by Barry Southwell

(Written for the 50th Anniversary)

In the spring of 1948 Mrs. Christina Stoker, a keen member of Phoenix Operatic Society, received a telephone call from Mr. G.E.D. Halahan the general manager of Steel, Peech & Tozer & Co. It was a time when management at the works took a keen interest in all aspects of social services. He asked Mrs. Stoker if she would come down to the works to see him for an informal chat. It appeared he had been to see the operatic section's show that year and felt that whilst the dancing and singing was good, the show had been let down by the lack of good acting by the principals. Chris was asked if she, along with others, could start a "Green Room" within the operatic section, with the aim of improving the acting side of future shows. In return Mr. Halahan promised his full backing and encouragement.

Christina immediately enlisted the help of Connie Charles, Eric Jenkinson (who became Chairman), A. J. Palmer (Vice Chairman), Jack Walshaw (secretary), Austin Wilson (asst. secretary) and a committee consisting of Sister Milton, Jane Coghlan, J. Marney, Geoff. Price, Frank Cooper and Vic de Roeck. With Harry Taylor acting as business manager the Dramatic Group was formed, adopting the Phoenix Players name in January 1951.

It was decided that the first production would be a comedy called "Storm in Port" by James R. Gregson, the venue to be the Temperance Hall (Wellgate, Rotherham) and the producer Jane Coghlan, (a founder member, actress and producer with Rotherham Repertory Co. and a lady well known to our operatic audiences for her successes in that sections musicals) the play to be produced for two nights Thursday & Friday the 13th & 14th of January 1949. According to the press at the time the play was "a success", played to capacity audiences and we had to turn lots of disappointed people away, what a start! Our next venture was a play reading, one of the things that are not done very often these days. "Fresh Fields” by Ivor Novello was selected and produced by Janey Coghlan, again on Tuesday 17th May 1949 in the staff canteen. Admission was free and another success was recorded.

About this time Connie Charles took over the post of secretary, a position she held until 1965, sixteen years in which the society established itself as a force in local dramatics. Our first five years were under the Chairmanship of Eric Jenkinson, a man well known and loved for his dedication to the theatre, leading eventually to his appointment to become national president of the "National Operatic & Dramatic Association", a country wide association committed to the enhancement of theatre all over the British Isles. With Harry Taylor as an irascible business manager, whose slogan seemed to be "nothing is good enough for Phoenix sets", the society embarked on its first ten years with great enthusiasm. Despite earlier fears it was found that there was a lot of talent lying dormant both in the operatic society and eventually in the people who came to join us once the name was known in the town.
 
This then was the outlook in the summer of 1949 when Jane Coghlan said unfortunately she would not be able to produce the next play, which was to be "Till Further Orders". It is often said that "come the hour, come the man" this was no exception. Albert Meakin offered to produce the next play. His offer was accepted and Phoenix gained a producer and an inspiration for the next five years. Alfred produced twelve plays in those five years and under his guidance the society prospered, the standard of the plays and the players improved tremendously and Phoenix was standing shoulder to shoulder with other theatrical societies in the town. It was a sad day for us when Alfred announced that he was leaving to go into the "ministry" and would no longer be available to produce for us.

From here on a new era dawns for Phoenix, a change in producers saw a change from one producer all the time to three producers, each doing one play a season. The first three of the new set up were Alf Coates, Laurie Lingard & Eleanor Stephenson, all as different as chalk & cheese with regard to technique. Alf liking the plays that whilst amusing also had a serious side, Laurie loved the nonsense comedies, nothing serious but a good laugh, whereas Eleanor with her training as a drama & movement teacher liked to tackle good meaty plays, either drama or comedy. It was this era that brought home to everyone that we were capable of doing a far wider range of theatre. In 1956 Alf Coates laid down his producers script and in 1957 we had the double blow of both Laurie and Eleanor leaving us but again we were fortunate that Stanley Miller and Fred Cookson came forward to take over the empty producers chairs. And then in 1960 Barry Southwell was invited on to our list of producers.

Overall the period from 1948 to 1960 had in its own way been very good to us, as indeed we had been very good to it. A lot of sterling work was put in over that period because it was a period like the real Phoenix coming up from the ashes. Everybody was interested and anything that had to be done was done as an everybody project. We produced our plays in the Assembly Rooms of the Town Hall and they were exactly that! An assembly hall which we had for two evenings to change into a theatre, paint or paper the set,beg,borrow or steal the properties from each others homes and rehearse the dress rehearsal prior to doing the play at the end of the week. The ladies got changed in the ladies cloakroom with the audience coming in and out and the men got changed in the refreshment room with the audience coming for a cup of tea in the interval.  The stage was terribly small with hardly any room on the off stage right side and all the electrician’s boards and switches, along with the electrician on the off stage left side.  Although we went from strength to strength when we went to the "Civic" I’m sure we lost a little of the common touch when we left the Assembly Rooms and had to compete in a new environment.

