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Riverside Radio interview 📻
Our chairman David Harvey, interviewed by Andy Bungay at Riverside Radio, about the current situation with the theatre, Lambeth and Ruach City Church…
Save Streatham Hill Theatre for the community
Notice of AGM 18th September 2024 at 8pm
Please save the date, and register online via our Events page.
NOTICE is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of The Friends of Streatham Hill Theatre will be held at 8pm on Wednesday 18th September 2024 to transact the following business.
The meeting is open to all, however only voting Members may speak or vote. Others may speak at the discretion of the chairman.
Online joining instructions will follow.
Agenda
- Apologies and Declarations (see Note a)
- Minutes of last AGM held 6th September 2024 (c)
Matters arising and acceptance - Receive reports from Trustees (c)
- Receive financial statements and report from the Treasurer (c)
- Election of Trustees (c, d)
- Other business of The Friends
Notes
(a) Any relevant affiliations or potential conflicts of interest must be declared.
If unable to attend, voting Members may appoint a proxy using the appointment form (c).
(b) The CIO Constitution is published here: http://resources.streathamhilltheatre.org/friends/The%20Friends%20of%20Streatham%20Hill%20Theatre%20CIO%20Constitution%20Amended%2006-09-2023.pdf
(c) Supporting documents and forms are published here: http://resources.streathamhilltheatre.org/friends
(d) One-third of elected Trustees must stand down, along with any Trustees appointed since the last AGM, but are all eligible for re-election. Voting Members may nominate candidates using the nomination form (c).
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Streatham Hill Theatre – a personal connection
Whilst sorting through many, many boxes of my father’s papers I came across a bag of mixed theatre programmes, nine of which are for Streatham Hill Theatre dated pre-war 1939*.
I cursed the vast quantity of 60 plus years of hoarded ‘stuff’ but in the end it proved to be a wealth of valuable, detailed personal family history. My parents, Bert and Norah, married in 1940 so the theatre programmes definitely represent their courting days. My mother grew up with her grandmother in Frome, Somerset and was only 17 when her gran died. Being homeless she went into service with two elderly spinsters who shortly announced that they would be moving and she could go with them. My mother thought they said they were going to nearby Wells, but it turned out to be Tunbridge Wells in Kent. She didn’t know anyone here and was pretty miserable and lonely.
The house In Tunbridge Wells was large and may have needed some refurbishment as one day an electrician was called in to mend a bell. This was my father. A romance soon began, but my mother was still lonely and moved to Tooting to rent rooms with a friend who had come up to London from Frome. It wasn’t long before my father followed and clearly they enjoyed outings to many local theatres and cinemas.
Strangely few of the programmes for Streatham Hill Theatre have dates, only volume numbers. My father has written on the back of one for Bernard Shaw’s The Devil’s Disciple (no 1283):
To celebrate – or more of an excuse to wear our new handbag and raincoat, and to have Welsh Rarebit in a Milk Bar, not forgetting the new hat.
He signed it Dirty Shirty!
The cast included Robert Donat, Stewart Granger and Andrew Cruickshank. The reference to the modest snack gives a lovely picture of the times.
After marrying in March 1940, during the early months of the war they lived in Mitcham and then Sanderstead, South Croydon. With more time and after bringing up three children they returned to their love of theatre and cinema, especially my mother. In those days you could get a bus to five different local ‘picture houses’. She introduced me to the world of cinema and I went on to work in BBC Television. I still very much enjoy going to the cinema and theatre. Thanks mum and dad!
Jennie Butler
* Jennie has kindly sent us these programmes for our archive. Thanks Jennie.
Ruach City Church Opening 30th June 2024
In our last newsletter we noted that Ruach City Church are opening SHT for their first church service at 10am on Sunday 30th June, and that the Bishop has extended an invitation to anyone who wishes to attend.
Since then we have heard more about issues regarding the lack of planning permission, together with concerns regarding health and safety of large numbers attending the building which has been empty for many years.
