You are in Grand Reminiscence
Grand Reminiscence
We invite trustees, friends and previous managers to write a paragraph of
On Monday 29 May 2006, the Grand Theatre celebrated the Silver Jubilee of its reopening under community ownership and operation.
To mark the 25th Anniversary of the Royal reopening of the Grand Theatre on Friday 29 May 1981, we invited trustees, friends and previous managers to write a paragraph of "cultural memory", on an aspect of the artistic and social significance of the Grand Theatre for them, pointing to the future importance of this theatre.
HRH The Prince of Wales attended a Variety performance that was the culmination of many years campaigning and fundraising: the Grand Theatre has since been an integral part of the social life of Blackpool and Lancashire.
LINES UPON THE REOPENING OF THE GRAND THEATRE, 1981
A plush and rosy masterpiece
A tribute to the past
An opulent reminder
Of an age that couldn’t last.
But for now the struggles over
The Grand has come to life
A night of glitz and glamour
After years of toil and strife.
What will be the future?
Excitement fills the air
The way ahead uncertain
But glory hovers there.
The stage is set for dancing
Silence – now dim the lights
We’ll be counting cash tomorrow
But weaving our dreams tonight.
- Anon.
DAVID COUPE: foundation trustee and Chairman of the Grand Theatre
It must first be noted that the Grand Theatre Trust has been the custodian of the theatre for a longer time than its original owner Thomas Sergenson. Mr Sergenson put on the stage some very fine and memorable presentations in his new and beautiful theatre until eventually tired of his week by week risk taking he sold the theatre on at a considerable profit to his rivals the Blackpool Tower Company and moved on to a new life in London.
After this, our very special theatre had to content itself with being one of several theatres receiving presentations organised by the Tower Company. It had to suffer the indignity of layers of unsympathetic brown paint round its magnificent and delicate proscenium arch. It settled down to a role of being largely a Playhouse and to summer seasons of Arthur Askey. Nonetheless no theatre as breathtakingly beautiful as the Grand can escape attention. Visits to the Grand Theatre continued to be a magical experience especially for those seeing it for the first time. My first visit happened when I was 10 years old in 1954. I was absolutely spellbound by the place. I came back as often as I could.
After years of plenty the Tower Company, by then in the ownership of EMI, wanted to demolish the building. The Friends of the Grand fought this off and so began the most glorious period in the theatre's history. I have my own special favourites amongst the countless breathtaking and innovative presentations we have brought to the Grand over the last 25 years but I am not going to share these with you.
This is because my greatest pleasure is to come to our lovely and unique theatre, gaze upon its beauty and the magnificence of its wonderfully restored auditorium. I look up at proscenium arch where the ugly brown paint has been removed by the painstaking effort of the conservators to reveal paintings of flowers depicting all the months of the year. All this beauty makes the Grand one of the most enchanting theatres in Europe. I reflect on all the years of enterprise and struggle which made all this possible. I watch the theatre fill up with happy smiling people waiting with eager anticipation for curtain up and I am content.
When the Theatre Trust acquired the Grand it made a pledge to bring to the theatre the performing arts in all their wonderful and many diverse forms and to satisfy all tastes. I believe we have fulfilled this pledge in rich abundance. I never cease to be fascinated by how different the audiences are for the constantly changing presentations. I believe the sum of all these parts together with outstanding community involvement is why our theatre has regional and national importance and a status which it did not enjoy under previous ownerships. Everything is magical and fascinating about the Grand. The Trust and all who support it will never tire of the place. We are here for ever.
JOHN SHEDWICK: General Manager, Grand Theatre, 1982-1988
My memory flits between the 36 late night performances we presented after the EMI Bingo sessions from 1977 to 1980, Doddy finishing at 5.00am, the Grand reopening, the Royal Gala and the first Summer Seasons.
But I then reflect on outstanding drama with the dimensions, Sir Anthony Quayle, Timothy West and The National Theatre Hiawatha. The music of Nigel Kennedy, Julian Lloyd Webber, the Hallé and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and Friday night is Music Night.
Northern Ballet Theatre and London Contemporary Dance Theatre weave in and out of my thoughts and then Les Dawson, Danny La Rue, Gary Wilmot, Brian Conley and Eric Sykes join in – what a merry dance.
Pause to consider Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in summer 1982, how it suited the families – they kept on coming, only planned for eleven weeks, it ran seventeen. For many young children – their first theatre visit – Joseph holds a special memory – delighted audiences and always a party atmosphere in the Dress Circle Bar after each show.
