PART 2

​The War Era

After the disaster of the Breadalbane Hall burning down and after much discussion, the club had realised that the only suitable venue for performing in was now the Rifle Hall, which had downstairs rooms and outside stairs which led to the dressing rooms. However, performing here meant that they would have to purchase curtains, lights, comfortable chairs for an audience, and storage, and it meant taking on debt again; but nothing daunted and in 1934 they went straight into production with “The Middle Watch”, a naval play by Ian Hay and Stephen King-Hall; and it too proved to be a great success. The Players later produced several productions each of them being well supported by the community. Among these productions were “It Pays to Advertise” (by Roi Cooper Megrue and Walter Hackett) and "Mrs Grundy” (by Madeleine Lucette Ryley).

The cast on the set for "The Middle Watch". Members of the cast included David Sutherland, Marley Robertson (nee Bremner), Jack Faint, Pat Miller, T. Millar, A. McKenzie, Harold Faint, J. McAllan, Mrs Cile and Bunty Fraser.

'BBC TV' as it was in the 1950's.

So what was in it for K.S you might ask, well, Mr Stewart left Wick shortly before the club produced their first production in the Rifle Hall. Wick for him of course was no more than an entertaining interlude, but, Kennedy Stewart founded what would become one of the biggest drama club's in the north of Scotland. His talent and experience from working with the BBC of course helped to establish a grounding for the basis of amateur dramatics for our founding members, a wealth of skills which has passed on from person to person through generations. It is thought that K.S returned to his native Edinburgh after leaving Caithness, he married in 1938 and returned to the BBC in 1959 as Talks Producer, which he served as until his death in 1959.

In the 1920’s, the Scottish Community Drama Association (who we know as SCDA) organised a drama festival which would include all of Scotland, the main rule being that all plays had to be of one-act and it quickly became popular with audiences and clubs, and Wick Players along with Thurso Players, and rural groups from Reay to John O’ Groats joined in too. The festival was competitive and did much to improve the standard of acting and presentation all round. Like today, the festival in Scotland consisted of three rounds with stage one being a festival held in the local district (known in the early days as the 'preliminary festival'), this was followed by the divisional festival and then the Scottish final with the winner going forward to compete at the final for all of Great Britain. In the early days of the festival right through until the 1960's Wick Players were known for entering numerous teams each year and in 1938, Wick Players entered four teams into the festival and it was in this particular year that the club reached the pinnacle of success for the first time. "The Last Cavalier" (by Clyde Irvine) was performed by The Players 'A' team. The team's success at the District Festival took them to the Highland Divisional Final at the Empire Theatre in Inverness where they were awarded first place by the adjudicator, alongside Dornoch Dramatic Club who were awarded second place. That year, both of these Highland teams went on to compete at the Scottish Final for the first time. A huge achievement for Wick Players and indeed for the whole of the Highland area.

Mr John Bourne (Adjudicator) congratulating the Wick Players 'A Team' director, Mr Pat Miller on their win with cast members Mr J.B Caird, Mr T.A Marshall, Mr G. Spoward (Stage Manager) and Mr A.T Boyd

"And So to Bed" Programme.

The Players final production before the war was “Lord Babs” (by Keble Howard), which was produced in December 1939. This play was performed to raise funds for the Red Cross and the local church hut for the troops and the cast of this play included Miss I.W. Miler, D. Sutherland, Marley Robertson, Bessie Leith, Jack Faint, E.C. Fowgies, Willie MacDonell, Alex Boyd, E.T. Willits. The Producer was William Cruikshanks (West Banks Avenue) and the Stage Manager was Pat Miller. ​​​During the war, the he Rifle Hall was of course taken over by the army and The Players’ curtains and costumes had to be stored in the John O' Groat Journal Office, which at the time was based in Francis Street. The club's lights and scenery flats were stored in the former Scout Hall which was located at Harrow Hill. There were no other available halls at this time as they had all been taken over for war effort, even the Parish Church Hall (which is now Wick Pipe Band Hall), had become the food office. ​ ​The Breadalbane Hall had later been re-built in this era and it was now a very popular cinema and dance hall as there were lots of troops, RAF and soldiers based locally. Once the war was over in 1945, it took some time for The Players to revive themselves, but they did it in style. Their first production which followed the war was “Pride and Prejudice” (adapted from Jane Austen's novel), followed by “And So to Bed” (by James B. Fagan); both costume plays, of course hired, with large casts and these were both performed in the Rifle Hall. All the curtains and even the seats had to be transported back to the hall again but that didn’t seem to worry them, the group were finally back in action and back to do doing what they loved.

John Black became keen of sitting in the director’s chair in the 1940’s and 50’s, he held rehearsals in his home at “Westerlea” in Miller Avenue. They had a huge open attic complete with a stove and it was great space for conducting rehearsals. When other producers came on board, rehearsals were held in school classrooms and other places where the acting area was small and inconvenient, making it difficult to adjust, particularly when it came to the stage in the Rifle or Boys’ Brigade Hall.  In 1948, John Black produced “Dear Octopus” (by Dodie Smith) with a cast consisting of some well-known local faces: Bob Finlayson, Janet Black, Isobel Green, Nan Graham and Margaret Sinclair, Margaret Robertson, Margaret Brokenshaw (Later to become Lady Thurso), Mary MacAdam, David Sutherland, George Bain, John Adams (Photographer), Jenny Barnie, Jack Calcott, Cissie Tait, Ena Jack, Catherine Donaldson, Joyce Coldicott, Drew Hook and Jennifer Black; nineteen of a cast. At this time, they were fortunate enough to now have a Business Manager, George Bannerman, who kept their books in order. ​

"Dear Octopus" Programme.

A young Kathlyn Harper (nee More) during an SCDA summer school at St Andrews.

David Sutherland then went on to produce “Laburnum Grove” (by J.B Priestly) as a Christmas show in 1948, and with a similar large cast. These productions were remarkable considering the restricted facilities and equipment available. One of our stalwarts, Kathlyn More (later Harper) first became involved with the club in that same year when she assisted with John Black’s production. Kathlyn was a keen supporter of the SCDA and was a keen advocate for getting Wick Players’ standard of drama “up there”. SCDA organised a summer school for two weeks each year in the buildings of St Andrew’s University, manned in classes of speech, movement, staging and makeup by the professional area advisors. This costly at the time, but with small help from the Caithness Education Department, Kathlyn attended for three years running during her two-week holiday from work. She oved it and made many great friends from all over. In Kathlyn’s own words: 

I became really hooked on drama.

In 1951, the Boys Brigade Hall became available again and a lavish production, “Arsenic and Old Lace” (by Joseph Kesselrig) was staged by John Black. Although all the fittings, curtains, lights and gathered furniture had to be transported back to the hall and this was done with Alex Matheson’s horse and cart. The seating consisted of the old picture house type at the front, with wooden seating and benches towards the back. After the untimely death of John Black, various producers, actors and stagehands came forward and this helped to widen the choice of plays and casts. Among them: Willie Wilson (Caithness County Council Architect), Jim Mitchell (Royal Insurance), Jimmy Morrison (Fred Shearer’s, Drapers), to name a few. Wick had never been averse to absorbing newcomers and The Players casts lists soon showed that locals were being outnumbered by the post war influx of talented newcomers, who would eventually come to work in and around the town. ​​