PART TWO 1986 - 2000

"Battling On"

By

ERIC STEVENS

2000: MILLENNIUM MIRTH AND MELANCHOLY

Diary

January : 12th Night Party: The Millennium; "Crumplestiltskin".

February: Club: Panto performance; "Bold Girls".

March: AGM; "News From Jerusalem".

April: Club: Talk on Egypt; "Murder at Quay Cottage".

May: Club: Play reading; Bexhill 100 participation; Visit to the Palace of Westminster & "HMS Pinafore"; Visit to "Taking Sides" at Lewes.

June: Club: Workshop; "Daisy Pulls It Off"; Visit to "The Devil In Drag" at Eastbourne; Visit to "Heartbreak House" at Chichester.

July: Club: Discussion on 2001 choices; Visit to London Eye and "The Tempest" at the Globe; Visit to "Noises Off" at Lewes; Open evening; "Twelfth Night".

August: Barn clean; Garden Party BTSC Fayre.

September: Club: Literary Ladies; Visit to "Arcadia" at Chichester; "The Heiress" .

October: Club: Harvest Supper; Death of Gordon Green.

November: Club: Play reading "Journey's End".

December: Club: Poetry & mince pies.

The year 2000 was supposed to be the BIG one with non-stop rejoicing and celebration. It didn't turn out quite like that, possibly due to arguments over whether the new millennium started on January 1st 2000 or a year later. The New Year festivities to end all New Year festivities failed to materialise in most cases as people were put off by the prospect of high prices. The Greenwich Dome was doomed from the start as the attendance was widely overestimated. The Bridge of Wobbles over the Thames to the Tate Modern was closed as soon as it opened. Then in the Autumn came the rains and floods to exacerbate the crisis on the railways following an accident at Hatfield. In fact, the only bright spots were the London Eye revolving every 30 minutes outside former County Hall, the Olympic Games and the English cricket team which defied convention and actually won some matches. We like to think that we in the BATS did better, and, on the whole, had another successful year at the end of which we were still solvent.

One shadow fell across our path. In October our Workshop Director and the inspiration behind our sets, Gordon Green, suddenly died of a couple of heart attacks, and we were devastated by the unexpected loss. Gordon had been a member for as long as most people could remember - actually he joined in 1972 for our first outdoor Shakespeare - and there seemed to be few occasions when his presence was not felt. His height and his beard made him instantly recognisable, especially the latter, referred to in his Bexhill Observer obituary as a "Haystack". It was grown on a Victorian scale and one could imagine Edward Lear's description of one such growth,

• Two owls and a hen,
• Four larks and a wren,
• Have all built their nests in my beard

His size and appearance made it difficult sometimes when it came to casting him in plays, but when he had a part to suit him he was thoroughly at home, although, curiously enough, he could not do accents, apart from broadening his native Sussex. Mostly he was given supporting roles, but there was one occasion when he took the lead, and that was in the 1986 "The Tempest" when he played Prospero (see p24) "An imposing figure from the start" and "a wonderful Prospero" said the reviewers. As a director he was very laid back, so far so for his last production, "Murder At Quay Cottage" that he was almost horizontal, much to the concern of the cast who would have appreciated an occasional word of advice or encouragement.

But the workshop was his spiritual home, though how it was organised few fathomed. It was known that each flat was numbered, but only Gordon could go into his store and pull the right one out of the stacks. He alone could construct a set knowing which numbers to use, and the only record he kept was a plan of each set with the flats numbered on it for reference during the set-up on the De La Warr stage. All other details of the scenery - colour, decoration, design - existed in his head; models and sketches, he thought, were unnecessary. This was not of much help when it came to finishing off his final set for "Journey's End". As a light-hearted touch, each set had a rabbit painted somewhere out of sight of the audience .

By his own admission Gordon was no carpenter, but he had great faith in the humble hammer and nail which meant that his sets were very easy to strike. The screw was scorned, except for such important attachments as cleats and hinges. Maybe this was because he was left-handed and so found using a screw driver difficult. (If you are right-handed, try using a corkscrew with your left hand and you will appreciate the point.) Instructions to others in the form of notes detailing what they should work on next, were invariably written in block capitals, another of his trademarks. He was able to produce them as rapidly as others do longhand, and at least they were more legible than some people's handwriting.