The future of the Grand Theatre cannot rely on memories otherwise we would just sit thumbing over the archive – the past can inform the future – it is today’s realities and audiences that matter.
Can it be that 25 years have flown since The Prince of Wales officially reopened the Grand? There must never be need for another reopening. There will not be – the Grand now shines like a beacon in the cultural life of the region. Its strength lies in diverse and exciting programming and the outstanding commitment of the Trust, Friends, Management and Staff.
John Shedwick was a founding Friend of the Grand in the 1970s. He went on to be our General Manager (1982 to 1988), before moving to run the Guildhall and Charter Theatre, Preston. John has been a leading figure in amateur societies, such as Blackpool and Fylde Light Opera Company. He is a Lancashire County Councillor.
STEPHANIE SIRR: General Manager, Grand Theatre, 1997-2001
My Grand Theatre memory dates back to the eve of the 'New Millennium'. We'd gone to huge lengths to prepare a fantastic feast for the pre-show supper and then our chef (who created an incredible and somewhat far fetched menu) quit just a few weeks before New Year's Eve. Thankfully the remaining chefs did a fantastic job and created a sumptuous buffet including such delicacies as oysters and chocolate pasta (not mixed thankfully). But it was touch and go. Then David Steadman and his team put together a wonderful concert to see in the 'New Millennium' but as can sometimes happen at these events, the timings somewhat ran away with things and instead of the bongs interrupting the music there was a short lull. David called me up onto the stage (thanks David!!) and we made extremely small talk in the presence of 1,200 partygoers for what seemed an eternity, but was really just a few minutes. Then the bongs themselves - and then 1,200 people of, frankly, a certain age - going absolutely bananas. In the event, I was so glad that I witnessed it from the stage of the world's most beautiful theatre. Just five minutes of absolute joy and pandemonium: party poppers, cherubs, Mexican waves, kissing, champagne glasses and great classical music. Unforgettable.
In an amusing postscript, after the mayhem had died down and everyone had conga-ed their way out into the night, a reporter from the Gazette arrived. Surveying the now sedate scene in the bar, she looked around in some disdain and said "Is this it?" I quickly showed her the new scene of devastation in Matcham's Masterpiece - knee deep in party hats, streamers and programmes. But it is impossible to recreate in words what I'd seen from the stage - just a very special moment in the history of a wonderful theatre.
(Stephanie Sirr is now Chief Executive of Nottingham Playhouse).
SUE ARTHUR: Company Secretary, Blackpool Grand Theatre Trust Limited
People often ask me why I got involved with the Grand. My answer is always the same – I walked in the door.
The day that I walked in the door was in 1981. Although I’m sandgrown I wasn’t taken to the Grand as a child because the Summer Season plays were thought unsuitable. We went to see Variety on the piers or at the Opera House or ABC, or we went to the Circus or the Ice Show. I was aware of the Grand because I had been told it was haunted but as a school student I was unaware of the fight to save it. In 1981 I was home on holiday from London where I was doing my nurse training. The Gazette alerted me to a production of The Merchant of Venice starring Timothy West and Prunella Scales. Unaware that this was the sell out re-opening production I arrived at the box office at 7.25pm but as I was alone they sold me a house seat and I was in.
Nothing had prepared me for the thrill of entering through the stalls door that evening. I thought (and still think) that it was the most beautiful building. That view of the auditorium as you enter the stalls at the front, especially when the house is full and the audience is excited and expectant, is the most thrilling view of the Grand. I still get a buzz from standing at the front of the stalls and watching the auditorium fill up with people eager to be entertained.
CHARLES and MOLLY FARROW:
As the house lights came up at the interval of a performance in the early1930s, a small drama was taking place in the third row of the stalls. Two regular theatregoers were once again in their favourite seats, Charles reached into his pocket and handed Molly a small box which contained a beautiful engagement ring. How the diamonds sparkled in the light of the huge chandeliers at the Grand Theatre!
Fifty years later Charles was to become the first theatre archivist. They were in the audience when Prince Charles re-opened the Grand in 1981 and later were presented to HM The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh when they visited the theatre for the centenary of Grand Theatre in 1994. Seventy years after their engagement Charles and Molly still return to the Grand to sit in the auditorium and remember that special evening so many years ago. 