Therefore the Friends have decided not to attend on Sunday 30th.
As and when the issues are resolved we can revisit the situation.
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Campaign Meeting Wednesday 26th June 2024
Our online meeting will be on Wednesday 26th June 2024 at 8pm. Please register via our events page.
We’ll be discussing the latest developments at the theatre and next steps in the campaign. See our latest newsletter for more.
Programmes delivered from Australia!
We recently received a message from John Flower, offering programmes his father had collected. John has hand delivered them to us while visiting England. Thank you John!
There’s a full list of performances at Streatham Hill Theatre, and the programmes we hold, in our published document.
“I have sixteen original programmes from 1936-1939 productions at the Streatham Hill Theatre. They belonged to my father who, in his 20s, drove to Streatham to see these plays.
I have kept them along with other programmes from shows my father saw at other London theatres also in the 1930s and 1950s. Rather than throw them out I felt it would be better to return them to whence they came.
My father drove to Streatham from Farnborough (Orpington) where he was born and lived until 1935, when the family moved to Tonbridge.
I do remember when, as children we drove to London, my father knew all the roads and Leigham Court Road was always mentioned. Looking at Google maps I now see how easy it would have been to drive from Farnborough to Streatham.
The programmes brought me great pleasure as I realised how many top productions and actors Dad saw.Â
He went on to act in and produce plays for the Tonbridge Theatre and Arts Club, now known as the Oast Theatre, but sadly died aged 62 in 1976 and I never had the chance to talk to him about all those productions he saw.”
Campaign Meeting Wednesday 1st May 2024
Our online meeting will be on Wednesday 1st May at 8pm. Register via our events page.
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Shakespeare at Streatham Hill Theatre
From the schedule at the back of the John Cresswell book about the theatre, we have identified 7 Shakespeare plays as having been put on there in total. While there were three in 1932, there were none at all after September 1938. During the war years the theatre put on very light fare, but it’s a shame that there were no productions after the re-opening in 1950: a reflection of changing tastes perhaps.
Shakespeare himself “appears” at the theatre on the end plates of the seating rows:
Photo from Historic England.
Othello – July 1930
Paul Robeson, claimed to be the first black actor to play the title role on the London stage (although in the early 19th century black actor Ira Aldridge performed the role in London, but has largely been omitted from history).
Croydon–born Peggy Ashcroft as Desdemona.
Also: Sybil Thorndike, Ralph Richardson, Alastair Sim, Andrew Cruikshank.
Julius Caesar – April 1932
A very lavish, Victorian-style production.
Merchant of Venice – May 1932
Ernest Milton as Shylock.
Twelfth Night – September 1932
Costumes and sets in black, white, silver. Much use of music.
Hamlet – April 1935
Definitive production.
John Gielgud in title role.
Jessica Tandy as Ophelia.
Alec Guinness as Osric – a role for which he was much praised, and acclaimed as definitive.
Romeo and Juliet – April 1936
John Gielgud and Peggy Ashcroft.
Midsummer Night’s Dream – September 1938
No details currently available.
Plus – Shakespeare Plays: Bingo! – July 2016
In July 2016, commemorating Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary of his death, Streatham Theatre Company presented scenes from the above plays, plus Macbeth, as part of a promenade tour of the theatre, for the Streatham Festival that year.
Campaign Meeting Wednesday 6th March 2024
Our online meeting will be on Wednesday 6th March at 8pm. Register via our events page.
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Theatres Trust considers theatre still at risk in 2024 📺
Streatham Hill Theatre remains at risk in the 2024 At Risk Register maintained by Theatres Trust.
“We have just published our annual list of theatres under threat of permanent closure, redevelopment, or demolition across the UK. This year’s Theatres at Risk Register consists of 39 theatres, which all have strong architectural merit, cultural heritage or value to the local community as performance venues. See the full Theatres at Risk list.”
Theatres Trust
Theatres Trust has updated their assessment of the theatre, recognising recent changes of ownership and ACV status.
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