As the Maritime Quarter Residents Association website records, Swansea Little Theatre has been continuously performing plays since 1924. For many years they were a nomadic company, performing in various venues throughout Swansea but in 1979, but after much searching they secured a permanent home in Swansea Marina.
The building was the disused (and rather dilapidated) Oscar Chess garage and showroom in what was then a rather run down part of the docks area – no Waterfront Museum, no Tram Museum, no lovely apartments and the river wasn’t too clean either.
A tremendous amount of work was put in to turn the garage (with inspection pits and sumps) into a workable theatre. The members rallied around and everyone worked tirelessly with the help of Manpower Commission, the Probation Service and qualified tradesmen and 40 years later, the building is a prized jewel in the Artists’ Quarter of the Marina.
The building has welcomed many companies over the years – when the Grand Theatre was being refurbished, it became their home for three months. Eddie Izzard, Russell Kane, Jon Pertwee, Welsh National Opera, International Jazz Festival have all been there and a number of theatre and dance companies perform every year here, including the theatre-in-education company TNN who have been coming there for 22 years and never cease to amaze the thousands of children who see their shows.
This evening we had a treat, a rare film of Dylan Thomas's Under Milkwood, produced for the Princes Trust and directed by Anthony Hopkins. The cast included Tom Jones, Anthony Hopkins himself, Catherine Zeta Jones and Harry Secombe. It was a charity gala performance for the Prince’s Trust and also served as the launch for a new recording studio in north London, AIR Studios, owned by George Martin, who organised the music.
No comments:
Post a Comment