SUNDAY marks 70 years since the curtain first went up at Southport Little Theatre.
And, catastrophe aside, said curtain has been in regular use ever since.
Southport Dramatic Club, which grew from the St Andrews Old Girls Dramatic Society, was formed in 1920, but it took another 16 years for the group to have a permanent home, when the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society agreed for land at the back of their Hoghton Street offices to become the site for the Theatre we all know today.

A scene from Dear Brutus - Southport Dramatic Club’s first production in the Little Theatre

Miss Margaret Hill was five years old when the foundation stone was laid on October 24, 1936 and is now a vice president of Southport Dramatic Club.
Margaret remembers: “It was at the back of the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society, where the theatre car park is now.
“I don’t remember if I gave my bouquet to the Mayoress or not, but I remember being cross that there were three other children there who got to go to the front when the photograph for the newspaper was taken and I had to sit at the back on a young woman’s knee!
“I’ve been involved with the Club ever since. In my twenties I was a member of the chorus for the potted pantomimes.”

The successful Trojan Women production of 1949

Almost a year later, on September 30, 1937, amateur theatre supporter and former Governor General of Canada, Lord Bessborough, officially opened the brand new building, with JM Barrie’s Dear Brutus the first ever play performed by SDC in their new home.

A vintage performance of You Can’t Take It With You

Throughout its history, Southport Dramatic Club has adhered to founder Elsie Leivesley’s principle: “... to put on sound, well presented plays and to give contributions to charity.”
When war broke out, the Theatre did more than just that, offering a temporary home to Sheffield Repertory Company after the government ordered the closing of all major theatres for audience safety during air raids.
This meant that future television actors Cyril Luckham (The Omega Factor, Doctor Who), Lesely Barrett (Emergency Ward 10), Jessica Dunning (Z Cars) and Lally Bowers (Play of the Month, Up Pompeii, A Fine Romance and many, many other shows) all appeared regularly at the Little until the autumn of 1946. The esteemed group never forgot their time in Southport, and returned for a reunion in 1979.

A Flea In Her Ear from 1971

A couple of firsts were achieved in 1960, when Stephen Foster became the very first musical staged by the SDC. It proved a success and was followed by others, including Salad Days in 1963, the only show in Little Theatre history which received a week’s extension due to 100 per cent audience capacity.

Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband from 1969

The Southport Little Theatre story, which includes phoenix-like comebacks from two major fires and the threat of losing the venue forever, continues in next week’s LookBack.
Do you recognise anyone from these production shots of past SDC performances? If so, leave your memories below.

The 1966 programme for Everybody Loves Opal

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