 Garden Suburb Theatre logo | |
| Abbreviation | GST |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1908 |
| Type | Amateur Theatre Company |
Region served | London |
Honorary President | Sir Donald Sinden |
Main organ | General Committee |
| Affiliations | Member of NODA |
| Website | www |
Formerly called |
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The Garden Suburb Theatre is an amateur theatre company named after the Hampstead Garden Suburb, in which it originated.
Amateur drama in the Hampstead Garden Suburb began as a series of annual Pageants starting in 1908. These were organised by the rather grandly titled Theoric Committee, which later renamed itself the Pageant Committee.
In 1920 the committee became the more general Play and Pageant Union (P&PU). In its foundational year, this group built the theatre in Little Oak Wood which is still used by the group every July. The group continued producing plays in many indoor venues as well as the outdoor theatre in Little Oak Wood. The main hall of the Henrietta Barnett School was developed as a workable theatre stage by the P&PU and was the indoor home to the group for most of the twentieth century. In recent years factors such as increasing rental from the school and a wider geographic catchment for the theatre group have meant that performances are at a variety of venues around North London.
The P&PU merged with the Speedwell Players (founded in 1929) to form the Hampstead Garden Suburb Dramatic Society in 1966. It was known under this name until 1992, when it switched to its present name. [1]
With a history as far back as 1908, many former members have gone on to find fame, including
The Garden Suburb Theatre is a thriving and welcoming community-based theatre group with a brief of providing the local community with greater understanding of the dramatic arts. It fulfils this brief through a programme of pieces chosen as much for their dramatic interest as their box-office draw, and by encouraging active participation from locals, whatever their age or level of experience.
The most recent Honorary President of the society was Sir Donald Sinden until his death in 2014.
Golders Green is an area in the London Borough of Barnet in England. A smaller suburban linear settlement, near a farm and public grazing area green of medieval origins, dates to the early 19th century. Its bulk forms a late 19th century and early 20th century suburb with a commercial crossroads. The rest is of later build. It is centred approximately 6 miles (9 km) north west of Charing Cross on the intersection of Golders Green Road and Finchley Road.
Barbara Jane Horrocks is a British actress. She portrayed the roles of Bubble and Katy Grin in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. She was nominated for the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for the title role in the stage play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, and received Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for the role in the film version of Little Voice.
Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson is a British Labour Party politician who served as First Secretary of State from 2009 to 2010. He was President of the Board of Trade in 1998 and from 2008 to 2010. He is the president of international think tank Policy Network, honorary president of the Great Britain–China Centre, and chairman of strategic advisory firm Global Counsel. Mandelson is often referred to as a Blairite.
Hampstead Heath is an ancient heath in London, spanning 320 hectares. This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London Clay. The heath is rambling and hilly, embracing ponds, recent and ancient woodlands, a lido, playgrounds, and a training track, and it adjoins the former stately home of Kenwood House and its estate. The south-east part of the heath is Parliament Hill, from which the view over London is protected by law.
Michael Henry Flanders was an English actor, broadcaster, and writer and performer of comic songs. He is best known for his stage partnership with Donald Swann.
Hampstead Garden Suburb is an elevated suburb of London, north of Hampstead, west of Highgate and east of Golders Green. It is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations. It is an example of early twentieth-century domestic architecture and town planning in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London.
Temple Fortune is a place in the London Borough of Barnet to the north of Golders Green. It is principally a shopping district used by residents of the Hampstead Garden Suburb. Between here and Golders Green, at Hoop Lane are two cemeteries – Golders Green Jewish Cemetery and Golders Green Crematorium. Religious buildings include the Catholic Church of St Edward the Confessor, St. Mary & Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church, and North Western Reform Synagogue.
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden was a British actor.
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Edith Ailsa Geraldine Craig, known as Edy Craig, was a prolific theatre director, producer, costume designer and early pioneer of the women's suffrage movement in England. She was the daughter of actress Ellen Terry and the progressive English architect-designer Edward William Godwin, and the sister of theatre practitioner Edward Gordon Craig.
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