Worthing Musical Theatre Company celebrates 50th anniversary with My Fair Lady

It’s a production significant in more ways than one, as company chairman Lorraine Palmer explains. The comeback show also celebrates the company’s half century: “The 50th anniversary is very exciting and we are very much looking forward to celebrating with our first show back after the lockdowns,” Lorraine says.

“We were supposed to be doing Our House in March 2020 and unfortunately we had to close on the day we were due to go into the theatre. We were actually ready to go with the show. We were sitting in the theatre foyer waiting for the decision as to whether we could do it or not. It was quite a day. All the set was en route. It was literally that close. That was on the Tuesday and we were due to do the tech and dress and actually start the show on the Thursday. But there was nothing we could do. It was the government's decision and it was the right decision at the time but we were all devastated. Luckily our insurance paid out and we were able to recoup most of the money that we had paid but if that happened now we wouldn't. Insurance companies are not now covering for Covid any more.

“Our last production before that was Sunset Boulevard in the September and it was good. These shows cost an awful lot of money to put on and we don't always make a profit. Quite often in the year one show will make a small profit which will help with another show which might make a bit of a loss. I think Sunset Boulevard was OK, just a little bit of a loss.”

All of which means that it is three years since they were last on the stage: “We still had lots of contact with our members. We organised quizzes and all sorts of things and we had our AGM even though it was still virtual. It was good to meet up with people. We contacted people on a fairly regular basis through the various social media platforms. We just needed to keep the group together, and if we hadn't kept the group together we wouldn't be celebrating our 50th anniversary now. It was very important to us. It's not just about putting on shows. There is a very important social element to it all as well. We are all friends and we all like to do things outside of the theatre together if we can. We're all different ages and different types and it's just nice to keep in touch. And even though we had the pandemic we have got quite a lot of new members coming through which is great. When the pandemic was over, we started thinking about coming back and doing a show in March or September last year, but we were still slightly worried about Covid but as soon as we could we were advertising on our web page and other social media that we were looking for new members and we had quite a lot of people inquiring, just wanting to do something.”