Village
halls played a part in the early careers of many actors – some of them becoming
world renowned. Who knows just how many household names first got a taste for
the luvvie life at the local amateur dramatic society. Dirk Bogarde was
certainly one of them, because he wrote about his experiences at Newick Village
Hall, near Lewes.
Dirk’s
mother made the acquaintance of a Mrs Cox, whose husband was said to own the
village hall. Dirk became good friends with the Coxs’ daughter and the family
took to him, allowing him to indulge his teenage ambition of becoming a
playwright. He wrote, and starred in “The Man on the Bench”, supported by
Nerine Cox. It was performed around the
time that Nazi Germany had marched into Austria – but a sparse audience with a
lot on their minds nevertheless received it well.
Mr
Cox offered Dirk his first leading role shortly afterwards with the Newick
Amateur Drama Society – Raleigh in R.C. Sherriff’s “Journey’s End”.
“It was a
tremendous success. The hall was packed for three nights solid and people came
from as far afield as Lewes and Hayward’s Heath.”
The
multi-ambitioned Dirk also designed the set.
War
was soon to interrupt his journey to becoming an international film star – but you
probably know the rest of the story. And it all began here:
Extract
and information from “A Postillion Struck by Lightning” by Dirk Bogarde (1977).
Do
have a look at my 20th Century cinema themed books, all available
for a very small price from Amazon.co.uk
Comments
Post a Comment