When Mary Breaks, then Chairman of the
Headley
Amateur Dramatic Club, moved to Box Hill in 1962, she called on the
Cresswells to ask if Geoff would take part in Headley's next production
"Beside the Seaside". Thus she had forged the first link between the
two communities which led to the formation of the Heath Players in
1963. There were as many Box Hill members as Headley by that time, so a
meeting was called to discuss a new name and Greta Cresswell's
suggestion of Heath Players (the Heath being the natural link between
Headley and Box Hill) was accepted.
Headley's amateur group began 1947,
having evolved
from W.I. members' productions of one act plays. These remained the
format until 1951 when David Butler, a Pilot Officer from Headley
Court, produced and acted in the first three act play "Quiet Weekend"
by Esther McCracken. During rehearsals for this production, David was
demobbed and went on to R.A.D.A. The Company helped him with his train
fare and he learnt his lines in transit! He became a well known actor
and writer. Another well known name who produced for the Company was
Mrs Terry Thomas who then lived at Headley Grove.
All this time the plays were put on in
Headley
Village Hall which was also used for school dinners, so in term time
the set had to be dismantled after each performance and the heavy oak
tables which were used for the stage, stowed away. When the plays were
occasionally performed at Headley Court and R.A.F. Chessington, how the
proper facilities were enjoyed!
When the newly-built Box Hill Village
Hall opened in
1972, the Heath Players decided to make that venue their permanent
home, and celebrated with two one act plays followed by a mega
production of "The Rape of the Belt". Since then the players have gone
from strength to strength with performances varying from Gilbert and
Sullivan to Shakespeare and Mediaeval Miracle Plays. In 1987 the
Players won the UK Festival with the second act of Noel Coward's
Private Lives. In 1996, in collaboration with the Gage Players from
Walton-on-the-Hill, the Players staged the World Stage Premiere of Pip
Burley's adaptation of "The Slipper and the Rose" at the Riddell Hall
in Walton-on-the-Hill
We are now a considerable number of
years on from those beginnings but it should be noted that the red velvet curtains
still in use were made originally for the old stage at Headley by Mary
Breaks!
