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Jack and the
Beanstalk
Jack and the Beanstalk
ended its seven
week run on 1st February 2003. The pantomime broke all box office
records and sold every single seat at every single performance!
Theatre
Manager Given Freedom of Borough
Vivyan Ellacott,
General Manager and Artistic Director of the Kenneth More Theatre was
honoured with the Freedom of the London Borough of Redbridge at an
Extraordinary Council Meeting on the 17th October 2002.
The
Mayor of Redbridge presented Vivyan with a silver casket containing a
sealed and illuminated copy of the resolution inscribed on parchment, and
offered congratulations on behalf of the Council and people of
Redbridge. The meeting ended with the Councillors and Officers giving a
standing ovation to Vivyan.
A special Banquet was also arranged in Vivyan's honour at the Sir James
Hawkey Hall, Woodford Green on the following Monday when the Leaders and
most of the Councillors and Officers as well as friends from the
theatrical world and personal friends attended. The evening was again
hosted by the Mayor of Redbridge and many tributes were paid to Vivyan.
He is
the first non-politician to be honoured by the Borough in this way and is
the first Freeman since 1994.
MORE PHOTOS OF THE EVENT
A
Message from the Theatre Club Chairman
On Thursday
23rd May Redbridge Council voted to confer the Freedom of the Borough on
Vivyan Ellacott, Manager and Artistic Director of the Kenneth More
Theatre. No higher honour
can be conferred by Redbridge Council—and, indeed, only eight
individuals have been so honoured since the formation of the
London Borough of Redbridge. This
decision is the cause of absolute delight to everyone at the Theatre.
The Honour
cites Vivyan’s 30 years of dedication to the arts in Redbridge.
During these years he has inspired a generation of
young artists to strive for artistic quality, instilled a sense of
artistic integrity, and given a large number of performers the courage to
aim at the highest levels of the theatrical profession.
There are numerous people working in all branches of Theatre today
who will freely acknowledge their debt to Vivyan’s inspiration.
He has
enriched the lives of tens of thousands of local people;
his 27 successive pantomimes have
enthused countless children with a love of theatre. He has
succeeded in creating a true community theatre.
Vivyan has
achieved all this through his personal commitment, energy and drive. The
overwhelming force of his enthusiasm has inspired teams of people to
support him, campaign with him, and to share his love of the Kenneth More.
After 30 years in the job, he “IS” the Kenneth More Theatre.
The Theatre
Club has always known that Vivyan is something special.
An army of people—performers, designers, technicians, volunteers,
audience and fellow-professionals in other theatres—have always known
that Vivyan is a special asset to our community.
The honour that has been conferred by Redbridge Council
resoundingly proves that the Council itself
wholeheartedly agrees with the rest of us.
We are
delighted beyond measure by this news and express our gratitude to the
Council for its quite wonderful decision.
And, of course, we express to Vivyan our congratulations, joy and
delight at the honour conferred on him.
Barbara
Hills
Chairman
On behalf
of all the members of the Kenneth More Theatre Club
The Freedom
of the Borough is a very special award..
We know of several performers who have been so honoured –
Gracie Fields at
Rochdale
, for example – but we’d love to hear of any other theatre managers
who have been similarly honoured. Please
e-mail us at kmtheatre@aol.com if
you know of any
Car
Parking - More News
From the
beginning of November a new system will be introduced at the Town Hall’s
staff car park. During weekday
evenings the car-park will now be closed to the general public, but will
be available for use for certain Council activities. The KMT is a
Council-controlled organisation, and therefore ticket-holders for the
current evening’s performance will be allowed to use this car-park.
A barrier will be in place and admission will be on production of a
valid ticket for that evening, or on production of a Club Membership Card
where details can be checked against the booking records for that
evening’s show. The barrier will be manned one hour before each
performance. There will be no
access after curtain-up time. There
are a limited number of spaces, and admission will clearly be on a
“first-come, first-served” basis.
On some nights there will other activities involving council
facilities and clearly we will have to share the spaces.
On Council Meeting nights access
will not be until
7.15pm
, and only very few spaces will be available.
