The Chelsfield Players
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    • 2020- >
      • Funny Money
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    • 2010-19 >
      • 1 Flat 3 Stories
      • Abandonment
      • Animal Farm
      • Carrington VC
      • A Christmas Carol
      • The Country Wife
      • Crown Matrimonial
      • Easy Virtue
      • Fawlty Towers 2013
      • Fawlty Towers 2015
      • Feed the Beast
      • FlatSpin
      • Hello, Is There Any Body There?
      • The Hollow
      • Ladies Day
      • A Lady Mislaid
      • La Musica & Perfect Partners
      • Love In A Mist
      • Maskerade
      • Misfits
      • Much Ado About Nothing
      • Nobody's Perfect
      • NSFW
      • The Railway Children
      • Salt
      • Sauce For The Goose
      • Six Characters In Search Of An Author
      • This Happy Breed
      • The Thrill of Love
      • Visiting Hour
      • A Wedding Story
      • Wind in the Willows Chelsfield
      • Wind in the Willows Edinburgh
    • 2000-09 >
      • Arsenic and Old Lace
      • Black Comedy
      • Cemetery Club
      • A Chorus Of Disapproval
      • Daisy Pulls It Off
      • Dangerous Corner
      • Fear and Fancy
      • Garden
      • A Ghost On Tiptoe
      • Hobsons Choice
      • House
      • The Importance of Being Earnest
      • Intimate Exchanges
      • Lady Windermeres Fan
      • Loot
      • Lucky Sods
      • Mars & Venus
      • The Merry Wives Of Windsor
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream
      • Murder In Company
      • My Three Angels
      • New Directions
      • Over My Dead Body
      • Our Country’s Good
      • Out Of Focus
      • Party Piece
      • Proscenophobia
      • Ring Round The Moon
      • The Rivals
      • Steel Magnolias
      • Stepping Out
      • Strictly Murder
    • 1990-99 >
      • Bedroom Farce
      • Blithe Spirit
      • California Suite
      • Deadly Nightcap
      • Dial M For Murder
      • Dick Turpin
      • Gosforths Fete
      • Hay Fever
      • An Inspector Calls
      • The Late Edwina Black
      • Lord Arthur Saviles Crime
      • Miranda
      • Move Over Mrs Markham
      • Not Now, Darling
      • Pleasures And Perils
      • Round And Round The Garden
      • Seasons Greetings
      • Some Confusions
      • Something To Hide
      • Tartuffe
      • Time And Time Again 1993
      • Time And Time Again 1999
      • Time, Murderer, Please
      • Tons Of Money
      • The Weekend
      • When One Door Closes
      • The Woman In White
    • 1980-89 >
      • Anastasia
      • The Barretts Of Wimpole Street
      • The Brontes
      • Busybody
      • Caught Napping
      • A Friend Indeed
      • Full Treatment
      • Gaslight
      • Mother Goose
      • Murder In Company
      • Nightmare
      • Outside Edge
      • Pink String And Sealing Wax
      • Pygmalion
      • Rape Of The Belt
      • Relative Values
      • Return To Victoria
      • Separate Tables
      • Shut Your Eyes and Think of England
      • Suddenly at Home
      • A Tomb With A View
      • Treasure Hunt
      • When We Are Married
    • 1970-79 >
      • The Aspern Papers
      • Brush With A Body
      • The Chiltern Hundreds
      • The Circle
      • Dandy Dick
      • Dear Charles
      • Fish Out Of Water
      • The House Of Bernada Alba
      • The House On The Cliff
      • An Ideal Husband
      • Ladies In Retirement
      • A Letter From The General
      • The Matchmaker
      • The Rivals
      • The Royal Pardon
      • The Schoolmistress
      • Shadow In The Sun
      • Someone Waiting
      • Spiders Web
      • They Came To A City
      • Wanted: One Body
    • 1960-69 >
      • 1066 And All That
      • Aladdin
      • Antigone and The Critic
      • As You Like It
      • Billy Liar
      • The Bread Winner
      • Breath Of Spring
      • Charleys Aunt
      • A Christmas Carol
      • Cinderella 1965
      • Dick Whittington
      • Flowering Cherry
      • Frost At Midnight
      • Hay Fever
      • The Hollow
      • The House By The Lake
      • Macbeth
      • Man Alive
      • The Merchant Of Venice
      • Midsummer Mink
      • A Midsummer Nights Dream
      • Pantomime 1960
      • The Pen of My Aunt, The Women Have Their Way
      • The Pleasure Garden
      • Pygmalion
      • Rookery Nook
      • The Taming Of The Shrew
      • Tobias and the Angel
      • Twelfth Night
      • Waters Of The Moon
      • The Young Elizabeth
    • 1950-59 >
      • After October
      • The Browning Version, Elegant Edward
      • By Candlelight
      • Count Your Blessings
      • Eden End
      • Grand National Night
      • The Happy Prisoner
      • The Holly And The Ivy
      • The Late Christopher Bean
      • Libel
      • Martine
      • The Queen and the Rebels
      • Thunder Rock
      • Young Wives Tale
    • 1936-49 >
      • Early 1940s plays
      • 20th Century Lullaby
      • And So To Bed
      • Berkeley Square
      • Cinderella
      • The Corn Is Green
      • Dangerous Corner
      • Distinguished Gathering
      • Duet For Two Hands
      • Elegant Edward (1940s)
      • The Ghost Train
      • Hassan
      • The Importance Of Being Earnest
      • Love From A Stranger
      • The Middle Watch
      • New 66 And All That
      • Night Must Fall
      • Noah
      • Pinocchio
      • The Rivals
      • Roberts Wife
      • This Happy Breed
    • Our History
  • Join Us
    • Diary Dates
    • JimSlips
    • Links >
      • Newsletter
    • Get In Touch
  • Home
