Canon Stephen Taylor and the Sunderland Empire
September 23, 2007
Canon Stephen Taylor has not only been in charge of Sunderland Minister for the past six years but three years ago he was appointed by the Actors Church Union as Theatre Chaplain for the Sunderland Empire as well. (The Actors Church Union is a national organisation that has responsibilities for theatres, dance schools and other entertainment venues.)
By co-incidence Sunderland Minister and the Sunderland Empire stand next to each other in the City, but that is not why Stephen was appointed as Theatre Chaplin. His predecessor at Sunderland Minister, the Reverend Bill Hall, was the full time director of Arts and Recreation within the Diocese of Durham and Newcastle, before being appointed as National Director of the Actors Church Union based in London. At the time Reverend Hall was Theatre Chaplin for several theatres including the Billingham Forum and Sunderland Empire, but knowing that Stephen had been involved with theatres previously, suggested him for the vacancy in Sunderland. From there he had to be interviewed by the Actors Church Union and Theatre Management, with an appraisal twelve months after his appointment.
The theatre knowledge Stephen had gained was well before he came to
Sunderland, infact prior to him joining the Church. He was Area Recreation Manager for Bradford Local Authority, where he undertook youth work and became involved with the technical side of theatres by working in St. George’s Hall and the Alhambra Theatre. Following joining the Church he moved from a position in
Hartlepool to look after Sunderland Minster. He is married with three daughters, the eldest is at university in the South of England and marries at Salisbury Cathedral next year, while his youngest, Ruth, is studying dance, having already performed in West Side Story.
While Stephen is linked with the Sunderland Empire he officially looks after “touring companies” that are visiting the region, rather than events at the Sunderland Empire, although inevitably things do become inter-linked and the edges more than a little blurred.
It does not matter if the show is only playing a week, four weeks or three months (as in the case of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ) there is always a “meet and greet” session by Stephen. He has even been known to meet the companies at other theatres prior to them arriving in Sunderland (as in the case of the touring Miss Saigon production), thereby introducing them to the facilities of the area, places of worship for different faiths, ensures any accommodation worries or problems are sorted out. Importantly all cast and crew know who he is and that he is easily accessible during their stay in
Sunderland.
At the weekly “meet and greet” sessions Stephen distributes copies of a leaflet he produces entitled Keeping Body, Mind and Soul Together. The leaflet is divided in to three sections, the first a chatty news forum, telling the cast what is happening in the area, and any places of interest they can visit , the second part is a quiz, which has a small prize for the winner and the third is a prayer. If the show is only running for a week Stephen will call in to collect any entries for the quiz, ensuring the winner is rewarded before the show moves on.
If a production is playing for a few weeks, relationships can be built and Stephen becomes an extremely familiar face to the cast and crew, some of whom may already know him from previous visits to the Sunderland Empire.
Playing during May is the National Theatres award winning smash hit revival of My Fair Lady and Stephen allowed me to join him on one of his weekly trips to meet the cast and crew. As we toured the dressing rooms distributing his leaflets it was extremely noticeable how generally friendly and warm the Company were towards him and it was not just because of his position within the Church. The cast actually stopped and spoke with great affection to Stephen, telling him where they had been on their day off, many having followed Stephen suggestions as to what and where to visit. That current weeks leaflets even offered everyone a trip down the river in Stephens’ boat, which a few weeks prior he had used as emergency accommodation for cast members.
The cast stop for a chat with Stephen in the corridors or their dressing rooms as he tours, Stephen Moore (playing Colonel Pickering in the musical) delights in telling us he had visited Longhorsley in the Northumbrian Countryside the previous Sunday as he was stationed there during the war, bringing back many memories. Another cast member told us she had taken Stephens advice and visited Beamish Open Air Museum, which she found to be absolutely wonderful. Her trusty SAT NAV had directed her there and back to her “digs” without incident, but when Stephen asked what type of voice she had programmed in, she immediately retorted, it had a woman’s voice as no man was going to tell her where to go and if he was lost he would not ask for instructions!
Stephen does not believe he is only accessible to the “stars” or big names (as at one time that was the main focus for the Theatre Chaplain) he is available for everyone as the Company is just like a large family and thereby has illness, hospitalisation, bereavement, separations and even marriages. Ben Harrop (one of the swings in the show) tells me that usually they have little support at the theatres they tour, but Stephen is seen as a tower of strength to the Company and a great asset to playing in
Sunderland.
As we toured Stephen raised interest in that weeks quiz, as the previous two weeks had been won by leading cast member Judith Paris and he thought it was time she had fair competition. We did find a surprised, delighted and mildly embarrassed Judith in her dressing room as she prepared for that evenings show, infact we could hear her warming up her voice well before we actually reached her dressing room. As Stephen presents her with a bottle of wine for winning, other members of the cast ensured she took some ribbing and got to know she has competition for the following weeks quiz.
I was left in no doubt that Stephens close involvement with the Company had been a great support to the cast. Inevitably he is needed at times of crisis, one such occasion was when some cast members of Starlight Express knew a friend was missing in the Tsunami disaster, Stephen was able to organise as service at the Minster, timed so the cast could attend and over one thousand pounds was raised. The friend who was missing was a lead performer in the touring Company of Fame which co-incidentally arrived in
Sunderland later in the year, following a week’s break at Easter. During that week off, the hard truth hit home to several members of the cast (many had not even spoken about the disaster before then) and Stephen found himself back stage supporting the cast, permanently carrying a box tissues as they carried on with eight performances a week..
The flip side to this came during the tour of Blood Brothers, where two cast members had married the previous Saturday morning in
Cardiff, before performing the matinee and evening shows. Stephen was able to arrange a reception for the couple as they began married life performing eight shows a week in
Sunderland.
There is no doubting Stephens’s commitment to his position as Theatre Chaplain, currently he is negotiating with the new owners of the local cinema for complementary tickets for touring casts and arranging funding with the local authority for an internet area within the Sunderland Empires backstage green room.
As many performers pass through the Sunderland Empire every year it is obvious that Stephen is trying to make life off stage as pleasant as possible. But even better than that is the fact that the cast and crew recognise his efforts and one of the reasons they look forward to visiting Sunderland is because of Stephen.
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