Highnam Players

Highnam Players’ first production, ‘Aladdin’, was performed in January 1981.  Players’ founding members were Tom Fenton, Ian locks and Phil Brain and they had been involved in the church’s Valentine Supper evenings.  These were held in 1978, 1979 and 1980 and were arranged by the gentlemen of the village who provided supper for the ladies followed by entertainment.  The evening was emceed by Freddie Hulbert who wrote the sketches, with additional material supplied by the Rev’d John Leaver.  Memorable moments included the Fairies of Lassington, the Ladies of the WI and Highnam Cricketers.

The event was very popular and Ian, Tom and Phil felt that there would sufficient interest to revive Highnam Players.  Margaret Gelberg was asked to direct the pantomime ‘Aladdin’ and in July 1980 a fund raising ‘Strawberry Tea’ was held at Ian’s home and in August a ‘Sausage Sizzle’ was held in Tom & Debbie’s garden.  The first read through of ‘Aladdin’ was held at Highnam Court in September, with the first rehearsal at the end of the month.  On Thursday 29th January 1981 the curtain went up on, what The Citizen described as, our ‘ambitious panto’. 

Players have been putting on at least one production every year since then.  Our first straight play was ‘Table Manners’, by Alan Ackybourn, performed in the round in 1983.  From 1987 to 1999 we regularly performed at the King’s Theatre in Kingsbarton Street, Gloucester with classic productions such as ‘Plaza Suite’, ‘Blithe Spirit’, ‘Abigail’s Party’ and ‘The Killing of Sister George’.  We also entered the Gloucestershire Drama Association’s One Act Play Festival and our productions regularly won awards.  Best play for ‘The Bald Prima Donna’ and ‘An Englishman Abroad’, best production for ‘The Form’ and ‘Audience’ and our youth group won an adjudicator’s award for their production of ‘Ernie’s Incredible Illucinations’. 

Over the years there have been a number of musical evenings and reviews together with evenings of one act plays. We celebrated the new millennium with ‘Oh what a lovely Century’ and our first ‘radio play’, ‘Sudden Death at Highnam Court’, was performed in 2019.