History of Second Thoughts
The idea to form a new drama group in Stratford originally c ame from Alan Hawkins, a former member of The Cygnet Players, a group based in the
Warwickshire village of Studley.
Centuries Drama Workshop
Alan's idea was for the new group to use workshop
methods to develop and perform original material. The first project, started in 1983, was based on The Centuries of Nostrodamus, hence Centuries Drama Workshop was
advertised in Stratford papers and started to attract some interest, drawing in several people who are still with us.
From Alan's living room, the growing group moved out into the Stratford Teacher Centre.
Eventually it became clear that the workshop approach alone would not be enough to keep the
group together and that purely original material would struggle to attract audiences. So the decision was taken to reform as a "proper" drama group. The name "Second Thoughts" was
chosen to reflect that change of direction.
Many of the founding members brought with them experience from other drama groups. This led to
agreement that Second Thoughts should not be run by a committee and that all members would be able to contribute to decision making through an open monthly planning meeting. The elected
officers of the group would be discouraged from holding their posts for more than 3 or 4 years and Second Thoughts would look for interesting and challenging plays to perform, rather than safer,
lightweight material.
On stage at last
The first production, in 1984, was held in the tiny village hall in Binton, a village mid way between
Stratford and Evesham. With no stage, wings, dressing rooms or facilities of any kind, it was an austere start. From there we progressed to the Drama Studio at Stratford College of Further
Education, a much more accomodating venue, which served us well until 1988. By then it had become impossible to juggle the increasing activity of the college drama department with our needs
for space over the week of a production, so we moved again to the newly built Civic Hall in the centre of Stratford.
Fifteen years and over 30 productions later, with the help and support of the staff, the Civic Hall has
become our most regular and successful venue. For rehearsals, any number of pub rooms and church halls have witnessed our productions struggle into life, but for the most part we now use St
Peters Mission in Manor Road.
From time to time we have inhabited other venues. For Great Expectations and The Sword and the
Sorrow we used the Waterside Theatre. We have performed in pubs and village halls as part of the Forest of Arden Festival, experiences that have drawn mixed reactions from both cast and
sometimes unreceptive pub customers, and we have performed in the streets of Stratford and Leamington.
Adventures at home and abroad
Occasionally the group ventures much further afield. The Golden Pathway A nnual, after a Forest of Arden village hall run and a spell at Stratford Civic Hall, was
taken to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, drew respectable audiences, given its out-of-centre location and got a good review from The Scotsman. Even more adventurous, in June
1999 members of Second Thoughts joined forces with Stratford College students in a trip to the German town of Meiningen, where they took part in performances, in German and English, of A Midsummer Nights Dream, with groups from
Germany and Australia.
Probably the greatest watershed in the group's progress was the decision to tackle the works of
Shakespeare and the discovery of Halls Croft as the ideal venue. Having cracked something on the scale of Twelfth Night gave us the confidence and track record to take Amadeus to the RSC's
Swan Theatre, and Toad of Toad Hall to The Other Place. Since Twelfth Night we have taken a classic production to either the RST or Hall’s Croft every other year and these productions have
become a highlight for members and audience alike.
Where the money comes from
Funding is always a problem for drama groups. We charge a subscription, but try to keep it down
to a non-deterrent level - it's certainly a lot less than a soccer club season ticket. We also try to
keep ticket prices at a reasonable level, as a result of which most Civic Hall productions just about break even. A number of local businesses take adverts in our programmes and we have had
generous production sponsorship from others, including Midland & Regional Properties Ltd, CSC and NFUMI. Welcome regular grants come from Stratford Town Trust.
We also had a substantial grant from the National Lottery, through the Arts for Everyone scheme,
for our Mary Wollstonecraft project. Sadly our bid for a lottery grant to buy mobile lighting equipment was turned down, but in summer 2000 we were able to build a scenery store and
workshop close to the Civic Hall, with help from Stratford on Avon District Council and the Stratford
building firm J. Harris & Sons. When, in 2006, this site was no longer available, we were fortunate
to be able to move to Long Marston Engineer Park, for which we are grateful to Mike Brain, now Chair of Stratford District Council and Peter Robbins, a director of St Modwen Properties Plc.
In all of this, the help and advice we have had from the Stratford District Council Arts Officer, and
also from West Midlands Arts, has been indispensible.
From strength to strength
Drama is a bug that bites deep if you let it. Some members that joined us as teenagers are now
working in theatre or completing drama courses. Other members have gone into theatre-related businesses or arts administration. A handful of thriving romances started backstage (a few even led
to marriage) and we now have second and even third generation members of Second Thoughts. In a wider social context, the group has spawned a five-a-side football team and a rock band.
We continue to look for ways to grow. In 1996 our web site was quite unusual and seldom visited;
now it seems every club has one and ours helps to generate audiences and a steady stream of membership enquiries. We have taken professional advice on marketing and occasionally someone
talks wistfully about having our own theatre, a huge commitment that we probably wouldn't need if Stratford had an Arts Centre.
Alan Hawkins was chairman for four years and then, like all good parents, left the child to get on
with it. Which it has done, with great success, way beyond the expectations of anyone who responded to the adverts for Centuries Drama Workshop in 1983
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