From the Archives - Winter Journey

It was fifty years ago in March 1971 that a young actress called Denise Beetlstone took to the Highbury stage in their production of Winter Journey by Clifford Odets.

A newspaper review at the time stated “The play was dominated by Margaret Binks…. Denis Reed as the actor and Stanley Hounsell as the director give very strong support. Denise Beetlestone as a very young actress, gave one or two easements from the general tension for which we were grateful.”

Few will remember that name but many will be familiar with her, as she went on to marry another young member of the cast a few years later.  Denise Phillips has since gone on to appear in many Highbury productions - 97 at the last count - more than any other female Player.  Since her debut all those years ago, Denise has also won a number of acting awards and directed many highly successful productions.
 
Winter Journey was set in America in 1952 and at the time of the production, Clifford Odets was already a well known American playwright, his most famous play being Golden Boy.  Winter Journey was well known in America as The Country Girl and under this title it was made into a film in 1954, starring Bing Crosby, William Holden and Grace Kelly who won an Oscar for her performance.
At that time it was said that ‘It told of the heartbreak of the theatre. It is possibly more true to say that it is a study of human relationships in which each of the characters is drawn with great sensitivity and acute observation.’

The Cast:
Bernie Dodd: Stanley Hounsell
Larry: Geoffrey Owen
Phil Cook: Henry Letocha
Paul Unger: Robert Phillips
Nancy Stoddard: Denise Beetlestone
Frank Elgin: Denis Reed
Georgie Elgin: Margaret Binks
Ralph: John Robinson
 
The play was directed by Constance Grainger with sets designed and painted by Brian Hill and Mary Crompton.
 
There is also an interesting note in the programme which shows a sign of the time it was performed:
‘All sections of the Theatre are now operating in decimal currency, but £sd currency in units of 6d (2½p) will be accepted.’

Highbury Online Art

His corporate clients include Rio Tinto, First National Bank, De Beers, Seasons in Africa, Royal Madikwe, Ernst and Young, Deloitte and Touche and his work hangs in many private collections across the world.

Ian is committed to conservation and regularly supports worthy organisations like Wildlands Conservation Trust, The Game Rangers Association, The S.P.C.A and WESSA.

For all information on exhibiting your work at Highbury please email
Sheila Knapman exhibitions@highburytheatre.co.uk

What's Happening Around Sutton

On Saturday 20 March, as Winter gave way to Spring, artists & organisations from across the West Midlands presented #SpringsCalling - a series of short audio artworks. 

The Sutton Arts Forum joined in with this and it will be carrying on for the rest of the year, thanks to some generous funding from Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council. For its contribution to #SpringsCalling the Arts Forum has chosen the theme of beginnings to celebrate some of the town’s interesting buildings: Highbury Theatre, Holy Trinity Church, and the Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Hall. 

You’ll be able to access the audio podcasts via QR codes on posters around the town, on social media channels using #SpringsCalling, as well as through the West Midlands arrangements.  Try these websites for what’s on offer from the town and the West Midlands:

https://www.suttoncoldfieldtownhall.com/sutton-celebrations/ 

https://www.culturecentral.co.uk/events/springs-calling/

If you’re at all interested in getting involved with future audio recordings, please do get in touch with Liz Parry via activeartscv@gmail.com

Also Online

In the last issue we mentioned that work was progressing on a new story, Hartley Hall.  This has now gone live and can be found on our YouTube channel or accessed directly using the link below.

Hartley Hall

Joe Cook, the poet and musician who runs the Sutton Arts Forum has released a theatre based video to mark the anniversary of lockdown.
 
Pandemic-omime

To mark the one-year anniversary  of the day UK theatres went dark, Make a Difference Trust have released a charity single.  Bringing the indomitable spirit of the West End together in one glorious celebration, the cover of the hit Kelly Clarkson track is the perfect anthem for a community who may not have a stage, but still have a voice.

I Dare You

FOLIO Sutton Coldfield, the charity that supports our local public libraries, continues to run their series of online local interest talks.  The next talk is A New Flora of Sutton Park by Professor Ian Truman which will be at 7.30pm on 22 April.  If you would like to attend, a complete list of the talks together with details of how to book your place can be found on their Web Site:

Folio Sutton Coldfield

Information about past events from this year can also be found on their web site, and many have been uploaded to:

FOLIO’s YouTube channel

Player News

This month saw more communication from the NHS.

First there was a letter inviting me to go for my vaccination.  I immediately joined the ranks of "Invited but not booked my jab".  At the time I was still recovering from the after-effects of actually having Covid and I was in no immediate hurry to do anything that would set back the recovery process.  I'm also now in the happy position of having built up some immunity so willing to move down the queue a bit.  When I finally did book, one of the questions was 'Has it been less than five weeks since a positive test?' so I obviously did the right thing.  Anyway, all booked now and the first one is under the belt - or to be more precise, in the arm. 

