link to Arts mapTheatre
in Oswestry
The performances were not always in the Theatre, for in 1776 a group of comedians from the Theatre Royal, Dublin, managed by Michael Heaton and Joseph Austin, played in the Town Hall. In November they acted "The Merchant of Venice", in a benefit performance for poor and distressed families: they returned to Oswestry in December, but there is no record of what they were playing this time. This was the time when the Oswestry Racecourse was used for horse racing, and the Race Week was a time of high social activity. In 1817 "Adrian and Orella", or "A Mother's Vengeance", was presented, together with the farce " Ban Ton or High Life Above Stairs". For getting to and from the theatre, a delicate lady could hire the Town Watchmen, Tommy Roberts and Richard Thomas, who, dressed in plain livery, and with lanterns at their sides, handled a sedan chair. On wet Sundays they would carry this with its occupant, right into the church if necessary. The management of the Theatre was under the care of George Stanton, and an order in the Borough Quarter Sessions for 1812 reads
Mr. George Stanton be permitted and licensed to occupy the Theatre in this Town as usual for the ensuing year.
Stanton was able to use the Theatre until March 1818, for in 1819 a new theatre, built and owned by Mr. William Ormsby-Gore, was opened in Willow Street. This theatre was next to the gasworks which were built by Robert Roberts, and opened in the next year, 1820. The theatre was the first building in Oswestry to be lit by gas lights. It seems that the old theatre was closed, and probably demolished, and after a lot of wrangling, during which it was proposed to build a Methodist Church on the site, the Victoria Rooms were eventually built on the ground, by a Public Liability Company, and were opened by the Earl of Powis on 15th September 1864. Mr. George Stanton did not lose his job, for his company was licensed by the August 1819 Quarter Sessions to appear in the New Theatre, which they did, presenting a play of special interest to the inhabitants of Oswestry. It was called "The Castle of Oswestry, or, The Siege of 1644". It was written by Henry Heathcote, and a copy of the play can still be seen in the Library.
In i822 a company of amateur actors, raised from the town, took over the theatre to give shows to raise money for the establishment of a town library. On February 15th there was a prologue, specially written by William Ormsby-Gore, and the plays "Speed the Plough" followed by "The Review". On May 23 the programme consisted of,: "The Heir At Law", "The Epilogue", "A Comic Song", and "The Review". On May 25 there was a prologue written, but not performed by Mr. J.F.M. Dovaston. Mr. Dovaston declined to deliver the prologue after he had had a violent disagreement with the other principals. His prologue was followed by "Speed the Plough", and "High Life Below Stairs" The plays grossed £147, but the expense incurred in putting them on were so heavy that there was nothing left over for the library!
An unnamed play was presented in the Boys National School Room in the Guildhall in 1836, and a letter to the Shrewsbury Chronicle afterwards confirmed the public's usual views of the amateur/professional divide; it praised the superiority of the amateur event over Mr. Stanton's buckskinned strollers. Benefit performances were always popular, and in 1838 Mr. Tranmer from the Theatre Royal, Brighton produced "Macbeth" (with original music) in aid of Mr. and Mrs. Conner. Mr. Conner played a witch, dressed as Hecate, and Mrs. Conner played Lady Macbeth. At the end of the play their 10 year old daughter sang "Pretty Star Of The Night", and the evening concluded with the farce "The Young Widow".
By 1850 the gallery at the new theatre was reckoned to be unsafe, and it was closed as a theatre, and converted into a malthouse, and then a warehouse. A hundred and forty years later the building is still standing in Willow Street. However, the closing of the theatre did not kill off playgoing entirely, as performances were switched to the Victoria Rooms, although staging a show in these surroundings did present enormous difficulties. One group which played there in the first years of this century, was the Church Theatre Club, which produced plays like: "Third Time Lucky", and "Brewsters Millions". There was also the Oswestry Dramatic Society, founded by Dr. O'Conner and G.B. Owen, which offered "Tons of Money", "Mr. Pim Passes By", and "The Man Who Stayed At Home".
In the professional line, Mr. Plant, with a company of eight players, including the famous Eugene Star, who retired to Welshpool, managed the Croft Theatre, a small wooden building with no gallery, located at the back of the Lower White Lion. Plays were performed throughout the year, with performances twice a week in the case of ordinary works, and one week runs for Shakespearean works. The Croft Theatre faded away around 1911, when the cinema began to establish itself. A theatre with an even shorter life was the King's Theatre, in New Street during, or just after the first world war, particularly to play to the garrisoned soldiers at Park Hall Camp. It was converted into the Century Cinema, and then, hike many other cinemas, into a Bingo Hall.
The first world war disrupted Oswestry's theatrical life, and it was as late as 1928 when the head of the Girls High School, Miss L. Mickleburgh, called a public meeting at the school, for all those interested in the theatre. At the meeting a committee was formed, which later expanded into the Arts Club. It began with play readings in a room in Berman House, and later moved to a house in Willow Street, where it stayed for two or three years. The Arts Club presented plays in the Victoria Rooms, and one of the first was "The Passing Of The Third Floor Back" by Jerome K. Jerome, produced by Miss Mickleburgh. Putting on plays at the Victoria Rooms had not become easier over the years, and the company had to build a stage and erect the scenery on the day of the performance. Nor could they rehearse in the Victoria Rooms beforehand without paying for the hire, an impossible financial burden. However, in the 1930s, they were able to move closer to the Victoria Rooms when they occupied The Foundry, in Victoria Street.
In 1935 Mr. G.W. Attfield (A Founder Member, and producer for many years) produced G.B. Shaw's " Pygmalion" . In, or about 1937, first floor premises became available in Oswald Road, opposite the Railway Coal Wharfs. They were in a very bad condition, but the members cleaned, repaired, redecorated, built a stage and hung curtains, and the Mayor, Alderman Scriven, performed the opening ceremony. Their first play was "She Stoops to Conquer". In 1941 the Arts Club members who were not otherwise engaged, took the comedy "George And Margaret" to Welshpool Cinema, to play to the troops.
A year later in 1942, the Little Theatre was requisitioned as a Sergeants' Mess, and it was 1946-47 before the Arts Club got it back, in such a condition that it needed cleaning and redecorating before they could open with another Attfield production, "When We Are Married".The Arts Club was destined to lose its premises again, but it says much for its tenacity and determination that it was able to establish itself again in the Guildhall, Oswestry, in a little theatre named after its distinguished producer "The Attfield Theatre". After all, the people of Oswestry love a show.