Today's Guardian carries an obituary for my first theatre boss - Wilfred Harrison, who was then Artistic Director of the Octagon Theatre, Bolton.I joined the Octagon in August 1978 and spent 2 years there, before moving on to the Tyne and Wear Theatre Company. At that time Wilfred seemed a traditionalist, perhaps even a boring old duffer. At times, he acted like he was Donal Wolfit [for whom he had acted as a Stage Manager]It was a traditional repertory theatre, in the true sense of the word - I remember Amanda Burton [pre-"Brookside" days] as an Acting ASM; and Nica Burns played one of the title roles in the Christmas show, "Beauty and the Beast".
We did 2 Shakespeare seasons of 3 plays, with Wilfred often playing the lead role - "Julius Caesar" [where he went home at the interval] and "King Lear" [what's interesting is that the off-stage Lear in the Royal Exchange's premiere of "The Dresser" bore many hallmarks of our production!].
Several years late [and I mean some 15 years later] when the Theatre-by-the Lake was completed in Keswick, the Blue Box[es] of Century' touring circus arrived in Snibson Discovery Museum, the ABTT organised a meeting to see the venue and hear from some of the people who toured with it. I couldn't believe that my musty old first boss was the same visionary that had created the touring miracle that was Century Theatre.
