Name/Title
Grimsby Players Guild "Battle of Wits" 1956Entry/Object ID
P2000-01-26-17-05Description
THE GRIMSBY PLAYERS’ GUILD
This small local theatre company provided top rate entertainment to the people of Grimsby and surrounding area for thirty years from 1947 to 1977.
The idea of a theatre group in Grimsby began with Rev. Canon Brooks and Molly Lucas shortly after the war in 1947 when people were craving lightness in their lives. Molly Lucas had been a Lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Nursing Corps and had served in Italy. After the war, she became actively involved in the Ladies Auxiliary of West Lincoln Memorial Hospital and proceeds from some of the early plays went the hospital. Canon Brooks had come to Grimsby a few years before in 1944 and was appointed rector of St. Andrew’s Anglican Church. He was a well-read and educated man and a keen amateur artist besides being interested in theatre and drama.
Molly Lucas and Canon Brooks organized a group and staged the first play at Moore’s Theatre, “Charley’s Aunt,” a popular comedy.The cast was a large one with many of the town’s businessmen taking part. Molly Lucas directed the play. Following the success of this play, the players’ guild was formed with an executive, committees, and a call for actors. From then on, the plays were held at the Grimsby High School auditorium.
The goal was to produce three full-length plays a year, with two or three members nights of one-act plays. Only the best plays such as The Importance of Being Ernest, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Rainmaker were chosen for production. These were successful not only because of the quality of the plays themselves but because of the talents of the actors who played in them. These were local men and women who came from all walks of life: clergymen, lawyers, teachers, dentists, secretaries, nurses, housewives, etc.
One long-standing actor was Len Bromley who was the Grimsby Postmaster. His wife, Ada Bromley, a Grimsby historian, also directed and acted in the plays and was complimented on her excellent performance in a play she performed at the Wentworth Drama League Festival hosted in the High School Auditorium in 1955. Owen Patterson, assistant to the minister of Trinity United Church and later ordained into the ministry, was another frequent actor. Herbert Gillespie, tax collector and treasurer for North Grimsby Township, performed in many plays throughout the years. In 1954 he was chosen as best festival actor at the Western Ontario Regional Drama Festival.
The people involved in the guild often performed different roles and took on directing roles as well as acting roles and serving on the executive. Along with Molly Lucas, Irene Martin, and many others, Margaret Gibson, a teacher at Grimsby High School directed a number of plays, specializing in one-act Canadian plays.
As well as performing locally, Grimsby Players’ Guild entered a number of regional drama festivals. As early as 1949, one of the Guild’s productions in the Wentworth County Drama League came to the attention of the Dominion Drama League which sent the Guild a complimentary letter. The 1950s was a heady period for the Guild, with a high membership and awards garnered at a number of regional festivals. At the 1951 Niagara Peninsula Drama League Festival, Grimsby Players won a trophy for best presentation of a Canadian play.The Guild went on to win awards at the Wentworth County Drama League Festival for one-act plays in 1952, 1955, 1956, 1957, and 1959. The awards were given for best visual play, best production, best actor, best actress, best supporting actor, and runner-up to best play.
Prior to 1964, the Guild had no dedicated space to hold their meetings, workshops and rehearsals or to store their costumes or equipment. That all changed when it acquired a barn on Olive Street and converted it into a studio. A grand opening was held in September. At this time, there were 60 members in the Guild.
The highest recorded membership was 500. However, during the 1960s and 1970s, membership and attendance at the plays went into a gradual decline. Also at this time, the composition of the Guild was changing: the active members were aging, had moved away or died. One notable highlight in this period, however, was the Centennial Year of 1967. In honour of Canada’s Centennial, the Players’ Guild put on 5 plays throughout the year, opening with Rattle of a Simple Man where members of Grimsby and North Grimsby Township were invited as guests.
As sports and other forms of entertainment became prevalent, fewer people attended the theatre. Reaching a point at which it was no longer feasible to carry on, the Players’ Guild decided to close its doors. Its assets of over $2,400 were donated to the Grimsby Secondary School Drama Club and went toward an upgrading of stage equipment in the auditorium.
For the actors, directors, stage managers and hands, set designers, lighting technicians, ticket sellers, marketing and publicity people and the myriad of the people that formed the Grimsby Players’ Guild, their participation in the theatre was a labour of love. Thanks to them and all their efforts the people of Grimsby enjoyed many years of fine drama right in their own community.Context
Grimsby Players Guild "Battle of Wits" 1956. Director Irene Martin, Len Bromley, Crich, Rutherford, Lindsay, Martin, Day, Gillespie
Awarded best production in Wentworth County Drama League Festival, April 1956.
Len Bromley best actor in role of Chung Tai.Collection
Societies - Drama & MusicLocation
* Untyped Location
beige Filing Cabinet