Chelmsford & District National Trust Supporter Group

Report by Shirley Deering

On the evening of the 12th February members were delighted to welcome old friend Yvonne Lawrence as their speaker. A local historian, Yvonne has given several talks on the history of Chelmsford to the Group. On this occasion her talk was entitled “The Show must go on” and looked at the history of entertainment in Chelmsford, from the Middle Ages onward. Yvonne looked first at the general history of entertainment throughout the County. The earliest plays were put on in churches, called “Mystery Plays”. They dealt with the story of the incarnation and birth of Christ. The next development was itinerant groups of players who would act out plays based on Bible stories. These companies were often well equipped and travelled with costumes, make-up and sound effects, packed in wagons, some even had their own demountable stage. Failing this, they would hitch several wagons together to form a stage. There are records of several visits to Chelmsford by such strolling players. They would set up their stage on a large, flat area of ground, such as King’s Head Meadows. In 1576 the first playhouse opened in London; followed by Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in 1599.

In the next century the English Civil War and the reign of Cromwell saw the Puritans close all theatres. They were seen as immoral, actors were classed as rogues and vagabonds, the few actresses as prostitutes. It was not until the more relaxed moral attitude of the late seventeenth century that plays, of a secular nature, and players became acceptable. Even so,plays had to be within certain moral boundaries, as sanctioned by the Lord Chamberlaind’s Office, a law which still applied till 1968.

Chelmsford had no purpose-built theatre, but, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries several large buildings, such as the Corn Exchange, were constructed with large, flat spaces, which could accommodate public performances of plays, concerts and variety shows. It is recorded that prestigious theatrical companies, such as Sadlers Wells, put on plays in Chelmsford. As the twentieth century neared several theatres were built, the Odeon, Pavillion, Select and the very plush Regent with it’s opulent interior. However, cinemas soon became the favoured entertainment and the theatres quickly adapted to showing films. Today they have all been demolished or converted to other uses. In the 1950s the newly built Civic Centre incorporated the Civic Theatre. Following it’s recent refurbishment we now hear that the Civic will continue to provide a venue for theatre-goers for many generations to come.