Local History
By Elizabeth Cole and Alison Wright
THE TAVONIANS THEATRE COMPANY
This year the Tavonians Theatre Company celebrates its seventy-fifth anniversary and has marked the occasion with an exhibition in the Tavistock Museum which will be on view until the end of September. The staging of this exhibition has been an opportunity for present members of the company to look through collections of posters, programmes, press reports and photographs over seventy-five years.
Drama League Finals in Birmingham. The Tavonians were the first amateur society in the country to present J.B. Priestley’s play, ‘The Linden Tree’, in 1949. Another first was the production of ‘The Roses of Eyam’ in 1975 when the producer, Rosemary Mann, persuaded the author of the TV version (Don Taylor) to allow his script to be adapted and performed by the Tavonians. This was her first production and it had the largest cast in the history of the company at that time.
Tavonians Martin Perrin, Elizabeth Cole, Jean Lopez (President), David Simkins, Ali Fife (Chair) and Alison Wright (Treasurer).
The company (then called The Tavonian Dramatic Society) began in 1935 in a small but enthusiastic way when George Smith and a handful of players started to give one-act plays. A long series of Drama Festival performances began with a production of ‘The Bishop’s Candlesticks’ for which they were awarded a First Class certificate.
In March 1939 a comedy ‘The Housemaster’ by Scottish dramatist, Ian Hay, was presented in the Town Hall on two nights and was described as a far better thing than the Tavonian Dramatic Society have
ever done before. Produced by Eric Kingdon it was based on the then-popular public school theme and evolved around the housemaster, Charles Donkin, played effectively by William Verran, and his verbal confrontations with an unpopular and disciplinarian headmaster, the Rev. Edmund Ovington played by McDonald Moore, at
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Marbledown School. Complications naturally arise from the unexpected arrival of three young ladies from Paris, and their guardian. By the end of the play normality returns to the school when the unpopular headmaster is promoted onward-and-upward to the bishopric, and housemaster Charles Donkin becomes the new headmaster. Other supporting actors singled out for praise included Leslie Lang, Leslie Verran and Eric Kingdon who played members of staff, Molly Stacey, Iris Woodhouse and Iris Cross who played high- spirited young ladies, and Douglas Webb, Bernard Johnson, Walter Walkey and Eric Green who played schoolboys.
In 1949 the producer chose to present ‘The Anniversary’, a play by Russian playwright, Anton Chekov, which took the Tavonians forward to the Divisional Final at the Globe Theatre, Plymouth, where they failed by the smallest margin to go through to the British
by the time the play starts...”
In 1960 the Tavonians celebrated 25 years of continuous activity (apart from a break during the war years) with the Silver Jubilee production of ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier. Rebecca is already dead by the time the play starts but she continues to cast a shadow over events at Manderley Hall. The three leading players received high praise for their performances. Philip Perry made the part of the rich widower, Maxim de
“..Rebecca is already dead
Winter, come alive with his confident stagecraft and acting ability, Rosemary Mann in her first leading role as the second Mrs de Winter was considered to have been an excellent choice, and Marian Warren played the housekeeper, Mrs Danvers, with composure but enough bitter malice to make one shudder. The producer was Eric Kingdon who by this time had produced nearly thirty plays for the company.
The Golden Jubilee year in 1985 was marked by a highly successful presentation of ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’ at The Drum in the Theatre Royal, Plymouth for three evening performances and one matinee performance. The play, written by Jay Presson Allen and Muriel Spark, was produced for the company by Stuart Waterworth. Set in 1930s Edinburgh it is the story of a romantic and idealist teacher who is out-of-place in a conservative girls school. Her moulding of the character of young girls leads to disastrous consequences for all concerned. The lead role was taken by Barbara Howland whose Edinburgh accent was described as impeccable. She was indeed in her prime, swinging the whole play along joyfully, commandingly, and with great power. The Brodie girls played by Sally Annis, Fiona Anderton, Sara
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