Co op Arts Theatre and its volunteers

[Jill Sparrow 9,571]

I think that one was staged several times, Loppy, along with other stalwarts such as South Pacific, My Fair Lady, The Student Prince, etc.

 

I remember one of the leading female singers there in the 60s and early 70s was Susan Price who had an operatically trained voice. She sang, I believe, with various amateur operatic societies.  Probably not the lady you mean.

[loppylugs 8,336]

No.  Not the one, Jill.

[Jill Sparrow 9,571]

She was a large lady, Loppy. If she'd hugged you, you'd have known about it!

[Cliff Ton 9,949]

55 minutes ago, Jill Sparrow said:

I remember one of the leading female singers there in the 60s and early 70s was Susan Price who had an operatically trained voice.

 

This may be a coincidence too far, but do you know if her father was Robert Price, who owned a clothing business ?

[Jill Sparrow 9,571]

I honestly don't know, CT. I seem to think she was Welsh...well, with a name like Price!  She was older than my sister, possibly born in the late 40s.  Sorry, that's not much help.

[loppylugs 8,336]

1 hour ago, Jill Sparrow said:

She was a large lady, Loppy. If she'd hugged you, you'd have known about it!

 

Politically correct response......    As you know, It ain't over until the large lady sings

[Cliff Ton 9,949]

2 hours ago, Jill Sparrow said:

I honestly don't know, CT. I seem to think she was Welsh...well, with a name like Price!  She was older than my sister, possibly born in the late 40s.  Sorry, that's not much help.

 

Born late 40s could fit the one I slightly knew, although I'm sure there are/were quite a few people in Nottingham named Susan Price.  Do you know if she lived in Wollaton in her younger days ?

[Jill Sparrow 9,571]

Sorry, CT, I have no idea where she lived. I do remember that she wore glasses. Quite dark frames. Chin length hair. Well built.  Other than that, I didn't know anything about her.

 

Do I get the feeling there's possibly a Benjamin1945-esque tale to tell here?  Go on, give him a bit of competition! 

[Cliff Ton 9,949]

It’s very much not Ben-ism at all; the Susan Price I knew was probably 10 years-or-so older than me.

 

Her father ran a clothing business and my parents would buy various items on weekly terms. Every Saturday Mr Price (her father) would do his rounds - including our house - to collect the weekly instalments. Occasionally if Mr Price was otherwise engaged, Susan might be the one who knocked on our door for the money; that’s as much as I ever knew her.

[Jill Sparrow 9,571]

Does she fit the description I gave of her?

[Cliff Ton 9,949]

I don't remember her appearance well enough to be able to identify her.  You knew her slightly; I knew her even less. That's not much to go on.

[Jill Sparrow 9,571]

I have just noted the death of a John Francis Shooter, aged 82, in the online obituaries.

 

There was a chap of this name associated with the Cooperative Arts Theatre and with drama adjudication in Nottingham in the 60s and 70s. I believe he ran a drama group for boys in one of the old areas of Nottingham: The Meadows? He was an excellent teacher.I can't find my old scrap book with Nottingham Drama Festival programmes in it.

 

I wonder whether it's the same person.  Does it ring any bells?

 

Just found him mentioned here

 

https://nottstalgia.com/forums/topic/7840-meadows-boys-club/?tab=comments#comment-97891

 

[Dodie 51]

Maybe not him if he was 82 eight years ago. 

[Jill Sparrow 9,571]

The last time I encountered him was in 1973 at The Manning Speech & Drama Festival, when he awarded me a trophy. He probably seemed much older than he was, as people tend to appear when you're a teenager!

[Jill Sparrow 9,571]

I was chatting with a new member by PM recently about various topics. She also spent a lot of time at the Arts Theatre as a child. Among the names mentioned was that of Albert McGlade who was there in the late 60s/early 70s.  I appeared in one of his productions, a Victorian melodrama entitled The Drunkard...and no, I wasn't in the title role before anyone has the brazen cheek to ask!

 

I wasn't aware, until the new member told me, that McGlade gave drama lessons at the theatre and was obviously LAMDA qualified.

 

I remember him quite well. He was Irish and smoked the most disgusting cigarettes. The aroma was hideous. Goodness only knows what they were. Chain smoked through rehearsals. It would never be permitted now!  I seem to recall that McGlade's day job was that of an accountant. We have a few accountants on this site. Did anyone know him?

 

I understood he was estranged from his wife but did have some children. Not sure whether they were involved in the theatre.

 

I would think he's deceased by now, although I can't find any obituaries relating to him. He may have gone back to Ireland.

[philmayfield 5,353]

All I can find is that an Albert McGlade died in Notts in 1996. I never came across that name in the accountancy profession.

[Jill Sparrow 9,571]

Thanks Phil. That's probably him.

[Jill Sparrow 9,571]

Having found my scrapbook, I see that The Drunkard or Down With Demon Drink, was in performance during the third week of July 1971. In the first week of February that same year, I had been onstage every night in Noel Langley's Little Lambs Eat Ivy.

 

None of this went down well at The Manning because it meant my homework didn't get done!  They weren't impressed that one of their pupils was acting, dancing and singing every night in front of an audience instead of completing her maths homework!  It was a different story, of course, when the annual Speech and Drama competition came round. I had won it for my house several years consecutively. In my final year, I refused to participate and the trophy went elsewhere!  I wasn't popular but, hey ho, who cares?

 

The Drunkard was my last performance with the Arts Theatre while I was at school. My mother insisted I give it up to concentrate on my school work!