Music was another of Gordon's interests, and he showed a wide knowledge in this field. His two loves were jazz, of which he possessed a vast collection of recordings, and medieval and renaissance music, particularly where it contained a 'folk' element. His productions of "She Stoops To Conquer" (1986) and "The Winter's Tale" (1996) featured local folk dancers in sword and garland dances. He often reviewed local jazz concerts for the Bexhill Observer, and was a performer himself on the drums, in which capacity he was heard latterly as one of our Rock Island Skiffle group.

Gordon also enjoyed walking and came out on many of our rambles with his pipe and camera. No matter the size of the party, he would always be at the back, either to appreciate the countryside in quiet or to enjoy puffing away on his pipe without annoying the other participants. His idea of a good holiday was to follow a particular route across country, alone or with Denis Brooke. Together they walked parts of the South Downs Way and the Wey South Path, among others, Denis in front and Gordon a few paces behind.

The Chairman, Peter Bradbury, admirably summed up his worth in the Bexhill Observer obituary:

• "He was a committed member, an integral part of BATS organisation and a social stalwart, always welcoming and friendly to new members, and supportive and accepting with the young, as well as being a close personal friend to many of us".

So, another yawning chasm had to bridged. Unfortunately we did not have anyone willing to come forward to take over Gordon's responsibilities, and therefore an ad-hoc arrangement had to be adopted. Ian Fishwick undertook to complete the "Journey's End" set with a number of volunteers, and Eric Stevens said he would take on the April production in 2001 as full sets were not being asked for by the director. The crunch would come in June, and the general Committee placed great faith in the saying 'cometh the hour, cometh the man' (or 'cometh the woman' in the case of directing the Shakespeare.) Sophie Bradbury offered her services which, in the absence of any other offers, were gratefully accepted, much to the relief of Eric Stevens to whom the job looked like falling. These arrangements gave us all a four month breathing space.

The first production of the millennium was, of course, the mini-pantomime. Eric Stevens had penned his fifteenth. "Crumplestiltskin", and this was performed by a cast drawn mainly from the JAMBATS - our adults are getting very backward at coming forward. Verena Jacob directed, and the skiffle group provided live music, again from the melodic mind of Peter Bradbury. The enterprise was very successful and much appreciated, not least by the youthful participants.

Our In the Round presentation was another all-female play (yes, we know that "Talking Heads" was one-sixth male, the reference is to "Agnes Of God", 1996). "Bold Girls" by Rona Munro shows what happens when a disturbing young girl enters the lives of three Belfast women trying to cope with the death or imprisonment of the men in their lives. The cast of four directed by Dorothy Webb achieved the very high standard of performance which we have come to expect from this spot. The players, Janet Ticehurst, Susie Crouch, Rachel Earnshaw, and Jennifer Poll deserved the Bexhill Observer's accolade: "Four intense and entirely involving performances by four actresses with widely differing experience (Jennifer is a member of JAMBATS, the BATS youth group) plunged audiences deeply into Northern Ireland's perplexing problems. Accents were so well sustained that the strangled vowels were as difficult to interpret at times as the real thing. Not a night of superficial theatrical escapism, but a production to savour for the sheer ability of four people." There were objections that the presentation was only three-quarters In the Round, but at least this arrangement prevented the audience from being dazzled by the spot lights. The play attracted only 136 patrons, and absentee Members were castigated for not supporting the show, a trend which was spreading to several of our activities, the Club panto evening, Club Nights, etc. People who join a Society, any Society, do so with the obligation of supporting it; unfortunately, some of our members seemed to be interested only in getting good parts (have I mentioned this below?).

In March, a Lent play went on a tour of the local churches. The director was a new one, John Simmonds, and he chose to revive Meryl Beamont's "News from Jerusalem" (1995) , but putting it in modern dress this time. The idea worked well, and a taut production allowed for convincing performances.

