1979 and Wick Theatre’s 100th production was a mile-stone to be celebrated. There were few among the founding members who thought that the company would run this long but the chosen production was iconic and would always nestle warm in the hearts of long-memory members. Originally performed in 1959 Phillip King’s “Sailor Beware” directed by Frances Mouton re-cast many of the original players.
This moment in Wick Theatre Company’s history coincided with a step change in publicity thinking. To mark the occasion the programme would be a hard cover, souvenir programme; 12 pages filled with archive material and funded through paid-for advertisements.
Peter and Vincent Joyce set out to calm the nerves of the treasurer when the original programme was proposed by assuring him that companies would pay to be associated with the production. Many invitations to buy were sent out to the great and the good in the surrounding countryside and the following dipped their corporate hands into the marketing budget.
- A & F Pilbeam
- Alliance Building Society
- American Express
- Barclays Bank Ltd
- Central Fisheries
- Charrington
- Fixit
- J M Harding & Company Ltd
- Louis G Ford
- Mr & Mrs F M Goodman
- Southwick Hill Farm Dairy
- The Green Garden Centre
- The Southwick Community Association
The idea for the front cover was Vincent’s. A flat bed truck parked up in Southwick Street along side the Community Centre’s car park and Rottingdean based freelance photographer Arthur Waine set his tripod to shoot from the truck.
The design was for the cast to be on the front of the programme and all the support crew; workshop, front of house, publicity and members filled the back. [The cast were not all available for the photo-shoot. Heather Theaker doubled for Clodagh Riedl – still in Austria ]
The result, in the end, achieved all requirements and a happy treasurer: income exceeding expenditure.
