The Diocesan Players
by SLHS on
Saturday 22 February 2020
The Diocesan Players was a touring company from St. Thomas’s Church in Somercotes. It was sanctioned by the Bishop and had the commendation of the Diocesan Council of Education. Profits from all performances were donated to the Bishop of Derby’s Appeal Fund. The original players were Iris Brentnall, Dorothy Burgoyne, Dorothy Field, Ruth Hinds, Katherine Meredith, Joan Walker, Nellie Webster, Barbara Wycherley, Robert Bowyer [the Vicar], Ernest Goodall, Roland Hinds, Frank Webster, Colin Wycherley and William Wylie.
The Ripley & Heanor News reported on a performance of the Players on 26 July 1946 at Ripley: “DIOCESAN PLAYERS AT RIPLEY. The Diocesan Players, who are members of St. Thomas' Social Club, Somercotes, performed two religious plays at the Co-operative Hall, Ripley on Monday night. The Players have already visited a number of Derbyshire towns and villages. The first half of the programme consisted of F. Sladen Smith's ‘An Assyrian Afternoon’ a modern comedy of the Flood and the old medieval drama ‘The Deluge’ from the Chester Pageant. The second half was a trilogy from the old play cycles—‘The Annunciation’ from the the Coventry play, ‘The Crucifixion’ from the Wakefield play and 'The Resurrection’ from the Cornish play. Proceeds were for the Bishop of Derby's Ten Year Plan.”
PHOTO: The Diocesan Players, c.1947
Despite the religious overtones of the early plays performed by the Players, they also presented other works by contemporary playwrights. In the summer of 1947 the Diocesan Players performed J B Priestley’s play “They Came to a City” in various venues. The Ripley & Heanor News from 13 June 1947 printed an article regarding a performance of the play at Ambergate: “DIOCESAN PLAYERS AT AMBERGATE - Priestley's famous play, ‘They Came to a City,’ was presented by the Diocesan Players in the Church Hall, Ambergate, on Monday evening. The hall was not crowded, but the audience showed its appreciation of this fine play frequently during the presentation, and gave the Players a most enthusiastic ovation at the end. It is a pity that when there is local effort to raise the cultural level and quality of entertainment in Ambergate that there should not be more Interest shown and support given. The local promoters will hardly be encouraged to invite good amateur companies to present plays from the London stage to the spot In future. Raymond Hind's performance as Joe Dinmore, the idealist from the underworld was very convincing. So too was Nellie Webster as Alice Foster, the little waitress, barmaid and wanderer, also an idealist. Joan Walker played well the difficult part of Dorothy Stretton, a soured, childless possessive wife, and was partnered by the Rev. R. J. Bowyer in the part of Malcolm Stretton, her downtrodden bank clerk husband, who nearly broke loose from his thraldom, but not quite. John Radford made the audience hate the outlook and values of financiers in the part of Cudworth. Everybody loved Mrs. Batley, the shabby little charwoman, from whose lips dropped some gems of philosophy. The part was played exceptionally well by Edith Bettison. The company was well supported by Dorothy Field, Iris Brentnall and William Wylie, as Lady Loxfield, her daughter Philippa Loxfield and Sir George Gidney. The play was produced by Elizabeth Bowyer. The play was given at Ripley on Wednesday In the Co-operative Hall in aid of St. John's Church, and was again a big success”.
PHOTO: The Diocesan Players c.1947
The Reverend Robert Bowyer left Somercotes for St. Luke’s, Derby in the spring of 1948, at which point the players disbanded. In 1950, Elizabeth Bowyer, wife of the Reverend Bowyer re-started the Diocesan Players, as reported in the Derby Daily Telegraph on 2 June that year: “In their first presentation as a company for more than two years, the Diocesan Players staged ‘The Interlude of Youth,’ a 15th century morality play, at St. Luke's Church, Derby, last night. The company has been reformed by Mrs. Elisabeth Heward Bowyer, diocesan drama adviser”.