The second was informing me that they were after my blood .... or more precisely my plasma.  Of course, I applied to be a donor and the next thing I got was a message to say thank you for volunteering and that they run a system of priorities:

• Males as they apparently are better donors - tick
• Those that were hospitalised as they have higher levels of antibodies - ah
• Those that live near plasma donation centres - hmm 

Apparently you can't just go to any old church hall, it has to be a proper plasma donation centre.  There are six that I can choose from, forming an almost perfect circle around my home ... and all some 30+ miles away.  Anyway, I stand ready to give an armful for the cause should I be called upon to do so.

Last weekend it was also that time of the decade to tell the Office for National Statistics that your religion is Jedi, your first language is Klingon, and this year you could also state if your birth certificate mentioned gender of the opposite kind to the birthday suit that you are currently wearing (all optional of course).  The census form arrived - or to be more precise the census letter - and while I'm happy to go online to do it, wholeheartedly approving of saving a great many trees, I do wonder at the thinking behind the last line.
"You can request a paper copy of the form at www.census.co.uk ..."
If you wanted a paper copy of the form, that probably means you can't fill it in online, most likely because you don't have t'internet.  You could ring the phone number (provided) or ask a friend, but it could be difficult to go to a web page to request the form!

Richard Irons, for Highbury News - at home for not much longer (hopefully)

The Highbury Mini Quiz

With Easter just round the corner another topical themed quiz:

1. How many days are there in Lent?
2. What is the name given to the Sunday before Easter?
3. What is the name given to the Thursday before Easter?
4. The Good Friday Agreement ending most of the troubles in Ireland was signed in which year?
5. Easter is a movable feast but how is the date calculated astronomically?
6. Who wrote the poem Easter 1916?
7. Who produced jewelled Easter eggs for the Russian imperial family?
8. When is the Feast of Ascension celebrated?
9. Good Easter and High Easter are villages in which East of England county?
10. In the US, the Easter Egg Roll that began in 1814 takes place on the lawn of which building?

And from last time:

1. The Professionals, Upstairs Downstairs, The Great Escape.
   Gordon Jackson (George Cowley, Hudson, McDonald)
2. The Great Escape, NCIS, The Man From Uncle.
   David McCallum (Ashley-Pitt, 'Ducky' Mallard, Illya Kuryakin)
3. The Man From Uncle, The Magnificent Seven, Hustle.
   Robert Vaughn (Napoleon Solo, Lee, Albert Stroller) 
4. Hustle, Van Der Valk, Mad Dogs.
   Marc Warren (Danny Blue, Van Der Valk, Rick)
5. Mad Dogs, Life On Mars, Dr Who.
   John Simm (Baxter, Sam Tyler, The Master)
6. Dr Who, Broadchurch, Staged.
   David Tennant (The Doctor, Alec Hardy, Himself)
7. Staged, The Queen, Frost Nixon.
   Michael Sheen (Himself, Tony Blair, David Frost)
8. Frost Nixon, Quiz, Ripper Street.
   Matthew McFadyen (John Birt, Charles Ingrams, Edmund Reid)
9. Ripper Street, Soldier Soldier, Game of Thrones.
   Jerome Flynn (Bennet Drake, Paddy Garvey, Bronn)
10. Game of Thrones, The Bodyguard, Rocketman.
    Richard Madden (Robb Stark, David Budd, John Reid)
11. Rocketman, Eddie the Eagle, Kingsman.
    Taron Egerton (Elton John, 'Eddie' Edwards, Eggsy)
12. Kingsman, Mama Mia, The Kings Speech.
    Colin Firth (Harry Hart, Harry, George VI)  
13. The Kings Speech, The Tailor of Panama, Pirates of the Caribbean.
    Geoffrey Rush (Lionel Logue, Harry, Hector Barbossa)
14. Pirates of the Caribbean, The Office, The Detectorists.
    MacKenzie Crook (Ragetti, Gareth Keenan, Andy Stone)
15. The Detectorists, Dad’s Army, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
    Toby Jones (Lance Slater, Captain Mainwaring, Percy Alleline)
     

Funny Bone

A young boy goes into the barbers and the barber whispers to a customer "This boy comes in here every day and he always does the oddest thing.  Let me show you."

The barber puts a five pound note in one hand and a pound coin in the other, calls the boy over and says which one do you want - the boy takes the pound coin and leaves.

Later, the customer sees the boy coming out of a shop with a bag of sweets so goes over to him to ask "Why did you take the pound coin instead of the five pound note?"

The boy replies "Because the day I take the five pound note, the game is over."

And Finally

With the sad passing of Murray Walker it seemed appropriate to include a reminder of his commentating style.  This was what happened when he admited that he always wanted to commentate on snooker.

Murray Walker