Coliseum looks to you for Theatre Stars project

STAR launch . . . top, John Edwards, development manager and Kevin Shaw, chief executive and artistic director and, below, Fine Time Fontayne, Judith Barker and Kenneth Alan Taylor

OLDHAMERS have the chance to align themselves with the stars that have shaped the history of their 131-year-old local theatre.

Oldham Coliseum launches its new Theatre Stars campaign on Tuesday which appeals for audiences and supporters to back the theatre.

Star Patrons can choose a star to align themselves with from a list of actors, performers and directors including: Dame Siân Phillips, who starred in Marlene in 1996; Barbara Knox, who was a member of the Oldham Rep in the 1960s and is now best known as Rita Sullivan in Coronation Street; Carl Paulsen, the coliseum's outspoken and much-loved artistic director between 1959 - 1973 and Harold Norman, the theatre's spectre who had an accident leading to his tragic death during a run of Macbeth in 1947.

Alongside continuing the theatre's long and prestigious history of work on stage, donations from the scheme will contribute toward the coliseum's learning and engagement department's extensive work with local schools, using drama and theatre practice to promote learning and introducing young people to the theatre.

The initiative is an extension of the Oldham Coliseum Theatre Patrons scheme, which was launched in early 2015 with great success.

The star-studded launch event will see guests joining the theatre's beloved actors, writers and patrons to learn about the initiative and ways to support the theatre.

Three of the stars have backed the scheme and shared their memories of the theatre.

Acclaimed actress Judith Barker, currently performing in Stepping Out with Amanda Holden in London's West End, has a long association with the coliseum, having started as a student assistant stage manager at the age of 17 before landing lead acting roles.

She said: "I'm always overwhelmed by nostalgia whenever I come to the coliseum because I've worked here such a lot. I've done 150 plays here, so it's hard to isolate any particular one as being the best. All my knowledge about theatre and culture and anything else is to do with having read and appeared in so many plays.

"It's a vital part of the community, this theatre. The coliseum is such a key part of people's knowledge of Oldham because it's had so many people come through it that have continued to do really amazing things. That's the first thing people say, if you say you've come from Oldham. It's part of our heritage."

Much loved pantomime dame Fine Time Fontayne said: "What the coliseum does is connect people to culture - to art, to the life of humans heightened - and the sooner you do that, the sooner you open children to literature, to painting, to theatre, to dance, to song - that makes people grow. You grow better for it. You operate in the world in a different way. You see the world differently. You're bound to value the world differently. That's what the arts do. That's what the coliseum is.

"Having a theatre like the coliseum is special - what you get is the local people that support this theatre have their world reflected back at them.

Highlight

"So if you come to a pantomime then it's connected to you, it's connected to the town, it refers to it. If you ask the question 'who does the theatre belong to?' - it belongs to the town."

Former artistic director Kenneth Alan Taylor reopened the theatre in 1978 after a nine-month closure. He said: "About a year after re-opening we hit a real run. Every production was covered by the national newspapers. There was one week that we were on four television channels and my highlight was being interviewed outside by broadcaster Joan Bakewell for BBC's Newsnight. Harry Saltzman, who at the time was producing the Bond films, used to come and he put us into the West End."

The theatre says that by becoming a patron, individuals, couples and families can make a real difference to work done in the community and on the stage by investing via an annual donation.

Chief Executive and Artistic Director Kevin Shaw said: "We wouldn't be able to continue our work at the coliseum without the vital support of our audiences, supporters and funders - and so everyone who supports the coliseum becomes a part of its. The new stars initiative is a great way to connect the people who believe in our theatre with the people who helped to create it."

For more information about becoming a Star Patron, and more ways to support the coliseum, contact development manager, John Edwards, on 0161 785 7018 or email johnedwards@coliseum.org.uk.