  • Productions
    • Future Productions
    • Popular Playwrights
  • Archive
    • 2020- >
      • Funny Money
      • Ladies Down Under
      • The Last Quiz Night On Earth
      • Underground
    • 2010-19 >
      • 1 Flat 3 Stories
      • Abandonment
      • Animal Farm
      • Carrington VC
      • A Christmas Carol
      • The Country Wife
      • Crown Matrimonial
      • Easy Virtue
      • Fawlty Towers 2013
      • Fawlty Towers 2015
      • Feed the Beast
      • FlatSpin
      • Hello, Is There Any Body There?
      • The Hollow
      • Ladies Day
      • A Lady Mislaid
      • La Musica & Perfect Partners
      • Love In A Mist
      • Maskerade
      • Misfits
      • Much Ado About Nothing
      • Nobody's Perfect
      • NSFW
      • The Railway Children
      • Salt
      • Sauce For The Goose
      • Six Characters In Search Of An Author
      • This Happy Breed
      • The Thrill of Love
      • Visiting Hour
      • A Wedding Story
      • Wind in the Willows Chelsfield
      • Wind in the Willows Edinburgh
    • 2000-09 >
      • Arsenic and Old Lace
      • Black Comedy
      • Cemetery Club
      • A Chorus Of Disapproval
      • Daisy Pulls It Off
      • Dangerous Corner
      • Fear and Fancy
      • Garden
      • A Ghost On Tiptoe
      • Hobsons Choice
      • House
      • The Importance of Being Earnest
      • Intimate Exchanges
      • Lady Windermeres Fan
      • Loot
      • Lucky Sods
      • Mars & Venus
      • The Merry Wives Of Windsor
      • A Midsummer Night’s Dream
      • Murder In Company
      • My Three Angels
      • New Directions
      • Over My Dead Body
      • Our Country’s Good
      • Out Of Focus
      • Party Piece
      • Proscenophobia
      • Ring Round The Moon
      • The Rivals
      • Steel Magnolias
      • Stepping Out
      • Strictly Murder
    • 1990-99 >
      • Bedroom Farce
      • Blithe Spirit
      • California Suite
      • Deadly Nightcap
      • Dial M For Murder
      • Dick Turpin
      • Gosforths Fete
      • Hay Fever
      • An Inspector Calls
      • The Late Edwina Black
      • Lord Arthur Saviles Crime
      • Miranda
      • Move Over Mrs Markham
      • Not Now, Darling
      • Pleasures And Perils
      • Round And Round The Garden
      • Seasons Greetings
      • Some Confusions
      • Something To Hide
      • Tartuffe
      • Time And Time Again 1993
      • Time And Time Again 1999
      • Time, Murderer, Please
      • Tons Of Money
      • The Weekend
      • When One Door Closes
      • The Woman In White
    • 1980-89 >
      • Anastasia
      • The Barretts Of Wimpole Street
      • The Brontes
      • Busybody
      • Caught Napping
      • A Friend Indeed
      • Full Treatment
      • Gaslight
      • Mother Goose
      • Murder In Company
      • Nightmare
      • Outside Edge
      • Pink String And Sealing Wax
      • Pygmalion
      • Rape Of The Belt
      • Relative Values
      • Return To Victoria
      • Separate Tables
      • Shut Your Eyes and Think of England
      • Suddenly at Home
      • A Tomb With A View
      • Treasure Hunt
      • When We Are Married
    • 1970-79 >
      • The Aspern Papers
      • Brush With A Body
      • The Chiltern Hundreds
      • The Circle
      • Dandy Dick
      • Dear Charles
      • Fish Out Of Water
      • The House Of Bernada Alba
      • The House On The Cliff
      • An Ideal Husband
      • Ladies In Retirement
      • A Letter From The General
      • The Matchmaker
      • The Rivals
      • The Royal Pardon
      • The Schoolmistress
      • Shadow In The Sun
      • Someone Waiting
      • Spiders Web
      • They Came To A City
      • Wanted: One Body
    • 1960-69 >
      • 1066 And All That
      • Aladdin
      • Antigone and The Critic
      • As You Like It
      • Billy Liar
      • The Bread Winner
      • Breath Of Spring
      • Charleys Aunt
      • A Christmas Carol
      • Cinderella 1965
      • Dick Whittington
      • Flowering Cherry
      • Frost At Midnight
      • Hay Fever
      • The Hollow
      • The House By The Lake
      • Macbeth
      • Man Alive
      • The Merchant Of Venice
      • Midsummer Mink
      • A Midsummer Nights Dream
      • Pantomime 1960
      • The Pen of My Aunt, The Women Have Their Way
      • The Pleasure Garden
      • Pygmalion
      • Rookery Nook
      • The Taming Of The Shrew
      • Tobias and the Angel
      • Twelfth Night
      • Waters Of The Moon
      • The Young Elizabeth
    • 1950-59 >
      • After October
      • The Browning Version, Elegant Edward
      • By Candlelight
      • Count Your Blessings
      • Eden End
      • Grand National Night
      • The Happy Prisoner
      • The Holly And The Ivy
      • The Late Christopher Bean
      • Libel
      • Martine
      • The Queen and the Rebels
      • Thunder Rock
      • Young Wives Tale
    • 1936-49 >
      • Early 1940s plays
      • 20th Century Lullaby
      • And So To Bed
      • Berkeley Square
      • Cinderella
      • The Corn Is Green
      • Dangerous Corner
      • Distinguished Gathering
      • Duet For Two Hands
      • Elegant Edward (1940s)
      • The Ghost Train
      • Hassan
      • The Importance Of Being Earnest
      • Love From A Stranger
      • The Middle Watch
      • New 66 And All That
      • Night Must Fall
      • Noah
      • Pinocchio
      • The Rivals
      • Roberts Wife
      • This Happy Breed
    • Our History
  • Join Us
    • Diary Dates
    • JimSlips
    • Links >
      • Newsletter
    • Get In Touch