First in the Pavilion theatre was our thriller, "Murder at Quay Cottage" by Simon Amberley, about whom nothing else is known. The play's main claim to fame is that one of the parts was originally taken at the Frinton Summer Theatre in 1960 by 14 year old Jane Asher. Just the thing for August by the sea forty years go maybe, but rather dated with "tired and lame material" according to the Bexhill Observer critic, who agreed that "despite it all, there are some impressive pieces of acting from everyone involved". The more serious attitude to drugs since the play's debut also contributed to its lack of impact. Nevertheless, with Murder in the title, it drew large audiences with over 800 people attending and nearly £2000 put into our coffers. Our new system of offering members £1 off their ticket came into full force with this production, and worked well, apart from some Associate Members not realising that their reduced subscription did not entitle them to this benefit. The production, Gordon Green's last, was not without its troubles, casting the male roles being one of them, when one actor withdrew shortly after rehearsals began, Eric Stevens nobly gave up a cherished small part and took on a much longer one playing a character half his age, thus enabling Len George to come in and be the one who was stabbed to death with a toasting fork at the end of the first scene. It was good to have Len back on stage as his impaired hearing makes his appearances rare.

Our June presentation was sheer joy. "Daisy Pulls It Off" by Denise Deegan is a delightful spoof of schoolgirl adventure stories c.1930 which sends the audience home feeling warm and satisfied after watching this piece of pure entertainment. Remembering Julia Dance's performance in a Stables Theatre production some years, we were delighted when she agreed to direct it for us and repeat the role of Daisy Meredith. She assembled a large and talented cast who revelled in their chance to play schoolgirls. An unfortunate accident early in the week of the production meant that Josephine Turnbull as Monica had to perform on crutches with a foot in plaster. She managed to integrate her handicap so well into her characterisation, that the audience, and the Bexhill Observer, thought it was part of the play. The paper's critic was "dazzled by the wealth of talent" and "was sorry when the curtain fell." 562 people saw the show.

In August we returned to Shakespeare for our open-air production. Our third first-time director of the year was Nick Cearns ( the others had been Verena Jacob and Dorothy Webb). Nick was no stranger to the Manor Gardens having appeared there in many leading roles, and he set about a thoroughly prepared production. He assembled an enthusiastic cast of old hands, newcomers and two ancient veterans, Gordon Green and Eric Stevens, who have appeared in most of these presentations since their inception. All the efforts were rewarded with a rave review in the local paper. "This is the Bexhill Amateur Theatrical Society's 29th annual open-air production and arguably it is one of their best, vying in popular appeal with last year's Canterbury Tales ... One heard members of Monday's first night audience saying: "I really understood and ENJOYED that … There is so much to commend in this production from the pace to the costumes, the lighting to the sound effects and little if anything that sounds a sour note." Sour notes were certainly not heard in the songs composed and sung by Peter Bradbury as Feste. We were rather apprehensive before the get-in as an arsonist had been at work on part of the Manor Barn, but in the event all was well. As an experiment the audience were invited to bring their own seats if they found the Council's deck chairs too uncomfortable. Not many people took up the option which was intended to save us money and time. The money aspect was illusory as we are charged an overall sum for our licence to use the gardens, and, anyway, it takes almost as much time and effort to collect and return 100 deck chairs as it does twice that number. Len George undertook his usual role of Producer, adding to his responsibilities this year the preparation and selling of coffee in the Manor House ruins, our previous source of refreshments having proved unsatisfactory. Fortunately the weather throughout the week was on our side. Behemoth continued to show, his versatility by printing our posters for us, albeit in 8 parts which had to be glued together by willing helpers, but it saved us more money. We decided also not to have our posters put up round the town professionally, as we were not satisfied with the service. The idea has worked and we have not lost patrons through this lack of advertising. Members have been encouraged to display boards in their front gardens instead.

