Back in 1948, a group of stage-struck teenagers from the Unity Youth Club in Southwick, Sussex persuaded two members from the Southwick Players to speak to them on the subject of drama. This generated such interest that a group called the Unity Players was formed. The name was soon changed to the Young Wick Players.
One of the speakers, Elizabeth Penney, (known as Molly) was to be Wick's lady bountiful until her death in 1972. Rehearsals were held in her house, she taught, encouraged and directed the company and was its president for many years. Her husband George owned a coal-merchants yard on the banks of the river Adur and allowed the company to keep its scenery on his premises. When needed, this was loaded on a hand-cart and pushed to the theatre, some distance away.
In 1951, members, all under 21, performed Jane Steps Out in a barn that had been newly converted into a theatre in Southwick, near Brighton, and the historic Barn Theatre has been Wick's home ever since. The stage was very small in those days, with little in the way of amenities. The theatre has been improved over the years, and in 1998 there was a major programme to refurbish and enlarge the building, with the help of many sponsors, including the National Lottery. It now has partial raked seating, a large stage and state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems.
By 1962 founder members were of course 14 years older, so the title Young Wick was no longer suitable, and the name of Wick Theatre Company was adopted.
The company went from strength to strength, performing a great variety of plays, and a few musicals. Proving Wick is a close-knit company, it was able to repeat the production of Sailor Beware, first performed in 1959, for the 100th performance held 20 years later with largely the same cast. One past member actually came from Saltzburg, where she then lived, for a month in order to rehearse her original part.
Membership started at around 20 in 1948, and now stands at over 100. Since the beginning, Monday night has been Wick night, with members meeting up for play-readings and various social events.
Wick has won many awards in festivals over the years. Latterly it has done well in the Brighton and Hove Arts Council Drama Festival, in particular with The Madness of George lll, which earned the company five different awards.
A new Young Wick Group has recently been formed, offering training in speech and acting techniques. There has been a good response, and the group's first public performance - a three-night run of The Exam by Andy Hamilton, will take place at the beginning of August, 2004.
The company now performs up to six productions a year, some of these in the round, and prides itself on providing a varied programme which has recently included plays such as Kindertransport, The Accrington Pals, The Secret Rapture, The Dresser and Home, and in lighter vein, 'Allo 'Allo. Out of Order and Charley's Aunt.
Early this year Wick Theatre Company staged its first World Premiere, entitled Ciphers. This is an action-packed historical mystery play, with Elizabethan writer and poet Sir Francis Bacon as its central character. Ciphers was written and directed by Nick Young, currently Artistic Director of Rainbow Shakespeare, a professional company well-known across the South of England.
In September, the company is taking on the challenge of running two different plays alternately, in true 'repertory' style. The plays are Shakespeare's As You Like It, and Dennis Potter's Blue Remembered Hills. Though quite different in content, each is set in a forest, Shakespeare's Forest of Arden and Potter's Forest of Dean. So the Barn Theatre will be transformed into an atmospheric forest glade, in which both plays will be performed completely in the round.
More information about the company and its activities can be found on our website.