Our History


PictureThe oldest existing programme, from the Society’s second performance in 1938
Building work on the Chelsfield Park Estate began in the early 1930s and many young couples bought the houses. They wanted to do something to bring the new community together, so play readings took place in each other’s houses. 

Early members included Ellen and Colin George, the Fredricks, Eric Hart, Bunty Orme, Vernon Tomalin, Teddy Hollands and Bill Loraine, most of whom would remain involved until the 1950s and in some cases beyond. Mabel Fredrick had a play room built to seat about 50 people with the audience on raised benches, so the cast had the audience at their feet. Eric Hart usually took on the role of producer (the Players did not adopt the more modern term ‘director’ until the 1990s). Ellen was the first Secretary.

The first play the Players presented was 20th Century Lullaby in 1936, of which we know almost nothing. Other plays are listed with uncertain dates: we know that they happened, but we are not entirely sure when. There were at least nine shows between 1939 and 1947, but there are very few to which we can ascribe a certain date.

The Players put on plays during the war even while bombs dropped, and productions took place in many different venues such as Joan and Ivan Taylor’s Church Society Hall, St Mary’s Church Hall, Pratts Bottom Village Hall, Orpington Civic Hall and somewhere on Charterhouse Road (possibly the church hall but more likely the school). There were also outdoor productions such as Hassan, performed just before the outbreak of war and for a while lost to history, in that it doesn’t appear in the official list of productions but photos and newspaper reviews have since emerged. Another missing play is The Madonna, cited on the back of playbills as being performed in 1936 but disappearing from the list in 1988.