KATH HAYWARD: Board member, Blackpool Grand Theatre (Arts & Entertainments) Limited and member of the committee of the Friends of the Grand
With passing years I find my early memories begin to merge, but I realise now the Grand has been a truly strong influence in my life. When I was ten years old my widowed mother and I returned from Yorkshire to be near her family in Blackpool, where her elder sisters were all employed in the management of the very early days of the Blackpool Tower Company. My mother was placed at the Grand in charge of the team of programme sellers and the girls, in their uniform of tan coloured tabards, who carried the trays of chocolates and other refreshments round the theatre for the convenience of the seated audience.
The ladies of social consequence in the town who frequented the matinee performances were seated in the dress circle and as a mark of distinction were served their interval tea on dainty little trays, prepared from a small stillroom where the Friends now serve coffee. As a child it felt like playing a grown up dolls’ house game. Regrettably the constant rattle of china cups formed an unbearable distraction and I think the service was discontinued when on one occasion the actors broke into the performance to admonish the audience and beg for quiet!
As a ten year old, seventy years ago, I accompanied my mother to her work in the theatre and my place was the very corner of the gallery facing the stage to the left, near the storerooms and there I watched everything, suitable or not, entranced by the scene below. My love of the theatre grew from then. The characters I watched became my imaginary playmates, the stage, my world, and I loved every moment. I experienced then, as now, the thrill of anticipation as the house lights dimmed and the magical moment of leaving reality, often harsh, for each new, exciting imaginary adventure presented pleasure to the mind and senses alike, moments that lingered long after the event.
My happier times have been associated with the Grand Theatre. My husband and I had regular bookings for every Wednesday – Dress Circle E26 and 28 – the seats which I always look to use when I can. My family links are closely woven with the Grand and it is my dearest wish that the living theatre is never forgotten in our town, whatever the future may bring.
Kath Hayward was joint Headteacher at Greenlands High School. She was appointed MBE for services to charities, such as Victim Support, Soroptimists of the Fylde and her work as Chairman of Relate.
GEOFF TOLSON, Vice-Chairman, Blackpool Grand Theatre Trust
The foyer was full of eager theatregoers for this was the night we had all been waiting for. The theatre had reopened under the care of Blackpool Grand Theatre Trust, Prince Charles had attended the Gala Night and now the most famous theatre company in the country was here. The auditorium was buzzing with anticipation as the patrons took their seats. On the open stage we could see what seemed to be a very large horizontal disc about two feet deep. The house lights dimmed and in the semi darkness on stage we could see at first just one man and then in two’s-and- three’s the cast entered. As each took their place around the disc they began to beat out an increasingly complex rhythm, the disc was in fact a huge drum. So began a most wondrous theatrical evening, the opening of The National Theatre production of Hiawatha. Alas the National Theatre has only returned once, with an equally superb production of An Inspector Calls. Let’s hope that we may soon be able see more National Theatre productions, presenting us with the very best of theatre in this most exciting and beautiful of venues, the Grand.
LINDA TOLSON: Trustee, Blackpool Grand Theatre Trust and former Company Secretary
The epic struggle to save the Grand Theatre from demolition, purchase it from EMI and restore it to live theatre for the delight of local people and visitors, is one of the greatest success stories this town has ever seen. All this was achieved by a bunch of amateurs who had in common a passion for theatre and the Grand Theatre in particular. These original Friends of the Grand gave back to Blackpool, theatre in all its diversity and quickly established the resort where it rightly belongs as a major venue on the touring circuit. Under the guidance of exceptional managers we have attracted the National Theatre, the Royal Ballet and a number of international companies. We have welcomed Anthony Quayle and Timothy West as well as younger actors like Roy Marsden and Stephen Tomkinson. We smiled at Ballet Rambert’s Rooster, laughed with Ken Dodd and cried with Madame Butterfly. We have lost many of the Grand’s greatest supporters on the way but their passing has made us more determined to continue the glorious task. The building will be loved and cherished and the Grand will continue to challenge and inspire at the heart of Blackpool’s cultural regeneration.
ALAN SEARS: Treasurer, Friends of the Grand
Can it really be twenty-five years since a group of individuals changed from rubbish removers, cleaners and painters to become the nucleus of the Front of House teams that we have today? The longstanding members (in more ways than one) arrange their diaries round their duty nights at the Grand. These are the people I shall remember as they continue to support our Theatre. Next to that is the weekly moment of anticipation as the house lights dim, the audience goes quiet and the curtain rises. That is the moment when live theatre beats any other form of entertainment, and with the special setting of the Grand to enhance it what more can we want. The Grand Theatre caters for ballet, opera and serious drama but the gales of laughter are the best tonic we can offer to residents and visitors alike: family entertainment at its best. Laughter is infectious and, as an audience spills out into Church Street, this is the best advertisement the Grand can have. Nor should we forget the pantomime season with its audience participation - oh yes there is - and the opportunity to introduce the up and coming generation to the joys of live entertainment. We need shows with a plot and some colour to keep the audiences rolling in. Long may the Grand continue to provide the best!
