Knutsford Little Theatre

Knutsford Little Theatre
Full name Knutsford Little Theatre
Founded 1925
Affiliation National Operatic and Dramatic Association, Cheshire Theatre Guild
Country United Kingdom
Website www.knutsfordlittletheatre.com/

Knutsford Little Theatre is an amateur theatre group based in Knutsford, United Kingdom. They were formed in 1925, as Knutsford Amateur Drama Society and changed their name, after acquiring their own premises on Queen Street. They perform up to seven productions a year including a very popular family pantomime and a youth production.

The society is run by its members who are entitled to vote at the annual award ceremony held as part of the AGM.[1] The Society is part of the Cheshire Theatre Guild.[2] and the National Operatic and Dramatic Association.[3]

History

The society was formed after a meeting in the Cranford Cafe on a date in March 1925 when a group of local residents met to discuss the formation of Knutsford Amateur Dramatic Society. There had been theatrical productions in Knutsford for a number of years prior to the meeting: the Y.M.C.A. had performed Thread of Scarlett, a play about a murder in Ashley that resulted in execution at Knutsford Prison, and the Young Liberals had also got in on the act with a performance of Between the Soup and the Savoury by Gertrude Jennings. There was clearly an appetite for theatre in the town and it seems that Mr H. T. Whitney, who was a dentist on Tatton Street and a member of Wilmslow Green Room Society, was a prime mover in getting KADS off the ground.

One of the first tasks of the newly formed committee seems to have been the creation of a concert party. One member, Miss Grice, was a pianist and her father Joseph first violin. A small orchestra was formed and music rehearsals took place in Mr Grice's garage and cycle shop on Princess Street. Rehearsals for the plays, however, were held in Kings Coffee House and performances were first at the Y.M.C.A., then at the Town Hall before moving to the Marcliff Cinema, on the site where the civic hall now stands. It was here that the society held some of its most spectacular early productions. The Knutsford Guardian reports fine performances in When We Are Married and The Shop at Sly Corner, whilst special praise is given to the scenery for The Importance of Being Ernest and We Must Kill Toni had genuine stained glass windows.

The Queen Street building now known to all as the Little Theatre was originally St Vincent's Roman Catholic School. The school, which opened in August 1888, was built under the supervision of Father Robert Maurice and had accommodated eighty children between the ages of three and fifteen years. When KADS mounted their first production there the stage was thirteen feet square with a narrow extension at the front that had been built by United States forces out of ammunition boxes. It was lit by a single bulb in each front corner. The stage crew rebuilt the stage to the full width of the auditorium but were still limited to twelve feet due to a Chancel Arch bang in the middle. The audience sat on school benches that they shuffled along until the person at the far end fell off!

Over the next few years KADS set about transforming their new theatre. A trap door was built to take advantage of the first floor and in 1950 a surplus pavilion from Mobberly Cricket Club was transported to Queen Street to form dressing rooms and a workshop. During the 1960s indoor toilets, proper seating and central heating was installed. The society continue to invest in the property and the auditorium and bar are now fitted to a very high standard. Photographs of productions and poster designs can be viewed on the theatre website and The National Archives hold a programme from the 1971 - 72 season.[4]

Recent Productions

Productions since January 2000 in reverse chronological order.

References

  1. ↑ Knutsford Guardian
  2. ↑ Cheshire Theatre Guild
  3. ↑ NODA
  4. ↑ National Archives
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