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In 1992 a small group of dissillusioned would-be actors met in
an upstairs room to discuss the possibility of putting on a play
that the public would actually want to see. Should we put on Ayckbourn
or Shakespeare? Shakespeare was decided upon. Should we put on a
comedy or a tragedy? Comedy it was. Would we get more than two men
and a dog at the performance? That would remain to be seen. So began
the Lincoln Shakespeare Company and looking back at those first
heady days of fun and uncertainty it seems incredible that we put
on plays with a handful of enthusiasts and absolutely no money.
I remember being thrilled when 35 people turned up for our first
performance! The seats were placed on the grass having been lovingly
wheeled down from the Cathedral, the weather held for all 4 performances
and only one audience member sat on a chair that sank into the earth
and spent the second half listing to one side. That was
Twelfth Night mark one.
25 plays later we are only slightly wiser, we spend much more money,
we play to audiences in excess of 35 and we still have fun. I have
fond memories of all the plays; how could I forget
Romeo and Juliet where Jo (Clark)'s foot got stuck in the trench
at the Bishop's Old Palace and we corpsed to such a degree that
we spent the rest of the play in decidedly damp tights, or
A Midsummer Night's Dream where we used the torches for the
first time and regularly singed each other. Or the
Scottish play in the cathedral where no-one heard a word and
the show seemed dogged by snow and strange happenings. I recall
Antony and Cleopatra where the stage was so small that we spent
the whole play apologetically squeezing past each other.
The Merchant of Venice where we all had difficulty in remembering
the lines, the poor man who collapsed at the gala performance of
Hamlet and Love's Labour's Lost
where I realised my lifelong ambition to be a pop star.
There are fond memories of them all and of the many actors who
have spent time with us and who have enriched the plays and the
company by their presence. We have spent the last 9 years sewing,
building, begging, panicking, learning, and making fools of ourselves
in equal amounts. I have enjoyed it all.
Long may it continue.
Liz Lucas, vintage LSC member
March 2001
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