First Memories
I remember my parents taking me every winter to see the Manx Operatic Society and Douglas Choral Union musical productions, this would be during the 1950s. Shows like "The Desert Song", "White Horse Inn", "The Merry Widow", "Naughty Marietta" - I can still remember some of the songs! And outstanding performances by Frank Bull, Ethel Brooks, Maurice Kewley, and many others.But at that time I had no inclination to go on the stage myself, I was far too shy! It was a glamorous world inhabited by magical people.
Recruitment
Then in the 1960s I came into the sphere of a very talented lady called Margaret Woollams, who was a long term member of The Service Players. She persuaded me to go along with her to the weekly play readings that were being held at the time and, before I knew it, I was cast in their 1967 production of Noel Coward's "Hay Fever". I now encountered the theatre from "behind the footlights" and a very confusing place it was. We would be in the theatre for one full week, beginning to build the set on Sunday, rehearsing Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday while the set continued to be built and dressed around us, and then performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The theatre stage manager was George Christian, for whom everything was too much trouble! BUT - we would tell him what was needed and be told it couldn't be done, only to find when we arrived at the theatre the following evening it had been done. George's domain was underneath the stage, which hadn't been cleared out at that time; it was full of all sorts of clutter from which George magically produced whatever was needed. He was succeeded by the excellent Tony McEvoy, who was a talent never to be repeated. We were only allowed heating for performance nights, so always dreaded dress rehearsal night as we had to discard the many layers we had been wearing up to that point. I was part terrified, part excited. Wylie McDowell and myself were cast as brother and sister Simon and Sorrel Bliss, Wylie was a wonderfully talented and hugely experienced actor, who was kind and supportive to this terrified beginner. I had the opening lines, "Listen to this Simon, "Love is a trollop, stained with wine...etc." whilst supposedly reading same from a book. I sat on the set absolutely frozen, until the curtain went up and I realised that I couldn't actually see the audience because of the footlights and the spotlights blinding me - perfect! I could relax and get on with the job in hand.
History
That was it, I was hooked! Then began my training in the art of comedy and farce. I went on to play a French Maid in Diplomatic Baggage and an Air Hostess in "Boeing Boeing" (1968); a ballerina in "Chase me Comrade" and the very brash and common "Rita" in "Billy Liar" (1969). I then got married and left the Island in 1970. On the breakup of the marriage I returned to the Island in 1978 with my daughter Emma, a one parent family with no time for any hobbies; The Service Players thought otherwise. In 1980 I was persuaded to tread the boards again as an Italian seductress in "Cat on the Fiddle" and from then onward there was no stopping me. As well as appearing in many productions from 1980 to 2004 I also got involved backstage helping with costumes and props, set painting and dressing, and inhabiting the prompt corner, I also directed "Bouncers and Shakers" (1981), "Urge" (1989), "Ten Tiny Fingers, Nine Tiny Toes" (1992), "Dazzle" (1992), "Daisy Pulls it Off" (1995), "The Heir's Return" (1998), and "Seascape" (2004); appearing in "Billy Liar" again in 2004, this time as Billy's Nanna. I then retired from active involvement, as I was finding it more and more difficult to remember lines, but I did get involved in a small way with the first few shows from "Taylorian Productions", and I did enjoy playing "Widow Corney" to Geoff Shimmin's "Mr. Bumble" in the DCU's production of "Oliver!"
Encore
In the spring of 2014 I was happily minding my own business when I was contacted by a young chap named Alex Brindley to read for the part of "Mrs Richards" (the bombastic deaf lady) from an episode of "Fawlty Towers" which he was casting for The Service Players production that summer at the Gaiety. I distinctly remember telling him that I had retired 10 year earlier because I couldn't remember lines, but he wasn't taking "no" for an answer. So I was dragged out of retirement kicking and screaming and hope I did the indomitable Joan Sanderson justice in the role. There followed the roles of "Lady Whiteadder" in "Blackadder II" in 2015 and "Mrs Cropley" in "The Vicar of Dibley" in 2016, the first time in over 30 years since my daughter Emma Callin and I had appeared on stage together, as she played the aforementioned "Vicar". My "swan song" appears to have been "Mrs. Fox" in "Dad's Army" in 2017, but "never say never" as they say, whoever "they" are?
My memories of this amazing building go from run down and freezing, kept going only by the support of all the local "amateur" societies, through the refurbishment years, to the amazing facility that it is today with all it's history revealed and all it's modern technology installed, enticing amateurs and professionals alike. It has been a privilege to be involved with it for so many years, long may it reign!