A Bakery Doth Indeed A Theatre Make

L-R Maggie McInnes, Bryan Thomas, Rosemary Hare, Les Terrill, Marian Sinclair, Ray Hare

It was Mothers' Day. The weather was a tad capricious, but the warmth of the applause inside the theatre was indisputable. Ellis Ebell was both MC and performer, and with him on stage were Marian Sinclair, Maggie McInnes, Rosemary Hare, Bryan Thomas, Ray Hare and Les Terrill. Legends all. And legends also whose names cropped as performers, directors, designers, movers and shakers of that era. Names like Laurie Gellon, in attendance in the audience, Brian Crossley, Vin Foster, Grahame Murphy and others.

There was laughter and good humour, there were wry 'looks', there were reminisces and above all, sterling performances by all. They were holding scripts, but their talent just shone through and showed why that daunting step of converting a bakery made WLT such a powerhouse of community theatre. A gamble that absolutely paid off, and those who follow in more recent years owe a huge debt of gratitude to the vision and energy that bought the bakery and converted it.

We were given excerpts from Barefoot in the Park, the opening production in the new Albert Street little theatre in 1968, along with Relatively Speaking - 1972; Lysistrata - 1975; A Bunch of Ratbags - 1976; Journey's End - 1980; Equus - 1981; Present Laughter - 1985. Afterwards, people lingered over afternoon tea and bubbles, browsed the archival display and swapped stories. Many stories! Thank you Judi Clark, Lois Collinder and Robyn Legge … you three put months of work into ensuring a wonderful afternoon was had by all, Lois and Robyn at the helm on the day, and Judi in spirit from Canada.