“My name is Kathlyn Harper, and I seem to have been involved with the Players forever. I got involved with community drama way back in 1947 and when I turned eighteen, I became Secretary for Wick Players. I can remember most of the people who were Players members from the very beginning and I can recall some very fond memories. I am fortunate enough to still be involved with Wick Players, most recently travelling to Orkney for the SCDA Scottish Final. I was asked to write this history of the club as part of the archives project and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed reminicisng over the special times I have had with this community minded club, which I hold very dear to my heart”. |
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Lets start at the very beginning...
"This is me, Kathlyn, many years ago at a Summer drama school in St Andrews...
which got me hooked on drama!"
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In 1931, Wick’s Carnegie Library (which was gifted to the town by the famous Andrew Carnegie) was appointed a new librarian- Mr Kennedy Stewart (otherwise known as K.S). He was appointed by the County Council and was a former student of Dollar Academy in Clackmannanshire. He came straight to Wick from BBC Scotland and he seemed to have found us “Wickers” quite amusing. In his opinion, we were “lacking in culture” for we apparently had no music, no theatre and no art. KS decided to do something about it, so he called a meeting and “The Players” was born. Prior to this there seemed to have been many people who expressed an interest in drama. In summertime the ladies of the town would put on small pageants, complete with horses sometimes. All beautifully dressed in suitable attire at the Wick Riverside or in the grounds of Rosebank House, later to become the Henderson Memorial Nursing Home, and the site of our general hospital today. The original constitution of the The Players makes an interesting read; Membership at the time was 2/6 and applicants would have to be nominated by two qualified members and could only be accepted at the decision of the general committee. At least one applicant at this time was rejected!
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In this same year, the group produced their first ever production, but unfortunately there is no record of what the production was however, in the words of one of the cast members, Mrs Marley Robertson “We were overloaded, over ambitions, and overconfident. The curtain fell on the last item at about 1 o’ clock in the morning and the audience had gone home, it was a resounding failure, a shambles and it left us in debt.”
From their resounding failed attempt, they moved into production with “The Ghost Train” by Arnold Ridley. This was performed at The Breadalbane Hall in 1933 where most of the Society’s productions were performed at the time. The hall was a high-tech theatre with state-of-the-art facilities. It opened in 1911 and was the only generally good, equipped theatre north of Inverness. It had good acoustics, a stage, balcony, and a dressing room. The star of this new production was the train itself, devised and timed to a second by the maths and science departments of Wick High School. The play was a resounding success, with packed houses. Now, the group were solvent, and Wick Players were a recognised organisation by 1933. However, on a Thursday evening in late 1933 disaster struck when the Breadalbane Hall caught fire and burnt to the ground. This was a devastating blow for the Players and the question now was “do we have a future?”. The solution was the Rifle Hall but his meant installing a lighting system and buying curtains which were an expensive task in the 1930’s. 1934, KS left the county after producing his second production “The Middle Watch”. Wick was no more than an entertaining interlude for Mr Stewart, but he gave the town “The Players”.
From their resounding failed attempt, they moved into production with “The Ghost Train” by Arnold Ridley. This was performed at The Breadalbane Hall in 1933 where most of the Society’s productions were performed at the time. The hall was a high-tech theatre with state-of-the-art facilities. It opened in 1911 and was the only generally good, equipped theatre north of Inverness. It had good acoustics, a stage, balcony, and a dressing room. The star of this new production was the train itself, devised and timed to a second by the maths and science departments of Wick High School. The play was a resounding success, with packed houses. Now, the group were solvent, and Wick Players were a recognised organisation by 1933. However, on a Thursday evening in late 1933 disaster struck when the Breadalbane Hall caught fire and burnt to the ground. This was a devastating blow for the Players and the question now was “do we have a future?”. The solution was the Rifle Hall but his meant installing a lighting system and buying curtains which were an expensive task in the 1930’s. 1934, KS left the county after producing his second production “The Middle Watch”. Wick was no more than an entertaining interlude for Mr Stewart, but he gave the town “The Players”.
Pantomime... a whole new dimension!
Pantomime was a whole new dimension to theatre in the Highlands. “Cinderella” was the first pantomime Wick had ever saw. It was produced in 1951 and it was performed in the Wick Boys’ Brigade Hall. The pantomime was a fundraising spark for raising money to install a new central heating system in the Wick Bridge Street Church. Everyone was roped into the production, members of the church, people who could sing, vocalists, children and of course members of The Players. The show was a huge success and provided the inspiration for a new group to form, The Wick Pantomime Society. This new Society would go on to produce the next two pantomimes “Puss In Boots” which was produced in 1952 and “Aladdin and The Wonderful Lamp”. The proceeds of the first two pantomimes went towards the new heating for the church and although this new group was a good idea at the time, after many months of consideration it was agreed to absorb the Pantomime Society and to combine everyone’s talents into a new Wick Players. This was based on the understanding that a pantomime would be staged on alternate years with a play if possible.
