TIPPS News
Thank you to all those of you who came to see our autumn production ‘Miranda’. Congratulations must go to Janet Farrow, the director and all the cast for a superb production. Some of you may have seen the photos in the Sidmouth Herald along with a great review from Tricia Barclay our NODA Representative.
Peter Blackmore, the author of the play, was apparently inspired to write it, after hearing of the Cornish legend of the Mermaid of Zennor. There is chair in the church there, dating from the Middle Ages, that has a mermaid carved on it. If you are interested in having a look just type, Mermaid Chair Zennor, into your search engine youcan read all about it.
We are not resting on our laurels, we now have got the cast together for our for pantomime ‘Aladdin’ which is, as usual, in February 2025 and we go straight into rehearsals on 14th November, full details will be in the next issue of the Tipton Times.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas from all at TIPPS.
Yvonne Kellett
The Early Days – A Previous Production of Miranda
The recent TIPPS brilliant production of Miranda by Peter Blackmore is not the first for Tipton St John as it was one of the five plays put on in the early days of the Tipton Players formed in 1947. It first appeared in 1950, only two years after it was written.
At that time the Hall, although in the same place, was very different and then called the Church Institute. For the first productions a stage was built at what is now the kitchen end using beer and milk crates covered with trestle table tops. This temporary stage was later erected at the end where the main entrance foyer is now. The curtain with fixtures and a facia was made by Coles of Ottery St Mary at a cost of £13.10s.0d but was only in position for the plays and taken down to be stored by a Mrs Sage.
The first permanent stage was not built until 1961 . Mr Jack Pease, who was for many years the leading force for drama production in the village, complained for some time about the difficulty of erecting the stage and asked for a permanent one to be built. The Institute agreed as long as it was done at no cost to them! Jack agreed to advance the money, oversee the building and when it was complete it would be the property of the Institute. Unsurprisingly he was given the go ahead. This cost £68.4s.6d, that is the equivalent of approx £1350 today. A generous gift.
The stage was not erected in its present position until 1979.
What would the 1950 cast have made of our present facilities I wonder? Now we have a stage which is the envy of many local societies, although the seating capacity for audience with a good view of the stage has little altered.
Ann Knight
The 1952 production of The Ghost Train
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