• Wiltshire Publications
  • Melksham Independent News
  • Frome Times
Thursday, June 19, 2025
27 °c
Westbury
25 ° Fri
25 ° Sat
  • Login
  • Register
White Horse News
Advertisement
  • Latest News
  • About Us
    • Mission Statement
    • Corrections
  • Digital Edition
  • Back Issues
  • Contact us
  • Advertise with us
  • Family Messages
  • Directory
  • More
    • Latest News
    • Special Featured Stories
    • Featured Stories
    • WHN News
    • Crime
    • Traffic News
    • Education
    • Health
    • Business
    • Politics

    Search

    News

    Sport

    • Westbury FC
    • Football
    • Rugby
    • General Sport
    • Cricket
    • Golf
    • Bowls

    Best of Westbury

    • Westbury Community
    • Fundraising
    • Volunteering and helping out
    • Clubs Organisations

    What's on

    • Events Entertainment
    • Arts & Entertainment
    • Things to do

    Family Messages

    • Announcements
    • Death Notices
    • In Memoriam
    • Birthday
    • Engagement
    • Wedding Messages
    • Awards

    Digital Editions

    • Digital Edition
    • Digital Archives
No Result
View All Result
  • Latest News
  • About Us
    • Mission Statement
    • Corrections
  • Digital Edition
  • Back Issues
  • Contact us
  • Advertise with us
  • Family Messages
  • Directory
  • More
    • Latest News
    • Special Featured Stories
    • Featured Stories
    • WHN News
    • Crime
    • Traffic News
    • Education
    • Health
    • Business
    • Politics

    Search

    News

    Sport

    • Westbury FC
    • Football
    • Rugby
    • General Sport
    • Cricket
    • Golf
    • Bowls

    Best of Westbury

    • Westbury Community
    • Fundraising
    • Volunteering and helping out
    • Clubs Organisations

    What's on

    • Events Entertainment
    • Arts & Entertainment
    • Things to do

    Family Messages

    • Announcements
    • Death Notices
    • In Memoriam
    • Birthday
    • Engagement
    • Wedding Messages
    • Awards

    Digital Editions

    • Digital Edition
    • Digital Archives
No Result
View All Result
White Horse News
No Result
View All Result

U3A Report: ‘The View From The Wings’

by White Horse News
June 16, 2015
in Clubs & Organisations
Reading Time: 2 mins read
418 5
A A
0

MR Brian Freeland entertained us with a very interesting and amusing talk about all aspects of theatre.  

Following a visit to the Old Vic Theatre in Bristol, where the young Peter O’Toole was performing, Mr Freeland decided he wanted to work in the theatre.  He trained in various theatres in the fields of management, lighting design and as theatre manager as well as director.

He has now retired from the theatre itself but is still writing scripts as well as giving talks on his experiences and directing amateur dramatics.

Mr Freeland began his career while the Crazy Gang was still performing and can recall when Tommy Trinder was the  presenter of Sunday Night at the London Palladium before Bruce Forsyth took over.  He also worked in pantomimes and remembers Harry Secombe performing.

He certainly had us all laughing with anecdotes and stories of the actors he has worked with as well as the various ‘digs’ the actors stayed in and the idiosyncracies of the landladies.

He recalled working at Butlin’s theatre where they would not allow any risqué jokes or double entendres where one amateur holidaymaker’s jokes were a bit close to the knuckle and the curtain brought down on him.

Mr Freeland told us that in his opinion the hardest workers in the theatre were the ballet dancers, who rehearsed the next ballet in the morning, rehearsed their current one in the afternoon and performed in the evening.  Then by way of relaxation would go to a disco.

Mr Freeland has also directed opera in Scotland and Ireland.  In Wexford, a slope had been built on the stage but covered in formica which was slippery.  It was discovered that covering it in lemon juice made it safe but on the first night somebody cleaned it and the opening singer slid down the slope, still singing, followed by the second singer both narrowly missing the orchestra pit.  They were then followed by the chorus with the audience convulsed with laughter.

