Now and then...

The Coliseum recently held a reminiscence event to celebrate the last 125 years of theatre, with over 500 people in the audience sharing their memories. Kenneth Alan Taylor (the Coliseum’s ex-Artistic Director) hosted the event. Kenneth and Front of House Manager David Rustidge spoke about the old days of the Coliseum and it was really interesting to see how much the theatre has changed over the years.

Kenneth first appeared at the Coliseum back in 1959 and back then the theatre operated as a theatre club so all productions were for members only. The demand to come and see productions at the Coliseum was so high that there was a never ending waiting list to be in the Theatre Club.

Actors - including Kenneth – would perform a different play every week. The company would run through a dress rehearsal on the Monday afternoon and perform that night. They would then start work on the next week’s play the following day, working on each of the acts through the week. Saturday would be busy with a matinee and evening performance and then on Monday the process would start all over again. No technical rehearsal – this is when all the lighting and sound effects are planned out – instead the company would just have work through it during the dress rehearsal.

The cast would provide their own costumes for every play. Easy for the males who normally would just need to find a dinner jacket or lounge suit– not so easy for the females who would have to have a seemingly endless supply of evening gowns each week. In fact, one actress was employed purely on the strength of her own costume hamper.

These days it’s very different, we spend over three weeks rehearsing the play with four days set aside to get the lighting and sound right. We also have our own wardrobe department making and sourcing costumes and our set is built by professional carpenters.



Of course, a lot of other things have changed during those years, notably the amount of things on offer for people to do in their spare time like TV and cinema. In spite of all the 3D and special effects there’s nothing that can compete with the experience of live theatre – action taking place literally in 3D right in front of your eyes. It’s a testament to this unique experience that the Coliseum is still going strong after all these years.

The main thing that struck me on that evening of celebrating the Coliseum’s history was to see just how proud both Kenneth and David were of what the theatre was doing back then and how much they still value to work that we produce here. I’m proud of how far the Coliseum has come, introducing an extensive programme of education and outreach activities and championing new writing, but this wouldn’t have been possible without all the dedication and hard work that has gone on throughout the last 125 years.

See you at the theatre.

Kevin Shaw
Artistic Director