The Garden Suburb Theatre is an

amateur theatre Amateur theatre, also known as amateur dramatics, is theatre performed by amateur actors and singers. Amateur theatre groups may stage plays, revues, musicals, light opera, pantomime or variety shows, and do so for the social activity as well as f ...

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

named after the

Hampstead Garden Suburb Hampstead Garden Suburb is an elevated suburb of London, north of Hampstead, west of Highgate and east of Golders Green. It is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations. It is an example of early twentiet ...

, in which it originated.

History

Amateur drama in the

began as a series of annual Pageants starting in 1908. These were organised by the rather grandly titled Theoric Committee, which later renamed itself the Pageant Committee. In 1920 the committee became the more general Play and Pageant Union (P&PU). In its foundational year, this group built the theatre in Little Oak Wood which is still used by the group every July. The group continued producing plays in many indoor venues as well as the outdoor theatre in Little Oak Wood. The main hall of the Henrietta Barnett School was developed as a workable theatre stage by the P&PU and was the indoor home to the group for most of the twentieth century. In recent years factors such as increasing rental from the school and a wider geographic catchment for the theatre group have meant that performances are at a variety of venues around North London. The P&PU merged with the Speedwell Players (founded in 1929) to form the Hampstead Garden Suburb Dramatic Society in 1966. It was known under this name until 1992, when it switched to its present name.

Former members

With a history as far back as 1908, many former members have gone on to find fame, including *

Peter Mandelson Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson (born 21 October 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who served as First Secretary of State from 2009 to 2010. He was President of the Board of Trade in 1998 and from 2008 to 2010. He is the ...

Lord Mandelson, senior British politician. *

David McCallum David Keith McCallum Jr. (born 19 September 1933) is a Scottish actor and musician. He first gained recognition in the 1960s for playing secret agent Illya Kuryakin in the television series ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E''. In recent years, McCallum ...

, TV and film actor, best known for ''

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by MGM Television, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who wo ...

'' and ''

the Invisible Man ''The Invisible Man'' is a science fiction novel by H. G. Wells. Originally serialized in ''Pearson's Weekly'' in 1897, it was published as a novel the same year. The Invisible Man to whom the title refers is Griffin, a scientist who has devote ...

'' *

Michael Flanders Michael Henry Flanders (1 March 1922 – 14 April 1975) was an English actor, broadcaster, and writer and performer of comic songs. He is best known for his stage partnership with Donald Swann. As a young man Flanders seemed to be heading fo ...

, the lyricist and singer from the comedy duo

Flanders and Swann Flanders and Swann were a British comedy duo. Lyricist, actor and singer Michael Flanders (1922–1975) and composer and pianist Donald Swann (1923–1994) collaborated in writing and performing comic songs. They first worked together in a scho ...

Martin Furnival Jones Sir Edward Martin Furnival Jones CBE (7 May 1912 – 1 March 1997) was Director General of MI5, the United Kingdom's internal security service, from 1965 until 1972. Career Born in High Barnet and educated at Highgate School, Furnival Jones wa ...

, former head of MI5 *

Tessa Peake-Jones Tessa Peake-Jones (born 9 May 1957) is an English actress having appeared in ''The Danedyke Mystery'' (1979), ''Pride and Prejudice'' (1980), ''When We Are Married'' (1987), ''Up the Garden Path'' (1990–1993), ''So Haunt Me'' (1992–1994), ' ...

, TV actor best known as playing Raquel Turner, girlfriend of Del-Boy Trotter in Only Fools and Horses * Tom Ross-Williams, actor best known as Tennessee Williams in Vieux Carre (2012)

Current

The Garden Suburb Theatre is a thriving and welcoming community-based theatre group with a brief of providing the local community with greater understanding of the dramatic arts. It fulfils this brief through a programme of pieces chosen as much for their dramatic interest as their box-office draw, and by encouraging active participation from locals, whatever their age or level of experience. The most recent Honorary President of the society was Sir Donald Sinden until his death in 2014.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website

Facebook page
Amateur theatre companies in London Amateur_theatre_companies_in_England 1908 establishments in England Performing groups established in 1908