Mr Freeland said that he has worked all over the world, even China during Chairman Mao’s time when the Peking and Shanghai ballet dancers all wore the blue boiler suits, there were no cars anywhere, and one child was terrified by seeing western people.

Mr Freeland spoke of George Bernard Shaw, whom he greatly admired for his prodigious output as well as the two thousand lectures he gave and the quarter of a million postcards and letters he wrote.

He ended by saying he had worked with Edith Evans, Sybil Thorndike, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud to name but a few.

There followed some questions and answers and refreshments which were needed after so much laughter.

Next month our speaker will be John Clark talking about Underwater Treasure Hunting.  Do please join us at the United Reformed Church Hall at 2.00pm on Tuesday 14th July.

Julie Vince, Secretary

 

Share234Tweet146Pin53
Advertise your products or service in The Melksham Independent News Advertise your products or service in The Melksham Independent News Advertise your products or service in The Melksham Independent News

Related Stories

Local parkrun invites community to get involved

Westbury Walkers

June 18, 2025
0

Sunday 8th June saw seven Westbury Walkers meet up at Southwick Country Park to tackle a lovely varied circular walk,...

Local parkrun invites community to get involved

Local parkrun invites community to get involved

June 18, 2025
0

THE founders of a local parkrun are appealing to residents to join the volunteer team that helps make the event...

Deaf Awareness initiative planned for local churches and residents

Deaf Awareness initiative planned for local churches and residents

June 19, 2025
0

The White Horse Team Ministry is hoping to host a Deaf Awareness session in Westbury, following the success of the...

Church family sessions launch in Dilton Marsh

June 18, 2025
0

A church in Dilton Marsh is starting a new free activity for families called Footsteps Through the Bible.  There will...

White Horse News Digital Edition White Horse News Digital Edition White Horse News Digital Edition

Recommended

  • All
  • Latest news
  • Environment
  • Politics
  • Wiltshire Council
  • Clubs & Organisations
  • Volunteering and helping out

Introductory 30mph speed limits on Trowbridge Road

January 3, 2018

Awards for Westbury’s ‘People of the Year’

January 17, 2023

Follow Social Media

ADVERTISEMENT
White Horse News logo design

Get in touch

  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Self Service Advertising
  • Issue Dates and Deadlines
  • Payment Information
  • Send Us Your News
  • Contact Us
  • Advertising Terms Conditions
  • Complaints
  • Placing a family message
  • Photos
  • Useful Information

More from White Horse News

  • Latest News
  • Sport
  • Digital Edition
  • Digital Archives
  • Newsletters
  • Westbury Says Thank You
  • Announcements
  • What's On
  • Local Listings
  • Jobs

FOLLOW US

© 2024 White Horse News | Wiltshire Publications Ltd, 31, Market Place, Melksham, Wiltshire, SN12 6ES Registered in England & Wales | 02627096

  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Legal Hub
  • Site Map
White Horse News
Melksham Independent News
White Horse News
White Horse News
ADVERTISEMENT

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
White Horse News
Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
No Result
View All Result
  • Latest News
    • Special Featured Stories
    • Featured Stories
    • WHN News
    • Crime
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Health
    • Business
    • Politics
  • About Us
  • Digital Edition
    • Digital Edition Archives
  • Contact us
  • Advertising with us
  • Family Messages
    • Announcements
    • Dealth Notices
    • In Memoriam
    • Birthday
    • Engagement
    • Wedding Messages
    • Westbury Says Thank You
    • Awards
  • More
    • Newsletters
    • Jobs
    • Local Listing
    • Book An Advert
    • Sports
    • Best of Westbury
      • Westbury Community
      • Fundraising
      • Volunteering & Helping Out
      • Clubs Organisations
    • What’s on
      • Events Entertainment
      • Arts and Culture
      • Things To Do

© 2024 White Horse News | Web Design & SEO by YOW Internet.