Cllr DAVID OWEN, a founding member of Blackpool Grand Theatre Trust and Cabinet Member for Leisure, Culture and Community Learning, Blackpool Council:
When the Sadler’s Wells Ballet made their only visit to Blackpool Grand Theatre during the week of 9th to 14th December 1940, Margot Fonteyn performed in Les Sylphides, The Wise Virgins and Façade. We had to wait until 14th February 1994 for a return visit when, as The Royal Ballet, the company gave us their programme of Dance Bites over two evenings, a significant achievement for the Grand’s management in attracting them to Blackpool as one of only three ‘dates’ on the short tour which had taken them previously to Leicester and Cambridge. It was an opportunity for new talent to have their collective head. The programme gave us brand new works in William Tuckett’s Desirable Hostilities, Matthew Hart’s Caught Dance, Ashley Page’s Renard, as well as the brilliant 1965 creation, Monotones 11 by the Company’s founder choreographer, Sir Frederick Ashton, and William Forsythe’s Herman Schmerman, premiered to great critical acclaim at Covent Garden the previous autumn, dance creators who are now established names. We rarely appreciate the here-and-now, and what a line-up of budding stars we then enjoyed! With Ashley Page and William Tuckett, the dancers in the Company included Leanne Benjamin, Deborah Bull, Jonathan Cope, Viviana Durante, Tetsuya Kumakawa, the Lancashire girl from Heywood, Claire Livingstone, and Gail Taphouse.
JEAN PRESTON JP: Life Member of Blackpool Grand Theatre Trust
EMI’s 1977 agreement gave the Friends of the Grand access for cut-down presentations on ten occasions annually until we bought the Theatre. Our Chairman, the late John Hodgson, booked Opera 80 to present their touring production of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel one Saturday morning on the Friends’ temporary wooden forestage that extended the space in front of the Great Curtain behind which was a sea of on-stage bingo seating and equipment. I choreographed my students as the Angels for the ballet interludes and Brenda McGovern arranged and played the piano, the first time since the 1960 visit of D’Oyly Carte that opera had featured here. Another memory is my Sunday Night Military Band Concert on 7 November 1982 which raised £5,773 for Forces Charities after the IRA had killed soldiers and horses in Hyde Park. I was teaching ballet in Weeton Camp to children of The Second Battalion, The Light Infantry stationed there. Bandmaster WO1 A.S. ‘Jack’ Leeming ALCM fronted, twenty-three of my dancers performed a couple of numbers to the accompaniment of Offenbach and Irving Berlin, Eddie Colinton raised the laughs, Phil Kelly impressed as the tenor, the Festival Jazzmen gave Warrington’s Dixieland Concerto and Lytham Operatic Society provided a fine chorus for Coward’s Cavalcade. Emotional and successful. So pleased was the CO, Lt Col M H Drury MBE that he honoured me with a full dress lunch in their Officers’ Mess.
Jean Preston ran Fylde Stage Academy, presenting many dance productions at the Grand Theatre, such as Watch Your Step, Spotlight on Dance, Always a Step Ahead, and full length productions of The Wizard of Oz (1993) and Bugsy Malone (1994).
David Owen and Jean Preston.
CHRISTINE WATKINS: Coordinator, Friends of the Grand
It is almost sixteen years since I started working as the Friends of the Grand coordinator and have seen many productions here. Sometimes, for no good reason, I torture myself trying to decide my favourite, and if really pressed, I would plump for Northern Ballet Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet in 1991. Prokofiev’s music is sublime and the company under Christopher Gable’s direction and with Lez Brotherston’s brilliant set and costumes surpassed themselves. They were here the previous week to prepare for this world premiere at the Grand and the evening itself was a red letter occasion. Local dignitaries attended, ballet critics from the national press were present and members of staff wore roses in their buttonholes. The evening was a huge success for the Grand and Northern Ballet Theatre, and is still the favourite of many of our Friends. Act Two ended with Lady Capulet covered with blood and distraught at the loss of Tybalt. Two sets of drums thundered out her grief as a sheet of water fell down upon the wretched Capulet family and the curtain fell. I was transfixed - quite literally glued to my seat for about four or five minutes whilst all around fellow theatregoers made for the bar. Such is the power of theatre - long may it continue here at the Grand.
