ALL VIDEOS COURTESY BARBRO WATSON, BERKHAMSTED.
BARBRO WAS ASSISTING IN THE WARDROBE IN 1962 AND 1965.
This year is the 61st year of the Shakespeare Festival
founded by Dorian Williams in his family home, Pendley
Manor, in 1947.
In
1947, two years after the opening of Pendley as a Centre
of Adult Education, an open day was held at the end
of July, each of the groups meeting regularly at Pendley
every week displaying their wares, including the Drama
Group. They presented some five or six scenes from Shakespeare,
including a scene from Macbeth in the gardens.
Following
the success of this presentation, the next year the
group presented famous love scenes, using for the first
time the 'big' stage, over 80ft wide with the magnificent
yew hedge background and 100ft high flanking Canadian
firs.
The next year a full production was presented of Henry
V111 and the Festival was born… 1950 saw the first floodlit
production, and by 1954 such was the success of the
Festival it was decided to present two productions,
Julius Caesar and A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Records
show that, up to 1964, over 70 performances of the
plays had been given, attended by approximately 30,000
people. Over 300 people had been numbered in the casts,
and over 40 horses had taken part! Dorian's last production
was in 1983 and he died in 1985, although with the
exception of 1988 when the Manor was being refurbished,
the Festival continued.
A
stunning firework display celebrated the 50th anniversary
in 1999 and in 2001 Sarah Branston took over the running
of the festival. Sarah's parents met at the festival,
during Love's Labour's Lost, and Jennie gave birth
to Sarah during As You Like It. Due to the hotel's
expansion and leisure centre project, the performances
were moved along side the hotel's rose garden to a
back drop of a leafy bank. Sarah, and her team, took
this all in their stride. 2003's productions, Sir
John Falstaff and the Merry Wives, and The Winter's
Tale, saw record box office figures for recent years,
and we achieved even greater results in 2004 with
A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night.
PAST
PRODUCTIONS
1947
Scenes from A Midsummer Night's Dream & King Richard
II
1948
"If music be the food of love..." Famous scenes
1949 King Henry VIII. The first Festival
1950 Falstaff ...combining the many scenes from Henry
IV
1951 Twelfth Night
1952 The Tempest
1953 Romeo and Juliet
1954 Julius Caesar & A Midsummer Night's Dream
1955 Macbeth & As You Like It
1956 King Henry V & The Merry Wives of Windsor
1957 King John & Twelfth Night
1958 King Lear & A Midsummer Night's Dream
1959 King Henry VIII & The Merchant of Venice
1960 King Richard II & The Taming of the Shrew
1961 As You Like It & The Winter's Tale
1962 Much Ado About Nothing & Macbeth
1963 Othello & The Merry Wives of Windsor
1964 Romeo and Juliet & Twelfth Night
1965 Love's Labour's Lost & The Tempest
1966 King Lear & A Midsummer Night's Dream
1967 Anthony and Cleopatra & The Taming of the Shrew
1968 King Richard III & The Comedy of Errors
1969
Much Ado About Nothing & The Winter's Tale
1970 Twelfth Night & The Merchant of Venice
1971 As You Like It & King Richard II
1972 Love's Labour's Lost & The Merry Wives of Windsor
1973 Hamlet & A Midsummer Night's Dream
1974 Romeo and Juliet & The Comedy of Errors
1975 The Tempest & King Henry IV; part II
1976 Twelfth Night & King Henry V
1977 The Taming of the Shrew & Julius Caesar
1978 The Winter's Tale & As You Like It
1979 Much Ado About Nothing & Macbeth
1980 Love's Labour's Lost & The Merry Wives of Windsor
1981 The Merchant of Venice & Two Gentlemen of Verona
1982 A Midsummer Night's Dream & King Henry IV; part
I
1983 Twelfth Night & Romeo and Juliet
1984 Much Ado About Nothing & The Tempest
1985 King Richard III & The Taming of the Shrew
1986 As You Like It & King Lear
1987 Macbeth & A Midsummer Night's Dream
1988 No Festival
1989 The Merchant of Venice
1990 The Merry Wives of Windsor
1991 Romeo and Juliet & The Comedy of Errors
1992 King Henry VIII & A Midsummer Night's Dream
1993 The Tempest & Twelfth Night
1994 As You Like It & King Henry V
1995 Much Ado About Nothing & King Richard III
1996 Two Gentlemen of Verona & The Merchant of Venice
1997 The Taming of the Shrew & Macbeth
1998 Love's Labour's Lost & Twelfth Night
1999 Romeo and Juliet & A Midsummer Night's Dream
2000 The Comedy of Errors & The Tempest
2001 Much Ado About Nothing & King Henry V
2002 The Taming of the Shrew & Macbeth
2003 Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives & The Winter's
Tale
2004 A Midsummer Night's Dream & Twelfth Night
2005
Much Ado About Nothing & Romeo and Juliet
2006
The Comedy of Errors & King Lear
2007 As You Like It & The Tempest
2008 Twelfth Night & The Merchant of Venice
2009 A Midsummer Night's Dream & Macbeth