"The Heiress", adapted by Ruth and Augustus Goetz from Henry James' novel 'Washington Square', was our September offering, directed by Joan Jeffreys. Dr Sloper and his daughter Catherine were played by a real-life father and daughter, Peter and Sophie Bradbury. The Bexhill Observer commended the convincing performances of the players, and summed up "Joan Jeffreys' tight direction ensured a fast-moving, unflagging production with a well-matched cast." but put a sting in the tail: "However, by Saturday's matinee there were still too many prompts." At least everybody, including the prompter, could be heard. We were using our own omni-directional microphones and they proved more satisfactory than the De La Warr Pavilion's equipment with its more limited range. Nevertheless, there was concern that our standard of speaking, articulation and projection still left a lot to be desired, and a day course on these techniques was planned for early 2001. Gordon Green's last completed set was generally considered to be his best, and certainly it was impressively excellent - qua set. Yet it could be argued that it did not really give the impression of a wealthy doctor's house in mid 19th century New York.

Our aim was to end our millennium season with something really memorable, and arrangements were begun early in the year for RC Sherriff's first world war play, "Journey's End". Like the planners of the Greenwich Dome, we were over optimistic in our forecasts, but we were far less financially embarrassed. The Bexhill branch of the Royal British Legion was to be our charity of the year, and they were as enthusiastic as we were. Michael Turnbull was our Producer, and he wrote letters of invitation to a wide range of people, including the Prince of Wales, liaised with the Legion, organised, with Philipa Coughlan, an exhibition at the Pavilion to accompany the show, and obtained sponsorship from the Old Town Preservation Society to cover the cost of hiring the uniforms from Harveys of Hove, and from the local brewers, Harveys of Lewes. A special programme, costing £1, was compiled by Dorothy Webb and produced by Behemoth, aka Peter Bradbury. The local British Legion arranged a reception before the Friday performance to which about 50 guests were invited by the them and us, so it was a very useful public relations exercise. Meanwhile, Kate Walsgrove and her all-male cast, and Josephine Turnbull and her (practically) all-female crew, were hard at work in rehearsal and on stage. Kate favoured a long rehearsal period of nearly three months, although there were some doubts as to the wisdom of this. However, she had a number of young and relatively inexperienced players which meant a lot of extra attention. The Bexhill Observer thought that "In the best British tradition ...the BATS took a mauling at the start but emerged splendidly victorious." The mauling was because the reviewer thought that the audiences were too physically removed from the action, and that "real dugout occupants must have had to raise their voices to converse above the din"; our audiences "had to strain to follow what is still a masterpiece of economic writing." The Legion band played before the performances and a lone bugler sounded the last post at the end after the dugout had been struck by enemy fire. This "made the hair at the base of the neck tingle. Now that's REAL theatre..." Concluded the critic. An unintentional touch of humour was discovered by an Observer photographer in Devonshire Road. One of our posters was juxtaposed by the name of the firm so that they read 'Mummery Funeral Directors. Journey's End'!

The De La Warr Pavilion survived another lurch in its life. Early in the year it was announced that the brewery chain Wetherspoons was interested in taking over the building on an extremely long lease. Stickers appeared in the rear window of Bexhill cars saying 'De La War Pavilion: Public Amenity not Public House', and a great campaign of opposition was organised. However, in the end, Wetherspoons withdrew as they were interested only in the bars and restaurants, and did not want to take on the theatre as well. There were sighs of relief throughout the town, and, after a little more 'persuading' , the Council decided to abandon all thoughts of a commercial take-over and to put its faith in a revised lottery bid for 2001.

The 1999 fire precautions were finally fully implemented, and the Barn was improved with a new vinyl floor in the kitchen and new curtains and fittings in the Club Room and over the front door. As a Christmas present, the Council laid down a concrete 'patio' outside our entrance following our complaints about flooding when water poured down from beyond the car park. Repairs to the Barn roof were also carried out. To keep our technical department happy, £900 worth of equipment was purchased during the year -a CD/Cassette player in time for "Bold Girls" and a new shed and replacement lighting for "Twelfth Night".