After two or three years of wheeler-dealing, denial by the council of the day and tremendous pressure from the Operatic & Dramatic societies in the town, we finally obtained a "Civic Theatre” to replace the old "Regent Theatre". It was felt by most societies that they had been sold down the river because the theatre had obviously been designed and fitted for the production of plays, rather than plays and musicals for which it was needed. It was to the musical societies credit that they adapted and overcame the obvious pitfalls the theatre held for them. Many shows are presented by operatic societies today based on flying and trucking etc.
 
Meanwhile Phoenix had been making its plans and Jack Wilkinson stood down from his Chairmanship to make room for the expertise of Eric Jenkinson, fresh from his spell as National President of N.O.D.A. It was reckoned that now it was a whole different ball, game we were producing plays in a professional theatre and competing with not only other local societies but also with professional companies like the Lincoln Theatre Company and also other touring company's at that time.

As the summer of 1960 approached when the theatre would open, the committee decided to err on the cautious side and only produce two plays in the first season because the theatre was an unknown factor. Nobody knew if the audiences of Rotherham would take the theatre to its heart or would they just dismiss it as just another council white elephant? Even then as now the Steel, Peech & Tozer social club budget's had to be met every year, it was decided that Fred Cookson would be given the honour of producing our first play in the new theatre and he chose "Saturday Night at the Crown", a comedy by Walter Greenwood (a play Barry Southwell produced again in 1985 to celebrate 25 years of "The Civic Theatre").

A new Theatre! A great comedy! And a completely new audience to please and attract for the future! We need not have bothered to worry because before the play opened we had "house full" notices for every performance. What a start, something we didn't repeat again until 1982 with "The Stirrings in Sheffield on a Saturday Night".

We must now look forward to the future, is the society going to survive present day values? Each generation complains that the next generation have got it too easy and the Phoenix Players is no different from any other section of society. Most of the official positions within the society are filled by older people with their enthusiasm and there are very few young members coming along to join us and eventually take up these positions. There is a reluctance among people these days to "get involved", they are quite happy for other people to keep the society going as long as it's there when they want to come back and get involved again. We know that these days there are so many attractions for the young people, so many operatic societies, drama groups, and the G.C.E. Years plus many, many other activities for them to do that they are spoiled for choice. This is a wonderful hobby but you only get out of it what you put in to it. A lot of the backbone of the society will have disappeared within the next 10 years, what then for the future? Will we just be another item for all our yesterdays?

For the record the dictionary states a Phoenix is a beautiful mythical bird which lived for 500 years, burned itself on a pyre, and rose youthfully alive from the ashes to live another period. Lets hope history doesn't repeat itself!

by Julie Webb

(Written for the 60th Anniversary)

The Players now have specific Aims and Objectives, but having been with the group for more than 50 years now, it seems to me that they have always been inherent in what we have done from the beginning.

     Aims – To provide a Section of the Phoenix Sports and Social Club, which ensures that the members enjoy the experiences of live theatre, through Drama presentations, and to uphold the standing of the Club in the community.

     Objectives –
To present regular drama productions to the general public at the Rotherham Civic Theatre and at other suitable venues.
To choose plays for presentation which will –

          a) be suitable for the ability of the members but will also extend their acting skills according to individual needs.

          b) be acceptable to the theatregoers who are our patrons, while ensuring variety of style and period each season. To look to promote new plays and seek out new audiences.
     To encourage and train the members to be competent in backstage and F.O.H. skills.
     To encourage a group spirit and appreciation of team work while actively seeking new membership from those experienced or new to theatre skills.

Although a relatively small group, we strive to maintain a standard which is appreciated by our audiences. We appreciate that many of our patrons love to laugh and so for the majority of our sixty years we have presented a farce and a comedy of a different style during each season. The third play will be a mystery, a murder or a story with a serious theme. We continue to take pleasure in researching plays from different periods and presenting them as authentically as possible on a limited budget. We hope to continue this policy to the satisfaction of our customers.
The main changes we have seen during the last decade have been in matters not obvious to our audiences but familiar to those of you in the current workplace. Health and Safety have been the buzz words for the last few years. We are now required to conform to many more regulations on and back stage. We have to have a Risk Assessment for all our procedures, while erecting the set and during the production. Our Health and Safety Officer, at present Tracey Briggs, has become a V.I.P. in understanding and implementing the legislation. More recently Child Protection has come to the fore in theatrical productions. At present we only use children occasionally in our plays but we still have to have all safeguards in place. We have benefited in these matters from our membership of the National Operatic and Dramatic Association and also from workshops organised at the Civic Theatre to improve Front of House and Backstage skills.

I trust that the Players will continue to bring pleasure to the theatregoing public of Rotherham for many more years. We look forward to there being a new theatre in the town and that we will tackle the new challenges successfully, while remembering the old with nostalgia.