History

In 1939, Frinton Summer Theatre started. Over the months of July and August, a few hardy professionals presented a season of weekly repertory theatre at the Imperial Hall in Pole Barn Lane. Of course the war stopped the season in its tracks in 1941, and it was not until 1947 that Peter and Sam Hoar started up the season again in the McGrigor (formerly the WI) Hall. They ran it until 1974, whilst all around them the tradition of this kind of theatre-making began to die.

In 1974, Jack Watling was encouraged by residents to take over the season, which he duly did. A year later, the Friends of Frinton Theatre was formed and for the next thirty years, between the two of them they kept the season running. Jack was Artistic Director, then his son Giles took over, and finally his son-in-law Seymour took up the challenge. Seymour ran the business for twenty-one years in conjunction with his wife Nicky, and between them they built up the business, established a house style and went on to run the seasons over at Southwold and Sheringham in some years.

In 2004 I took over. I decided to move the repertoire into a more adventurous (for Frinton) area. In addition to Ayckbourn, Coward and Neil Simon, I added in Shaw, Ibsen and Chekhov; I also added more contemporary work from writers like Yasmina Reza, Athol Fugard and John Godber. I raised the production values by employing a designer(!!). I also helped raise (in conjunction with the Friends, the local Rotary and the County Council) over £50,000 in funds to modernise the building; we now have new state-of-the-art toilets and kitchen facilities!

As the next six years progressed, I became more and more aware that the work we were doing was getting better and better. People sometimes laugh at the idea of Weekly Rep, but my experience has been that no-one laughs at it after they have seen one of our productions. With hard work, our design and technical team get an excellent finish on some wonderfully inventive sets (making full use of the stage and its terrifying dimensions of 17 by 13 feet!). For actors that know how to make clear choices, an excellent standard of work is possible. And by the end of the week’s run, when the big Thursday, Friday and Saturday night houses are in, the energy crackles off the stage, and bursts out of the auditorium at half-time, as the audience stands under the theatre’s fairy lights and consume their beer, wine and ice-cream. We regularly sell out, and achieve a season’s gate of over 80%. And all this without a marketing department, a set workshop, a regular rehearsal space, any offices......... the list of what we don’t have goes on and on. Imagine what we could do if we gave our work the full treatment!

Well now you don’t have to. We are taking it on the road. Using a mixture of trusted company members and artistic creatives of the highest calibre, we are going to produce theatre with the highest possible standards that is perfect for the commercial needs and artistic aspirations of mid-scale venues. We will bring work to your theatre that crackles and bursts with the enthusiasm and energy of the Frinton work – but which looks and sounds bang up-to-date. Commercial theatre with a contemporary twist – and three shows a week. Sounds good? You bet!!