Apology for Absence – Normal Business Resumes
“In Hampshire…hurricanes hardly ever happen”. Very true, but the line from My Fair Lady doesn’t allow for being snowed up well away from the main road down one of the Isle of Wight’s south-east coast chines. All I had done was go over to spend Christmas and the New Year with an old friend. Instead of boarding a ferry after the holiday, I found myself contemplating steep hills covered in thick snow and footpaths clogged with ice for well over a week.
Which is why regular visitors to the East Anglia and South-East England regional section of the WoS website have found little activity here since Christmas. But the 2009-10 pantomime season is drawing to a close and normal service resumes at all our theatres. 2010 promises some interesting new productions both from resident and touring companies.
You may not know that there are two fine late 19th century theatres on the Isle of Wight, as well as a thriving arts centre – the Quay – and a modern building – the Medina. Both are in the island capital, Newport. It’s the theatres at Ryde and Shanklin which are under threat. Like so many of their era, the elegance of the façade is no longer matched by the backstage and front-of-house facilities, not to mention Health & Safety regulations and the fact that both occupy prime sites in the centre of their respective small towns.
Residents and regular visitors to the island – many of whom, like myself, may have very pleasant memories of entertainment enjoyed during island holidays now some decades ago – are concerned to keep at least one of the theatres open as an all-round attraction staging both visiting professional and local amateur shows. Taking even small-scale theatre to an island, of course, can be a dauntingly costly business – the Solent is notoriously one of the most expensive stretches of water to cross on a mile-per-pound basis.
There does seem to be an odd sort of irony in a situation where other towns and regions which attract tourists are lovingly restoring and updating their old landmark theatres, yet others either cannot or will not see the potential for revival. What do you think?
