Schoolhouse players final curtain
Chairman Christine Hughes looks at recent Schoolhouse Players award winners |
Lack of interest and commitment the main causes
The drama group Schoolhouse players, who have performed at the Playhouse for 25 years, have closed. The decision was made at this year’s AGM following a letter from one member calling on the group to close “due to lack of interest”.
Jean Karen, who acted in group’s the first production at the Playhouse said the membership had “never been more than 25”, and “the group had always struggled to keep going.”
Schoolhouse Chairman Christine Hughes agreed, saying that one of the problems is that most people only want to act. But what they don’t realise, said Christine’s husband John, also a member, is that for everybody on the stage you need two people backstage.
Although everyone was saddened by the news, most members agreed that the writing was on the wall, said Christine. Without new members who would be willing to commit fully to two productions a year, remain interested for the rest of the year when there were no productions, and be willing to work in non-acting roles, closure was the only option.
But Jean said although sad, it was better to finish on a good note. “We’ve had a great season. But if we carried on we wouldn’t be able to maintain the high standards that Schoolhouse stands for.”
The group were formed in 1977 and took their name from the Old School Hall in Brindle, where they performed their first play A man most likely to.. by Joyce Rayburn. They came to the Playhouse five years later with a production of Alan Ayckbourn's Confusions. Their first ever Playhouse audience barely filled the front two rows, but they soon got a reputation for putting on great drama and have played to packed houses in many occasions since.
Preston Drama Club president Don Stephenson expressed his sympathy with Schoolhouse, and said he was sure that everybody at PDC would extend a warm welcome to any former Schoolhouse members that wish to carry on in amateur theatre.
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