PENELOPE M MARSHALL-KALINA: Board member, Blackpool Grand Theatre (Arts & Entertainments) Limited and member of the committee of the Friends of the Grand
As a very small child, my father would take us regularly to the theatre. He saw no reason why children should not be introduced to that wonderful world as soon as they could walk! All types of theatre. My first ballet was Swan Lake and I was mesmerised. HMS Pinafore! The Mikado! Every time the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company came to the area we were in the audience. But father wasn’t a man with a desire to stunt our imaginations, so he didn’t stop there. Jimmy Clitheroe, Freddie Frinton, Billy Cotton, Arthur Haynes….. ‘up to me neck in muck and bullets’….. I remember saying that for years afterwards. I have no idea what age I was because I was so young but I do remember my parent getting a lot of amusement out of it. Particularly when I said it in front of the more high-brow of their acquaintances! With the exception of Billy Cotton, who, I remember, was appearing at the old Queen’s Theatre, all this magic came to me from the beautiful Grand Theatre. But I didn’t know that at the time.
It wasn’t until my first speech day with Elmslie Girls’ School that I entered the Grand, looked around and felt those beautiful memories flooding back to me. It was here that father used to bring us when we were so young. This was that beautiful theatre that gave me those hours of fun, laughter and excitement. The excitement of live theatre and the beauty of that masterpiece of design that wraps around each and every individual who enters 'her' doors.
I sincerely hope that my association with the Grand Theatre will go some way toward ensuring that girls and boys of future generations, no matter how young, can experience the excitement and wonder of live theatre and entertainment that I enjoyed in my own childhood. Thank you father and thank you to the beautiful Grand Theatre.
PETER WATKINS: Box Office, (1986-1987, 1995- )
My earliest recollections of the Grand Theatre were in my mid-teens when I spotted an interesting building on the corner of Church Street and Corporation Street. Its doors were closed to the public. I remember trying to peer into its dark interior to see what wonders were hidden from public view. At that time I was ignorant of the fight to save the Grand – indeed it wasn’t until the early 1980s that having tired of the local night clubs I attended my first play. I was immediately spellbound by the intimate architecture and couldn’t believe how I had ignored something so breathtaking. I later spotted an advertisement for Box Office Staff. I applied and was successful.
And so began a 20 year association with the Grand. I loved my work then – I love it now. There have been many memorable evenings. I saw my first ballet at the Grand (the first of many) as well as my first opera, Rigoletto, which reduced me to a quivering wreck. I am always amazed by the ingenuity of set designers who are able to transform the stage into another place altogether. Productions such as Shirley Valentine, the National Theatre’s first production of An Inspector Calls, Northern Ballet Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet and A Christmas Carol spring immediately to mind.
The Grand Theatre is indeed a special place and part of the magic is embedded deep within the fabric of the magnificent building. Many friends from those early days are sadly no longer with us: John Broadbent, George Thomson, Bernard Crabtree and Sam Lee to name but a few: all helped to make the Grand what it is today. Although their names often made local headlines, they would be the first to admit that they were all part of a unique group of loyal supporters whose personalities still linger within the theatre.
To anyone who may have read recent reports that Blackpool as an entertainment town is dead, I say come to the Grand Theatre and decide for yourself. The Grand was earlier this year inaugurated as The National Theatre of Variety. That isn’t just a fancy title for the sake of sounding pretentious – it’s a fact! This year alone we have hosted a diverse array of performances, from Stuart Little to Shakespeare, from Titanic to Tartuffe. We have welcomed back Ken Dodd, arguably the greatest comedian ever, as well as up and coming local rock band The Lotus Circle. If you are bored with the local pubs or simply fancy a change from the latest dvd release, come to the Grand and expand your cultural horizons. Why not sample the opera, the ballet or even Shakespeare? Then have a drink in the bar afterwards and discuss the evening with your friends in the splendid surroundings. You might love it – you might loathe it, but at least you will have experienced it for yourselves. It’s what art is all about. I guarantee your lives will be all the richer.
'Big-hearted' Arthur Askey (1900-1982) starred twice-nightly in Love and Kisses at the Grand Theatre, summer 1955. Had these stylish twins, pictured outside the theatre on Church Street, just bought their tickets to the first house?
The Royal reopening of the Grand Theatre, May 1981
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