2005.
David Edwards, ‘New Ways at the Wolsey’, in Prompt, London, Theatrical Management Association, September 2009, pp. 24-29.
