FEATURES
Spotlight on The Rosemary Branch Theatre
And its two Artistic Directors
Cleo Sylvestre and Cecilia Darker
In its 10th Anniversary Year
By the ladies themselves
History
Since before Shakespeare's time, the area of London just north of the city has been a place of entertainment. Records show that The Bard himself and his favourite actor Richard Burbage lodged in nearby Hoxton Street, and up until the early part of the 20th century there were many theatres and music halls in Hackney and Islington, including The Rosemary Branch where it is said that Marie Lloyd, and perhaps even Charlie Chaplin, performed as rising stars.
During the 70's and 80's the theatre was well used for alternative comedy and music, Nick Hancock, Harry Hill, Richard Vranch, Jo Brand and Julian Clarey cut their comedy teeth there. But then the pub changed hands and rapidly went downhill, ending up as a depressing squat.
C. Darker
Cecilia and Cleo
Cecilia Darker, her husband and another couple bought it in 1993 and reopened the theatre shortly afterwards. For 2 years it was very badly run by a series of disastrous directors, so in 1996 Cecilia left her job as choreography teacher at Central School of Ballet and asked actress Cleo Sylvestre and journalist Angela Neustatter to help her run it. Cleo had recently nursed her husband through the late stages of cancer and the new project helped her to move forwards.
All three women had brought up their families in Hackney and Islington and had many local contacts, but running a theatre needs a constant stream of audiences - you cannot rely on your circle of friends and acquaintances however loyal. They decided at the outset that a 50-seater theatre could never be financially viable without a public subsidy, but who is going to give you one of them without any track record whatsoever? So they decided to give it a go without public money, which would at least allow them the freedom to put on whatever they wanted and not be hidebound by bureaucracy and political correctness.
The good things going for the theatre were its N 1 address, the support of the pub below it, and the network of the artistic directors. The not so good things were: being relatively far away from a tube station, and having no financial back up or expertise to call on.
At first box office splits and straight rentals were the only option - some productions were ok, others were definitely not. Huge mistakes were made until Cec and Cleo decided that there must be some sort of filtering process - by this time Angela was unable to continue through pressure of her other work. The bottom line was "therapy" - if potential theatre groups' projects looked as if they might be more for the actors than the audience, The Rosemary Branch was not interested. They decided that any work shown had to stimulate the audience in a positive way and had to be professional and, even if it was from a school or college group high standards should be set. Both artistic directors love to foster young talent (as well as the not quite so young) and introduce new audiences to the pleasures and riches of theatre.
Eventually they started producing and co-producing work two to three times a year. It was impossible to make money, but the actors and technical staff were always paid expenses and a bit more. In 2002 the theatre was gutted in the summer break and rebuilt to accommodate about twelve more seats, the Victorian chimney breast along the back wall went and new electrics meant that more lamps could be used.
Ten Years On
Today the theatre seems to be getting a name for well-done revamped classics and exquisite youth opera. That said there is still plenty of comedy, cabaret and new writing in between. To celebrate their 10th Anniversary year, Cec and Cleo recently produced a version of Othello - Black and White Sextet , adapted and directed by Robert Pennant Jones. A fine cast of six actors were assembled, four of whom have played at the Rosie before; Cleo herself played a magnificent Amelia. Current highlights this year also include six weeks of opera in May and June, including the fabulous production of The Mikado featuring the Charles Court Opera Company first seen last November, as well as their production of Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore and Minatour Music Theatre's production of Mozart's Don Giovanni .
Cec and Cleo are cagey about what happens in the next five years but plans for next year are already being discussed and they say they just never know who is going to walk in and watch a performance and make an offer they just can't refuse!
So far they, and The Rosemary Branch Theatre have survived, and their aim is still to present high quality drama and opera with a sprinkling of cabaret, comedy and other genres to provide an eclectic mix that will appeal to all sorts of people.
The Artistic Directors
Cecilia Darker
I was always a dancer really - I had a nasty operation when I was three years old that left my stomach muscles in a pitiful state so it was suggested that I start ballet classes in the local village (near Newcastle on Tyne) hall I never stopped and after continuing right through boarding school at the age of seventeen I went to London to the London College of Dance and Drama to learn to be a dance teacher. I was too tall and too stiff to be a classical ballet dancer, not tall enough to be a Bluebell girl and far too inhibited to try musicals!
At the end of three years I did a further year to become a proper teacher, with two others we became the first full time dance teachers in London schools - that was in 1970. I taught in secondary schools and primary schools until 1988 when by chance I was asked by Christopher Gable, principal dancer of the royal Ballet, to "unballet " his students
at his school, the Central School of Ballet. This was amazing, my job was to work with highly gifted young people and to make them more musically, dramatically and creatively aware (if that makes sense) I started off teaching talented juniors on Saturdays who came from all
over Britain and then on the Junior programme during the week. I even taught Rio Ferdinand when he was ten; he now plays football for England. I then went on to teach A Level dance and choreography to the senior students until I felt I needed to move on. By this time we had
bought The Rosemary Branch and the theatre was being run so badly I had to step in.
Cleo Sylvestre
My first West End Stage appearance was at Wyndham's (as a Juve) in Simon Gray's Wise Child as the only female with such luminaries as Sir Alec Guinness, Gordon Jackson and Simon Ward. This lead to a nomination as 'Most Promising New Actress.' I then played Nurse Norton in Peter Nichol's The National Health (or Nurse Norton's Affair) at The National Theatre whilst simultaneously playing Melanie, the adopted daughter of Meg Richardson in Crossroads. I've worked extensively in the theatre over England. I've also worked with Ken Loach in his famous films Up The Junction , Cathy Come Home and Poor Cow , and presented Play School on television, and was one of the original factory girls in Coronation Street.
More recently I starred in Isaac Julien's 'Vagabondia' short-listed for the Turner Prize and opposite Antony Sher in I.D. at The Almeida. I've recently been performing my one-woman show about Mary Seacole - Forgotten Woman to great acclaim and am about to start rehearsals for the Southern Africa Season at The Oval House. In June I will be appearing at The Althorpe Festival in Lost and Found by Nell Dunn.
A few more things about Cleo: She speaks rusty Russian. Appeared on Broadway with The Young Vic Company in the big hit Scapino having had three days rehearsal. Worked on one of Joan Crawford's last films ( Trog ), made a record with The Rolling Stones when at Camden School For Girls, was the god-daughter of both Tom Driberg notorious journalist and gay Labour Peer and Constant Lambert the Conductor, whose son Kit managed The Who. She also loves cooking and bakes a mean loaf.
Many thanks to Cecilia and Cleo!
All the best on the 10 th Anniversary of The Rosemary Branch Theatre
and many more!
www.rosemarybranch.co.uk
The Rosemary Branch Theatre
2 Shepperton Road
London, N1 3DT
Tel: 020 7704 2730 (bar)
020 2204 6665 (theatre & box office)
Email: cecilia@rosemarybranch.co.uk
The Rosemary Branch Theatre is easily accesible by Bus
73 bus from Oxford Street
76 bus from The Aldwych
141 from London Bridge
Edited by Mary Couzens for EXTRA! EXTRA
