Bequest brings back the Bard

Village team repeats its first ever production (sic.)

A legacy from a founding member has helped put the ’bard’ back into Grasmere Players.

The popular theatre outfit stages Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, at Grasmere Village Hall on Wednesdays and Thursdays (8pm) until July 8, assisted by a £500 bequest from former Player Flo Hildrew, whose husband Jim directed the first GP production way back in the summer of 1953.

The Players are determined to do both Shakespeare and Flo proud and are delighted that the donation has given them the luxury of spending a little more than usual on a production.

Flo and Jim helped found the Grasmere Players with Frank and Edith Straw and others shortly after they arrived in Grasmere in 1946.

Jim was a head teacher at Grasmere Primary School – and their son Keith remembers that first production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream well.

“Although I was only seven at the time the play has always remained clear in my mind,” recalls Keith, who returned to the Lakes five years ago following his retirement as a head teacher.

“It was an outside production, chosen to celebrate the Queen’s coronation.”

For Keith the ‘magical’ show inspired a lifelong love of theatre and of the play.

Keith explained that his mother continued to be as involved as much as possible with the Players and loved going to the shows and meeting friends.

“Both mum and dad had loved Shakespeare and mum very much wanted to give something back to the Players. When she died the age of 98 in 2008 she left some money to the Players to help with a Shakespeare production.”

Keith said one to the undoubted highlights of the first ‘Midsummer’ was the design of the costumes, created by Harold Auty, the art teacher of the then Windermere Grammar School.

“I’ve seen many productions of ‘Dream’ since then but none of them has stood up to that one. Perhaps it set the standard for all the productions that have followed over the years with Grasmere Players,” said Keith.

Directed by Vivienne Rees, tickets for the show are now available from Barneys Newsbox on Broadgate or from the Players website.

The Westmorland Gazette

Thursday 11th June 2010