Keele drama: the annual Shakespeare

"The first Shakespeare play was Twelfth Night. I have the Elizabethan playbill before me and it was on July 4th - 7th 1951 in Churches’ Mansion, Nantwich. This was a beautiful Elizabethan house which only just escaped the Great Fire of Nantwich. We were invited by the owners, Dr and Mrs Myott, the initial Pioneer dramatists performed in the open air using the garden with house as backdrop. They generously took on a motley crowd of undergraduates and a fine production ensued. Proceeds went to the parish church, still regarded as the cathedral of South Cheshire. "

"The first production was Twelfth Night in the summer of 1951. I watched some of the rehearsals, but the performances were later at Churches Mansion in Nantwich. The thespians included Pat Fable, John "Sweeney" Todd, Thelma Guillyn and Eric Humphreys."

"I am certain that there was also a production of Twelfth Night performed at the Top Lake of Keele Hall, using the island as a "green room", with a boat coming across the Lake and with Ariel. The Tempest was certainly performed no later than 1953 because Graham Lloyd-Owen (1954) was involved backstage (or rather, at the back of the island) and he left Keele in the summer of 1953. Peter Upton (1955) was Ariel was covered in greenish luminous paint - very effective in the gloaming - and there was a boat on the lake as well. King Henry IV Part 1 took place in the Courtyard of Keele Hall in 1952. Peter Whelan (1955) played Hal; Tom Parry (1954) was Falstaff, whilst Hedley Martin (1954) and Ray Garner (1955) were also involved. "

"The first lakeside play was surely The Tempest? Peter Upton as Ariel and John Gregson as Caliban…? John Barker as Prospero…? I remember selling anti-midge cream to the audience at 3d per small box. I think the very first Shakespeare was Twelfth Night - but for some reason not on campus."

"To those of us fortunate enough to be classed as Keele pioneers – the mid-fifties graduates – the news of the death of Peter Whelan has seemed like the closing of a door on a golden time. Peter was of average height but he stood head and shoulders above the rest of us, certainly as far as thespian events were concerned. "

Read more about Keith Clement (1956)

"In my first year 1955 I was in a hut with (amongst others) Liz Pearson who was in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with James (?) during that summer The lake was used as part of the scenery and apparently actors were rowed across it. This was before my year's arrival and as in 1955/56 was Liz's was doing finals I don't think she took part in further productions, but Liz's name and James too were greatly revered by the drama group! "

Read more about Dot Bell (Pitman)

"There was an open-air performance of Henry IV part 1 in the courtyard of Keele Hall. Tom Parry (1954) was an excellent Falstaff. Romeo and Juliet was performed in the same location, for which I arranged the sword fights. Jim Egan made a handsome red-haired Romeo."

"There was a Shakespeare production, The Tempest I think, on the natural apron at the edge of the lake. After many rehearsals, two Keele swans were trained to swim across the lake behind Ceres' barge. They followed her ashore and (not intended in the production) proceeded to copulate. Performance stopped until they stopped. Many of the invited Potteries dignitaries assumed it was a tasteless undergraduate joke about the bounty of Ceres."

"Liz Pearson, as Titania, did indeed make her entrance in a boat across the top lake, but she wasn't rowed, she was pulled on a rope by a couple of stage hands, one of whom was me, being bitten to death by the midges. The Clockhouse performance of Romeo & Juliet was memorable for the swordfight between Bernard Gibbons as Mercutio and Roger Hands as Tybalt - very realistic!"

"The first play to be put on at Keele Hall by students was Shakespeare's Henry IV Part I. In the absence of an assembly hall it was played in the courtyard of the main Keele Hall building, presumably in 1951-1952. The following three Shakespeare productions were all performed in the open-air, enacted beside the top lake ‘in a natural amphitheatre’ (Sentinel) with tiers of wooden seating for the audience. In 1953 came The Tempest: it was an almost ideal setting for the play, with the background of trees, rhododendron bushes and the waters of the lake."

