Hurst Children's Theatre Group in Bourne bows out with Cinderella - in its final performance
After 12 fabulous years the curtain will be closing for the last time when a theatre company performs its annual panto this weekend.
The Bourne-based Hurst Children’s Theatre Group will stage Cinderella at Spalding’s South Holland Centre - where youngsters will take their final bows on Friday and Saturday.
Running the group has been incredibly rewarding for its director Bryony Hurst, but the time has come, she says, to take a step back... for now.
“It has been an absolute joy,” she said. “But this won’t be the end forever. Watch this space.”
Running a theatre company is in the blood for Bryony (50). Her late grandmother Flavia Pickworth was a dancer and ran dance schools in London, which were attended by a young Audrey Hepburn. Her pupils were known as Flavia’s Starlets and she later went on to start the Henley Children’s Theatre Group in Oxfordshire in 1969. Among the students there was Brinsley Forde, of reggae band Aswad.
Bryony’s singer and record producer father, Mike Hurst, was a member of ‘60s band The Springfields with Dusty Springfield. He also discovered Cat Stevens and was his producer. It is Mike who writes the scripts performed by the theatre group, adapted from well-known fairy tales.
The panto this weekend is sure to be an emotional one for Bryony, who is mum to Polly (24), Maddy (16) and Gabriel (14); and for her husband Ben Rudman, who has played many parts in the group’s productions over the years. (Bryony is still known by her surname Hurst).
What has been most memorable, she says, is seeing the children’s self-confidence grow during their time with the theatre company.
"You are always going to have children who are naturally confident and outgoing but for others it is being able to talk out loud and say their name. Theatre encourages and helps children with their confidence," she explained. "The basis has always been to have fun while learning about musical theatre, drama and movement."
Starting the Bourne branch of the nationwide theatre group, which has rehearsed regularly at the Salvation Army Hall in the town, was a natural progression for Bryony. Both her sisters, Muffin and Lexi, run their own groups in Henley-on-Thames and in Thame, in Oxfordshire. Her brother, Jonas, runs groups across Harpenden and St Albans.
Bryony moved to this area after meeting her husband and, for a while, commuted to London for her job in public relations. But she was not content in her work.
"I felt I was in limbo," she said. "I thought what can I do? And it was staring me in the face."
With her own background in theatre, the Bourne branch of the Hurst Children’s Theatre Group was born.
She has thanked the parents of the children who have attended the group over the years for their support, along with Gill Renshaw, who has designed costumes and has become a good friend.
Cinderella will be performed at the South Holland Centre in Spalding on Friday, January 17, at 7pm and on Saturday, January 18, at 2pm and 7pm.
For tickets go to the website at: www.southhollandcentre.co.uk or call 01775 764777.
- The family’s theatre groups made it into the Guinness Book of Records in 2007 for the largest number of people from one family to appear on stage together. They performed Puss in Boots with 24 direct members of the Hurst family on stage at the Kenton Theatre in Henley-on-Thames. It also included a number of past students from the 1970s onwards.
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