Budleigh Past and Present

This year is the 50th anniversary of Imperial Productions performing shows in Budleigh Salterton.   Its name has gone through various changes over the years, but the gifted performers who’ve been entertaining Budleigh audiences for over half a century can all trace their roots back to London’s Imperial College. One can get a bit lost amidst all the name changes: IC Dramatic Society, IC Operatic Society – or ICOS as it became in 1956; and then ICU Musical Theatre Society in 2003… but there was also Imperial Opera until 2007, when it finally became Imperial Productions.  The company’s relationship with the town goes back a long way, states the website.   Since 1968, the Public Hall, pictured above, has been the permanent location for the annual summer tour. Indeed, this is now the only venue at which the company performs outside of London. But why Budleigh?  No precise answer has emerged. ‘Our love of the place pr...

Partly based on Varney’s autobiography The Little Clown (1990) this new title has been published to accompany the 2016 exhibition at Fairlynch Museum.  Our Little Clown follows Varney’s upbringing in London’s Canning Town and his early introduction to show business. A self-taught musician, at the age of 15 he was entertaining audiences in East End working-men’s clubs, playing the piano, piano-accordion and singing.  World War Two saw him initially working in factories before he joined the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME). Later, along with the likes of Harry Secombe, Eric Sykes and Spike Milligan he joined the Stars in Battledress, entertaining the troops. His post-war career took off as he developed his skills as a comedian, appearing on the West End stage and topping the bill in music hall. Then came his success in shows like The Rag Trade and On the Buses.  Varney’s talent as a straight actor is seen in his tragicomic performan...

Ads for Our Little Clown, the 2016 tribute to Reg Varney at Fairlynch, are getting quite a lot of attention. See http://www.onthebusesfanclub.com/id184.html

  This image that I posted on Fairlynch’s Facebook page got a fair bit of interest recently. Yes, ‘there is a connection’ I wrote, but I left it at that. So here’s  a bit of what I’ve found during the research for my forthcoming booklet about Reg Varney which will accompany the 2016 exhibition ‘Our Little Clown’ at Fairlynch Museum.  Yes, Reg did indeed play Shakespeare. Here he is as the clown or ‘wise fool’ Touchstone, a performance for which he won praise in a 1953 production of  As You Like It at the celebrated Mermaid Theatre.  The above booklet, published in 1951 and found among Reg's papers, tells the story of the 20th-century Mermaid Theatre, the life's work of actor Bernard Miles with his wife, Josephine Wilson. His original Mermaid Theatre was a large barn at his house in the St. John's Wood area of London. This seated 200 people, and during 1951 and 1952 ...

Never mind the gaps I’m busy making what I think will be the first panel for our 2016 Reg Varney exhibition at Fairlynch Museum. It’s a selection of the people associated with the Budleigh area who, as I put it, ‘have given pleasure to millions, with their contribution to theatre, cinema or the media.’ Here it is. It’s still only a draft, with corrections to be made and gaps to be filled. Please let me know if I’ve missed anyone out. The panel is likely to be a permanent exhibit in Fairlynch Museum, to show how the area has been blessed with quite a number of entertainers, writers and artists who’ve kept us entertained. That includes the various drama clubs and societies, not forgetting the wonderful Imperial Productions who have been entertaining Budleigh audiences for so many years. No, not a dance troupe! But it was not an entertaining image that I saw on the front page of last Saturday’s Times ...