E-MAIL MAURICE STEWART

A chronological review of a varied career ...

EARLY YEARS (1939-1946)
At the age of six, with the encouragement of a Stage Mother, little Jimmy Addison joined a local troop of child performers. Became a proficient singing/dancing entertainer by strutting his stuff at local events.
After about two years this resulted in leading roles in fully mounted full length school productions of Gilbert & Sullivan operas: Koko in The Mikado(aged 9), Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe (10) and Sir Joseph Porter in HMS Pinafore (11).

Scholarship to a London Stage School (Italia Conti), involved leaving parents and rural Leicestershire to live with family friends in London at the age of 12.

Professional engagements between the age of 12-15 included solo boy soprano opportunities in operas at Covent Garden and New London Opera companies, Peter Pan at Scala Theatre London, various other juvenile roles briefly in London and provincial repertory companies, plus occasional film work.

At the age of 15 left the school to tour austere post-war Britain for a year with a variety revue Youth on Parade; the entire cast being under 21 years old .

Later, officially changed ‘professional’ name to Maurice Stewart, and formed a variety act The Stewart Brothers and Angela playing variety, cini-variety and London Night Clubs.

STAGE MANAGEMENT (1947-1962)
Having become more roundly interested in all types of theatre, from the age of 16 began to work occasionally in provincial Repertory Companies on Stage Management teams while playing parts. Age 17 because senior Stage Manager for company in Barrow-in-Furness for a year while also acting as assistant to the Director.

In order to return to London , accepted chorus work in the replacement cast of Okahoma at that Theatre Royal Drury Lane; staying on when the production later transferred to the Stoll Theatre.

During this long-running show, time was taken out to serve in the ROYAL AIR FORCE (Signals) for two years compulsory ‘National Service’. After this break, for a few months rejoined the cast of Oklahoma which was by then on an extensive tour of Britain .

A few more short stints as a performer included a revue Champagne on Ice at the London Hippodrome and a provincial Repertory Season. Then decided to concentrate on Stage Management with the view to becoming a Director.

Staged managed and also became Company Manager for several tours (including Jessie Matthews in Private Lives), technically elaborate revues at Blackpool and in London at the Adelphi and Hippodrome, Kismet at the Princes Theatre and joined Sam Wanamaker for his Season at the sumptuously refurbished Shakespeare Theatre, Liverpool.

Joined the Production team for Producers George & Alfred Black and Jack Hylton, both of whom were not only producing stage shows but were just entering management of early commercial television stations. With their encouragement briefly became a Studio Manager for TV Rediffusion at Wembley Studios.
After an assignment to learn the technical staging of a Folies Bergere production in Paris , brought it to London .

Opportunity to visit America for the first time as Deputy Stage Manager of Britain’s OLD VIC company could not be refused. A twenty-six week tour around The States was travelled by train, visiting ?? major cities, including a five-week New York season and a TV version of Hamlet.

Final Stage Management stint was as Production Assistant in Donald Albery's office during the prodtion of five major shows including the original Oliver.

AS A DIRECTOR
Early opportunities to direct plays occurred when employed as a Stage Manager, occasionally relieving the resident director; one play in every four at Dundee, Lincoln, etc.

Became a Guest Director at various provincial Repertory Theatres and occasional near-London try-out theatres such as Richmond , Guilford , Croydon. This included directing early versions of Brian Rix and Ray Cooney farces before their London productions.

During this freelancing period, also directed for the ad hoc company THE REPERTORY PLAYS which staged fully mounted new plays for one night (Sunday) in a West End Theatre. Directed such productions at the Queens , the Comedy and Wyndham’s theatres.

Also directed for London Theatre training courses at Royal Academy ( RADA ), Central School of Speech & Drama and Weber Douglas.

TELEVISION
Was invited to join BBC TV for the opening of their second channel in 1963, with a view to developing experimental drama programmes. Trained on live transmission dramas such as the phenomenal Z-Cars and the ‘soap’ Compact. Directed episodes of a series The Detectives and wrote and directed several one-off plays. This contract culminated in a disasterous experimental improvised comedy show masterminded by Charles Marowitz and involving Spike Milligan and Barry Humphries (before Dame Edna).

Left TV for good in 1965 to continue for several years as Guest Direct at major Repertory Companies and at drama schools.

DRAMA SCHOOLS & COLLEGES
Opportunity to direct and teach a few courses at New York University and ‘The Drama Studio’ in Oakland, California coincided with work aboard Cruise ships (Shaw Saville and Furness) evaluating the full-range of on-board entertainment provided including informal talks, lectures and events.

This in turn attracted a short commission from the Spanish Ministry of Culture to evaluate entertainment for British-speaking residents and tourists in holiday resorts on the coast of Spain .

Invited to join the Drama Panel of the Greater London Arts Association reviewing funding for fridge theatres, resulted in becoming part of the original planning committee for the opening of the Battersea Arts Centre in London .

Responsibility for organising two exhibitions of World Puppetry ( BAC Opening and the Young Vic) resulted in invitations from the British Council to do the same in four cities in Columbia .

In 19?? during a major exhibition of puppetry mounted by the Smithsonian Institute in Washing DC, I was invited as Chairman of the Educational Puppetry Association of Great Britain to chair an International Conference on Puppetry As A Teaching Aid, at the Kennedy Centre.

Subsequent to this, between 19?? and 1980, two lecture/workshops were toured around Colleges in the USA : one was on Edward Gordon Craig’s 1898 designs and theories on The Theatre of the Future, the other on masks-work and animated figures in mainstream drama.

During these extensive tours of colleges, an additional interactive workshop called Modern Actors recreating the Past was also developed.

AFTER 1990
when a heart condition curtailed activities at the age of 65, I reduced but did not stop visits to the USA for occasional workshops. Health now being much better, I continue to be invited to speak on a range of theatre subjects - and usually manage to arouse lively discussion.

As an active member of the British Music Hall Society, the Society for Theatre Research, the Gilbert & Sullivan Society in London and the Concert Artist’s Association, there are always theatre-related topics ripe for discussion. Long may opportunities for such discussions continue.

Maurice Stewart - February 2008.

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