Peter Goss, my godfather, and David Poulson, my Dad, met while working as actors in repertory theatre at the Theatre Royal, Bath in August 1954. Both had been in weekly rep for several years, long enough to have some idea about how to produce a play as well as act in it. When I asked my mother, actress Yvonne Forster, whether it was Dad’s youthful good looks that attracted her, she said it was his ability to bring order to a chaotic production she was acting in (in Dartford). In some scribbled notes Dad made for a memoir (which he never completed), he described a performance where he was acting as a human door hinge for a broken part of a set (in between being fired by a furious producer!) – the show must go on…
Peter Goss was 6 years older than David, had grown up in Scarborough, Yorkshire, and after the war had done his apprenticeship as an actor in rep in Hull, Leeds, York, Palmer’s Green and Bath, among others – a handsome man who frequently received praise for his many and varied roles, generally as a supporting player versus a lead.
David Poulson, 24, had married a fellow actor, Yvonne Forster, 21, in July 1950. They continued to travel the country in various touring companies doing a 6- to 10-week season before moving on. Newspaper stories place them together in a number of towns – Grantham, Huddersfield, Brighton – but sometimes they worked separately, as when David was King Rat in a pantomime in Eastbourne in 1951 – with Benny Hill – and got his picture in the local paper giving a pony a pint of beer (which I’m sure was a terrible idea, but let’s hope it was just a publicity stunt for the picture).
It was a nomad’s life as an actor in a provincial repertory theatre company in the 1950s. As an example, David was in Leicester in August 1952 in a production of Agatha Christie’s The Hollow where he met someone who became a life-long friend, Shaw Taylor (later best known for TV presenter work, such as Police Five). While David & Shaw were bonding, Yvonne was with the Court Players doing a season of plays in Hastings – certainly good they were both able to find work, but would seem to make it hard to settle in as a married couple. Peter Goss was then in Scarborough in a season at the Opera House. which had a resident repertory company for most of the year.
Somehow Yvonne & David managed to find time together, and in 1954 when Yvonne’s pregnancy began to show and she could no longer fit into her costumes, she had to return to London. In October 1954, Yvonne gave birth to their first child (me!) and temporarily stopped acting. I went to live with my grandparents and via some theatre contacts who knew about a lease that was available, Peter and David found a location to start their theater company. On September 28 1954, Peter Goss and David Poulson signed a 6-year lease for the New Theatre, Bromley.
The Stage (February 3rd 1955) announced the change of management at the New Theatre, with Peter Goss as the Lessee, Licensee and Director of Productions and David Poulson as the producer of most of the plays. It was a challenging time for theatre outside of London’s West End as it sought to keep audiences as broadcast television grew – BBC television had been around since before WW II, but wasn’t nationwide. Commercial television started (London only initially) in 1955. A newspaper report of the March 2nd opening night under new management mentioned that the New Theatre Playgoers’ Club in Bromley had 100 members attending. The Mayor addressed the gathering.
“The Mayor appealed to the local residents to leave their glass screens for an evening and come to the live theatre, and they would soon become confirmed playgoers. The house was packed, there were signs of great enthusiasm, and a hearty reception was given to the first production, “The Living’ Room.” “
When describing the early days of the New Theatre, David talked about it as if it had always been “his”, but if you look at all the early press coverage, and the programs themselves, Peter Goss was the lessee and licensee, he wrote the “Dear Theatregoers” message in the programme and until the partnership dissolved in 1961 and David Poulson became the sole head of Bromley Productions, Ltd., Peter was the spokesman in press interviews or other public interactions.
The partners attended to the politics of a local theatre as well as the theatrical aspects. From The Stage on February 24, 1955 (before they opened): “...they have invited three prominent local citizens to become their co-directors on the board of Bromley Productions Ltd. They feel greatly honoured that Alderman Marriott. Councillor Allen and Sir Ernest Adams, C.B.E., have consented. Mr. Goss and Mr. Poulson . . . particularly wish to emphasise that old age pensioners will continue to be invited free of charge to all Thursday matinee performances.”
Whatever disagreements led to the end of their partnership, it’s clear that with both of them bringing their combined skills – in picking plays, actors, connecting with the local audiences – made a successful local theatre at a time when it wasn’t clear if television would kill off regional live theatre.
There were some mis-steps – first attempts to move to fortnightly runs weren’t popular and they had to go back to weekly. Also some very encouraging signs – in July 1955, not long after they took over, they put up the “Full House” signs for the first time and had to turn 300 would-be patrons away. In a review of their first six months, The Stage commented that they had made solid progress and particularly praised Seagulls Over Sorrento, which broke all box office records for the new company. It was probably indicative of problems theatre companies faced that the same page had a story of the failure to save the company in Harrogate, Yorkshire, which hadn’t been able to build solid audience attendance.
The Stage review of their first pantomime (Aladdin), featuring Sheila Hancock as the Principal Boy (“outstanding“) and a 16-year-old as the princess, was very positive, finishing up “...The production, by David Poulson. is slick, and rollicks along telling the story simply and in the old tradition. It is a real, dyed-in-the- wool children’s pantomime, with fun and gaiety all the way. ”
Nearing the one year mark, The Stage talked about the progress Peter Goss and David Poulson had made, praised the hard work and team spirit of the actors, Henry Graveney’s sets, and added: “A great deal of credit is due to David Poulson, who. as producer, welds this team together most successfully. His productions are meticulously planned, so that when plotting the next play on a Tuesday morning, everybody from leading artist to A.S.M. knows exactly what is to be done. Thus no time is wasted and the maximum amount is allowed for rehearsal. The results of such planning show themselves in performance, when a remarkably high standard for weekly repertory is reached. ”
Many more challenges lay ahead, both for the theatre as a business and David Poulson personally, but Bromley Productions, Ltd. had established themselves in the town in a year and shown that theatre was still viable. “Nothing Shoddy at Bromley” shouted a headline in The Stage from April 1956 summing up their first year’s progress. Bromley Productions continued to run The New Theatre with David Poulson turning over more and then most productions to others, until The Bromley Theatre Trust was formed with the local council in 1964 – but that story, and the building of the Churchill Theatre, is for another blog post.