The car-park
will remain open to the general public on Saturday daytimes (subject to a
parking fee up to
5.30pm
, afterwards free) and on Sunday daytimes (free of charge).
The car park
entrance is in
Chadwell Road
, but there is a small gate leading directly onto
Oakfield Road
, facing the Theatre – this provides a pedestrian exit from the car park
to the theatre.
The
multi-storey car-park is now open until
2am
most mornings and has had a number of security devices and additional
lighting installed. The
car-park in
Albert Road
offers a number of spaces (with pedestrian access to the theatre via the
underpass next to the Library)
Immediately
outside the front of the Theatre – on the theatre side of the road (and
stretching up to the Pedestrian area - there are “No Parking”
restrictions until after curtain-up time.
Patrons are occasionally caught out and receive Parking Tickets.
There are notices on each lamp-post – but it is easy to miss them
in the rush to get into the theatre and the delight at finding an empty
space right outside. Please be
warned!
 Theatre
Manager, Vivyan Ellacott, was presented with a "thank you"
award from the charity Wanstead and Woodford AJEX - charity which raises
money for disabled ex-servicemen. The Charity has presented an annual
fund-raising show at the KMT for the past sixteen years and the
Chairman, Maurice Wise, cited Vivyan's wholehearted support,
encouragement and assistance throughout this time.
The award was presented by
actress MAUREEN LIPMAN, who was the top of the bill in this year's
charity show on Sunday 21st July.
Vivyan said he was honoured
and delighted by the award - but felt a fraud accepting it from Maureen
Lipman - whose charity work is legendary - and from Maurice Wise whose
fund-raising abilities over the years have been phenomenal.
Schools
Tour is a Big Success
The
“Introduction to Theatre” tour of Redbridge Junior Schools has been a
great success. With Nigel Ellacott, Peter Robbins, Andrew Ryan and Chris
Musgrave – the KMT company visited
18 schools and played to over 5,000 children.
The feedback from children and teachers alike has been very
positive.
The
Introduction to Theatre Roadshow will be in the
Birmingham
area for much of the
Autumn term. Further
details are available from Nigel’s website:
New
Cinema Complex Opens
The new
Cineworld Complex has now opened directly across the road from the KMT. It
has eleven screens, is a strikingly good looking building, and clearly is
a great new attraction to the Town Centre.
We think it is a complement to and not a rival of the KMT – and
it certainly has turned our part of town into the cultural and
entertainment quarter of the Borough.
The downside?
Parking is still a great worry.
The multi-storey along the road has gained an extra two floors and
the Council now opens the Town Hall car-park most nights (avoid the
bi-monthly Thursday night when there’s a Council Meeting and the carpark
is closed to the public!). However
– the vastly increased number of people flocking to the Town Centre at
night seems to outweigh the number of spaces.
WOODFORD
ACTRESS HONOURED AT HER BIRTH PLACE !
Redbridge
Council has honoured the memory of local actress Lynn Fontanne by
commissioning a commemorative plaque at her birthplace - 6 Station
Terrace, 96 Snakes Lane, Woodford Green, Essex, England.
On Thursday
March 14th the plaque was unveiled by veteran actor Sir Donald Sinden,
who knew Lynn and stayed with her and her husband Alfred Lunt at their
home in America.
Lynn
Fontanne was born on 6th December 1887 and lived there until she was 29
years old. She found fame in America where she met and married Alfred
Lunt in 1922. The Lunts became the greatest husband and wife acting duo
of their time. They are one of only a few actors that have a theatre
named after them. Theirs is the “Lunt Fontanne” on W.46th Street in
New York. Lynn died on 31st July 1983.
The idea for
a plaque first came from Roger Fisher, a former Redbridge resident and
second cousin to Lynn. He and other members of Lynn’s family joined
the Mayor of Redbridge, Cllr Alan Weinberg at the unveiling ceremony.
Following
the unveiling, the party returned to Ilford’s Kenneth More Theatre for
a reception, where Sir Donald was presented with cufflinks bearing the
official Redbridge coat of arms. Artistic Director, Vivyan Ellacott,
pictured here with Sir Donald Sinden, hosted the event and had prepared
a display of Lynn Fontanne memorabilia, including a video
presentation.
More
photos from the event
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