"Peter Shenton (1957) was active in promoting drama in the early days at the University, producing and acting in operettas and plays, the latter making full use of Keele’s sylvan settings. In later life, whilst teaching in the local high school in Zurich he was also a prominent member of the theatrical society of Zurich. He took part, both as producer and as actor - from Gilbert and Sullivan to "A Midsummer Night's Dream," memorably by the upper lake amongst other plays. "

"Peter Shenton was such an active participant in Keele dramatic productions of the 1950s (I particularly remember his performance as Créon in Anouilh's Antigone in 1956-57) and such a witty and engaging personality."

"James Egan I recall. I had the pleasure of being Bernie Gibbons' lieutenant to his Pirate King, and to be his "stooge" on the impromptu summer review following. Tony Field was the musical director who died shortly after graduating and Gwillym Thomas the pirate 'prentice' tenor (lovely Welsh voice) lead."

"I have no recollection of Midsummer Night's Dream by the lakeside, but I took part in The Tempest in that location, as one of a number of "spirits". The stripped-to-the-waist costume was a bit chilly, but I don't suppose the audience would have seen the goose-pimples on the "spirits". It might have been summer 1954. Prospero was played by John (?) who, like me, was eventually ordained into the Anglican ministry. The swans made their fortuitous entrance, but decorously, and I forget during which act. They disgraced or delighted themselves and the audience in their impromptu love scene the following year."

"As a resident fencing instructor, I arranged the fights for Romeo and Juliet. My other dramatic episode was freezing to death as a semi-naked “spirit” in The Tempest by the lake. It doesn’t seem to have done me much harm because I am still here. John Barker was Prospero and Peter Upton (1955) was Ariel. And Tom Parry (1954) was superb as Falstaff."

"In The Tempest, Liz Pearson was pushed across the lake standing in a punt, from the far shore to the large acting area, a feat she repeated at least once in a later production. Ffrangcon Price (1955) was Miranda, John Barker (1955) was Prospero and I was Ferdinand. But who played Ariel - and Caliban?"

"Liz Pearson was in the 'Dream' with her boyfriend James. As she was graduating in 1955 I don't think she was in Romeo and Juliet but seem to remember that she told us she'd been in "Dream". Liz was the 4th year in my hut in 1955... We usually had a senior student in each Hut."

"It was in the Dream when Titania was pulled across the lake on a boat attached to a rope. I know, because I was a stage-hand on the other end of the rope - and I got bitten to death by midges."

"I remember being involved in 1955 Midsummer Night's Dream by the Lake, the dark highlight of which was the abrupt end of the Saturday matinee when Puck - Peter Shenton - made his entry in heavy rain by leaping from a tree, slipped on the wet grass and dislocated his shoulder. Bit players like me were relieved to get in out of the rain. Peter came on that evening in running spikes, with his dislocated arm strapped to his body. What a trouper! The 1956 Romeo & Juliet was held in the Clockhouse Courtyard; in 1957 we moved indoors for Electra by Giraudoux. In 1958 Macbeth was performed indoors. They were all fine productions because we were blessed with some very good actors, and also some fine singers and musicians, marshalled by John Groom, who also staged some very good Gilbert & Sullivan."

"Bernie Gibbons (or Bernard Lloyd - stage name) (1958) went on to be a professional actor following his exploits at Keele; he was Captain in the production of HMS Pinafore (1956/57) and in Romeo and Juliet playing Mercutio. Professionally he played in the open-air Regents Park Shakespearian dramas as well as many other things (maybe at the Globe too). On TV he was in an early courtroom drama and subsequently as a newsroom journalist as a "baddie" against the popular journalist! Another actor who was in Keele productions was a guy from our year - Peter Brookes who played the postman for many years in the Midlands soap "Crossroads" and I think he was Bottom in the Midsummer Night's Dream. Judy Watson 1959 was involved with costumes."

"Also in the same year as As You Like It (1954) there was a production of A Phoenix too Frequent (directed by Peter Whelan) which was performed at the NUS drama festival. I have old cast lists. "

"With reference to the production of As You Like It in 1954 – I can remember the apprehension as the audience staging went up lakeside. Would anyone come to fill the seats? Would Peter Whelan’s confidence be justified? I was in charge of publicity and had a huge banner put up across the lodge gates on the main road. It read – ‘AS YOU LIKE IT ON THE LAWNS OF KEELE HALL’. Bus passengers got over-excited and curious. It must have worked because we had very good attendance."