Results tagged “Chester” from Chester Chronicle - Chester Memories

PEGGY WOODCOCK looks back on 40 years of Chester's inimitable Gateway Theatre.

I remember the Gateway stage rippling with water for a stunning production of Pinter's emotive play Betrayal.

On the same stage I once talked to acting legends Pauline Collins, of Shirley Valentine fame, and John Alderton, currently in BBC's Little Dorrit.

These hugely successful actors memorably made clear the value they placed on small venues like the Gateway, and their determination to give support.

I remember children squealing and laughing through Charlotte's Web, Jungle Book and other Christmas productions, some of which went on to other theatres.

There was the youthful Hamlet writing red graffiti on dazzling white walls. Not for me, but, away from the classroom, a teenage audience was actually enjoying Shakespeare!

The Chronicle campaign is rightly focusing on the present, pressing for a re-opened Gateway as a way of redressing the dire situation existing for the arts in the city centre.

The strong case is being argued on these pages. Maybe some snapshots from the past will help to bolster it, to remind everyone what an asset the Gateway was to the city.

I helped report the Gateway from the early nineties, when the theatre created its own productions of wide-ranging plays like the shocking, brave, gay Torch Song Trilogy, the happy Yorkshire-set Second from Last in the Sack Race, the passionate Wuthering Heights, the thriller Night Must Fall.

Artistic director Jeremy Raison, now at Glasgow Citizens Theatre, attracted talent like actor Patrick Robinson, Ash in Casualty and then the first black Heathcliff in Chester. He went on to Stratford, is now in the TV drama Survivors.

Raison brought in household names, like Michael le Vell, Coronation Street's Kevin Webster, making his first foray into theatre as the sinister Dan in Night Must Fall.
It brought the national press to the Gateway as, later, did heavyweights Dennis Waterman, Patrick Mower and the late Ned Sherrin, when they made our theatre the first stop for their scriptwriter comedy Bing Bong.

The theatre commanded respect within the industry and helped talent grow.

And it entertained as Raison upped audience figures to more than 84% and brought a prestigious regional theatre award to the Gateway. He gave us rock and roll summers with great shows like Three Steps to Heaven, which twice went on to national tours.
I remember the relief of crucial Arts Council funding and the welcome arrival of pink seats from the Mayflower, Southampton - second-hand but such comfort! - and of Deborah Shaw, a talented director who made a success of the recent mammoth Complete Works of Shakespeare Festival in Stratford.

Passionate about the Gateway, she promised "the best of theatre, what Chester deserves and should have" and delivered with treats like a delightful Alice in Wonderland, a clever Vanity Fair and a lively version of the Hitchcock thriller Marnie.
Sadly the Gateway ceased as a producing theatre but went on delivering entertainment as a venue for visiting companies, stand-ups and other performers.

I remember laughter with Maria Gibb as a comic Joyce Grenfell, Aussie Caroline Reid, naughty as trolly dolly PamAnn, and Rodney Bewes, a delight in Three Men and a Boat.

And the fun of Hull Truck's nightclub Bouncers and football Perfect Pitch.
Colin Baker boomed through The Haunted Hotel and Rula Lenska shocked, well, some of the audience, in The Vagina Monologues.

I remember the pathos of Trestle's masked Stoneheads and the drama of death, bagpipes and Edinburgh Castle on stage for Tunes of Glory.

Soap stars came: Steven Pinder (Brookside) in Dial M for Murder, Chloe Newsome (Corrie) in Pride and Prejudice, and Scarlet Johnson (Eastenders) as Daisy Miller.
Rani Moorthy cooked curry on the same stage where, years earlier, Sunny Ormonde, as Shirley Valentine, had memorably fried chips and egg.

So many local societies entertained with opera and musical theatre, like Tip Top Productions, now keeping the Forum Studio alive.

It was here I watched school kids engrossed in a dark, mini Macbeth, and the marvellous Iestyn Edwards reduce his mini audience to tears of laughter as ballerina Madame Galactica.

You will all have your own memories of the Gateway, of productions that have made you sad, made you laugh, made you think, enriched your life.

But like me you will remember arriving to a crowded foyer buzzing with anticipation for the entertainment ahead, whatever it may be - this same foyer where once, earlier in the day, you may well have had a coffee or a sandwich lunch.

Great days. Let's get them back!

OLD girls have caught up with former schoolfriends at Chester's Queen's School.

Two groups of former pupils arranged reunion lunches at school to celebrate the anniversary of the day they left school.

One group was the Class of 88 returning after 20 years, the other was the Class of 48, who left the school 60 years ago.

Organiser of the event Margot Lumb, of Chester, said: "Some of us return to school regularly for meetings of the Old Girls' Association, but some of my contemporaries have not been back to school for many years.
"Inevitably there have been a lot of changes and they were fascinated to see all the new developments. We had a lovely lunch and exchanged news."

The Class of 88 greeted the arrival of their former headmistress, Margaret Farra and deputy head Elinor Edwards, with cheers and applause.

Headmistress Catherine Buckley, who welcomed all the former pupils said: " We were delighted to see so many old girls of the school.

"We are always keen to host reunions for former pupils, but this is the first time I have welcomed ladies who left us so long ago. I am pleased that they still want to return to their old haunts and remember their days at Queen's."