At this time the Players were known as the Chelsfield Village Hall Dramatic Society, even though there was as yet no village hall, which explains the variety of venues. It was not until 1949 that the group became known as the Chelsfield Players, dropping “Village Hall” from their name just as the village hall was finally built. However, the original name did reappear occasionally as late as the 1960s.


Local squire Mr Waring was against the idea of a village hall, but the Players started a fund anyway and asked other groups, such as the Women’s Institute, to join them. The hall was duly constructed but had to be rebuilt after a fire in March 1954 during the dress rehearsal of Martine.

Contemporary newspaper cuttings assert that Chelsfield had a strong reputation for quality shows in its early years and was the best society in the area, although the group seems to have gone into abeyance in around 1957, returning soon afterwards to further positive reviews.

The BBC radio DJ and theatre enthusiast Brian Matthew joined at this time, reviving the Society and bringing in experienced actors from outside. One such, Arthur White, was involved with the Pilgrim Little Theatre – which Matthew set up towards the end of his time with the Players – though he never appeared on the Chelsfield stage. However, his brother David White (later David Jason) appeared for the Players in Rookery Nook in 1965. The part of leading lady was usually reserved for Pamela Matthew, with Brian Matthew more often than not taking the role of leading man. Indeed, every play between 1958 and 1966 was directed by Brian (or occasionally Pamela) Matthew, with the pair usually taking major roles as well.

Reviews were almost always glowingly complimentary during the Matthew years, but it all came to an acrimonious end in 1966 when, with Brian and Pamela away on holiday, the Committee cancelled Brian’s plans for a charity performance of The Young Elizabeth: Brian was upset that the Committee had gone behind his back, while the Committee claimed that Brian had organised the performance behind their backs. Both versions are probably true. In proper amdram style, Brian and Pamela flounced off to make the Pilgrim Little Theatre their main theatrical endeavour. Brian, together with Brian Epstein (yes, that Brian Epstein), had previously planned to build a new theatre on green-belt land near Downe, but in July 1965 Bromley Council refused planning permission. Brian then built his own theatre in the grounds of his Chelsfield Hill home. Neither Brian nor Pamela had any dealings with the Players again.

With the Society facing oblivion for the second time in less than a decade, Norman Nash took on the role of Producer/Director; a role then taken by Harold Hart, both of whom had been with the Society since the 1940s. The Players came close to folding again when Harold decided to stop directing, putting the spring production of 1980 in jeopardy. At the social at the West Kent Golf club, Ann Blatcher (daughter-in-law of founder member Ellen George and previously mainly involved with box office) told the chairman that she would ‘have a go’ and so produced Full Treatment, a play chosen with the assistance of the late Ken Richardson. 

From there, a more settled history has seen the Players keep up the variety of drama, comedy, classics and new work, usually producing three shows a year. Through much of the 1990s the society also ran a youth group, while performances at the Edinburgh Fringe began in the 2000s. The Society maintains a close relationship with the Five Bells pub, where members often retire after rehearsals to discuss aspects of the play and grumble about the director.

20 Most prolific actors
Anne Kindley/Allocca/Finn: 74 shows, 1967-present
Keith Wishart: 61 shows, 1981-2019
Philip Lane: 55 shows, 1965-2014
Pat Walls: 52 shows, 1980-present
Cynthia Crabtree/Hearing, 48 shows, 1994-present
Bernard West, 46 shows, 1983-2017
Lestrine Wishart, 43 shows, 1981-2011
Ann Blatcher, 41 shows, 1978-2016
Gladys Hollands, 39 shows, 1939-1971
Patrick Neylan, 37 shows, 2005-present
Jo Clent, 36 shows, 2007-present
Philippa Rooke, 35 shows, 1998-present
Dorothy Freeman, 35 shows, 1958-1979
Madeline McCubbin, 34 shows, 1991-present
Norman Nash, 34 shows, 1945-1976
Philip George, 32 shows, 2002-present
Andrew Haggerty, 28 shows, 2009-present
Carl Ash, 27 shows, 1961-1975
Emily Kindley/Edmunds, 26 shows, 2000-present
Ken Clarke, 25 shows, 2008-present
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Email

info@chelsfieldplayers.org