Flowers Final 28:02:25 - Flipbook - Page 109
that it must
Geoffrey
Roberts
be acted
and in
he order
suddenly
to understand
thought it would
it. Hebewas
a nice
always
ideabanging
to take on
his that
sister along too who he hadn't
seen since shemust
Shakespeare
was be
15.played
Fordham
for the
andman
I both
in the
took
street."
16mm movie cameras. We took some of the earliest colour
that Kodak produced. You had to have a filter on your camera and another on your projector.
"My father had organised the first tour to America and Canada, which was a very
"My brother
extensive
one.
Jack
Weand
were
I used
treated
to wait
likeuntil
royalty.
everybody
I meanhad
we gone
were down
in thetopress
the theatre
all the and then we used to creep
aroundThe
time.
the Americans
dress circlethought
and sit on
thatthe
westeps
wereofalltheabsolutely
central aisle
marvellous,
and watchyou
theknow.
play. That was very exciting and
We
then had
we used
a lovely
to watch
time. the
When
Flower
my family
father who
got back
all satheonhad
thealeft-hand
telegram side
fromgoing
one out
of in the interval and one of
my earliest
the
Cohen memories
brothers saying
is playing
theynoughts
were very
and crosses
interested
on the
in white
the film
pillars."
rights for 'the
Taming of the Shrew' and had the author written anything else! And that's
The moment
absolutely
true."Fordy came back from the war, my father said "over to you boy", the theatre, the brewery,
everything."
"People from all over the world used to come to theatre because there were so many connections in America
and they all came to "The Hill". I remember my mum used to call Stratford the hub of the universe". We used
to have wonderful tennis tournaments for the company at the Hill and that was enormous fun. I remember
having a tremendous battle with Trevor Howard who was a young actor.
"Frank Benson (theatre's actor manager) was a passionate cricketer and on one occasion he sent a telegram to
a theatrical agency "Send me a fast bowler who can play Laertes!"
Peter Hall was the big scene behind the creation of a London base at the Aldwych, which was a big step
forward and made the company a much more internationally known theatre. His reasoning, and I couldn't
agree with it more, is that it gives great versatility. Peter insisted we must spend the theatre's money because we
will never get any money from the government and the government should pay."
