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MEMOIRS from Yvonne Brown
From the early 1900’s, when a courageous traveling company gave a performance of Shakespeare in an old barn on the corner of what later became Rata and Cutfield Streets, live entertainment was a popular feature of early Inglewood. Original groups such as “The Lilliputs” and “The Inglewood Players” developed into “The Inglewood Operatic and Dramatic Society”. They used the Parish Hall until 1913 when the well equipped Town Hall was opened. Talent was mostly homegrown. Children grew up expecting to perform, not only for guests and relatives, but also at church, in choirs and regular concerts. Traveling artists were popular and set high standards for the fledgling “Inglewood Operatic Society”. They performed musical comedies and the ever popular Gilbert and Sullivan operas. They flourished in the 1920’s with gems such as “No, No Nanette” and “Our Miss Gibbs”. The Inglewood Town Hall was a popular venue with good acoustics, wide stage and a tower which flew the tall 16ft. flats. Under the direction of enthusiasts like the Sutherlands the 1930’s saw regular live entertainment, but with the Second World War gradually male performers vanished into the Forces. The Society went into recess.
In 1944 the Women’s Institutes entered the drama field with Festivals of One Act Plays which fostered writers as well as actors and directors (in spite of rules that barred all male performers!) and gradually these talented women looked for wider opportunities. In Inglewood in the early fifties they supported the newly hatched Play Reading Group who met in each others’ homes and made full use of the W.E.A. sets of plays. The British Drama League provided tuition, skills and audiences and in the late fifties three major events took place:
1 Ava Somerfield arrived in Inglewood
2 Inglewood High School opened
3 Alan Stevenson married MargaretAva decided we needed a working theatre group to inspire our young people. Staff at the School gave a huge injection of expertise and working facilities.
Then Alan had a vision! He saw a theatre rising out of the ancient billiard saloon! It is a very real tribute to Alan that the stubborn hard core stayed with him – and their husbands, children, cousins, uncles and aunts!
It took us over ten years of total dedication and hard physical labour. From 1961 to 1974 we struggled. Fundraising consumed our lives and here is an opportunity to thank all those wonderful local organizations who gave us advice, materials, hours of labour, led by Taranaki Savings Bank whose interest repayments strangely equaled their annual donation. We invented the Miss Inglewood Contest (suggested by Ray Biesiek, God bless him!). It supported us financially for eight years from 1966 to 1974 and gave many young people a great deal of pleasure.
Our new name was Colin Eade’s inspiration. The connections with the historic Billiard Saloon and the dramatic achievements of our loyal members were obvious.
“The Cue” was born.
Yvonne Brown - 2006