The traditional social activities were held. There was a good attendance at the Twelfth Night Party and 36 members were present at the AGM. Michael Turnbull stood down after three years as Chairman during which he had tried to focus our attention on the future development of the Society. His place was taken by Peter Bradbury who also continued as Publicity Officer. The Society elected a very hard working General Committee, one of the strongest in recent years. The idea of a patron was put to the membership who were in favour, and eventually three people were approached: Penelope Keith, who declined, David Hare, who didn't respond, and Earl De La Warr who, at our second attempt, was pleased to accept. It is interesting to recall that in our early days we had as president the Countess De La Warr, so the link has been re-established.

In order to give members a chance to have their say on the choice of plays to be presented in 2001, the July Club Night was devoted to a discussion of the recommendations put forward by the Play Selection Sub-committee. This was something we used to do, but the practice had lapsed owing to lack of interest. It could not be said that the meeting was very fruitful, as members felt that it was just to rubber stamp the Sub-committee's decisions, and whether the attempt will be repeated in 2001 will be left to the members to decide at the AGM. One outcome of the meeting was a feeling of unease among the ladies of the Society, who could not see many opportunities for them to appear on stage in the coming year. Challenged by Chauve Souris to do something about the situation themselves, it fell to Sheila Harper to organise some 'ladies only' play readings at her house. A more helpful evening took place in June when Sheila Harper and Daphne Ekins conducted a workshop of improvisation, voice production, articulation and mime. Other Club Nights consisted of play, poetry and prose readings and a talk on his recent visit to Egypt by Eric Stevens. All these happenings were supplemented by appropriate delicious refreshments - remember the camel dung? - dreamed up by Dorothy Webb.

Betty Jupp organised visits for us to Lewes Little Theatre for "Taking Sides" and "Noises Off"; to Chichester Festival Theatre for "Heartbreak House" and "Arcadia"; and to London twice, once for a select few to be shown round the Palace of Westminster by our own Philipa Coughlan, followed by a matinee of "HMS Pinafore" at the Savoy, and once to go round on the London Eye - Sheila Harper negotiated this for us - followed by "The Tempest" at Shakespeare' s Globe. Unfortunately for this we had been slow off the mark booking seats and ended up right at the side where much of the action was obscured by the stage pillars and Vanessa Redgrave's Prospero mostly inaudible. However, there was a bonus, Vanessa led an after-show discussion on the production. She seemed more interested in what we, the spectators, had thought of the play than in giving insights into her interpretation. At Christmas, the Pavilion gave us a dozen complimentary tickets for its pantomime, which was very enjoyable, and for which our young sound engineer, Jeremy Turnbull, was at the volume controls.

Other younger members were in the news in 2000. Isaac Thornton and Matt Clayton, as part of their further studies, appeared in a production of Dario Fo's "The Devil In Drag" at Eastbourne' s Congress Theatre, watched by a party of BATS. Sean Hodges (Gigi, 1994) and Jo Taylor (Eliza Doolittle, 1996) both graduated from a three year course at Mountview Theatre School, North London, with BAs in acting with first class honours. Two previous alumni of this establishment kept in touch: Mark Feakins, our talented juvenile of the late 80s was appointed Deputy General Manager of the Bloomsbury Theatre, and Jonathan Clarkson (Romeo, 1992) had a number of engagements, but found time to visit us for the final performance of "The Heiress". At the other end of the age spectrum, we were sorry to learn that Norman Baxter had died in his nineties. He joined us in 1970 for "Trap For A Lonely Man" at St Peter's Community Centre, and took many roles and directed a number of plays including "Ring Round The Moon" in 1980. He last appeared for us as the judge in "Beyond Reasonable Doubt" in 1991 (see p40).

So, now on with the twenty-first century. The future looks promising, we have over 200 members, and there seems to be no reason why the Society should not be looking forward to its centenary in thirty-five years time . It will be here all too soon, although some of us won't. Your present scribe signs off with the title of Noel Coward's first play, saying "I'll Leave It To You."

1 The actual sum proved to be £1,800

Twelfth Night, 2000