Repertory Theatre in the 70s, new publication.
Finally, a booklet of this work.
About 10 months ago, I posted here about my photos of how a professional repertory company put on a play. There was to be a hardbacked book of this material but that proved too difficult/expensive. So, here’s an A5, 40 page zine of it instead, available from my website for £7 +Del to UK addresses.
https://bit.ly/BuyWalmsleyZines
I followed the Salisbury Playhouse production of ‘Mother Courage’ from first read-through to first night, all the rehearsals, learning the songs and lines, sourcing the props and transforming the wagon.
In those days, each town had its own rep theatre and audiences got to know the actors because they all went to the same pubs after performances. It was great for young actors because they could spend a year or three being, one week a spear-carrier, and the next playing the main part. Our most successful actors agree they would not have achieved so much had they not done rep. This zine includes contributions from Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen and Timothy West. Plus, an article by Michael Billington, for decades, the Guardian’s theatre critic.
John Walmsley is a member of the National Union of Journalists and the Society of Authors. His work, in one form or another, is at the National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain Library, the National Art Library at the V&A, the V&A Museum of Childhood, Liverpool Museum, la Bibliothèque nationale de France and the University of California, San Diego, Library.
With a wide range of other artists, he has recently taken part in group exhibitions in Sydney, NYC, Los Angeles, Arizona, Texas, Tbilisi, Sao Paolo, London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, France, Bangkok, Rome, France, Glasgow and Guildford.