Q Theatre - Local Press Retrospective

Local Press Retrospective

In April 1992, the theatre critic of the Richmond and Twickenham Times series of local newspapers, wrote the following retrospective to welcome Kenneth Barrow's history of the theatre:

"Jack de Leon was the man of action: a trained solicitor who became a talented playwright, director and charismatic impresario. His wife Beatie yearned to be an actress. But she settled for being one of the most shrewd and astute of theatre managers, a perfectionist and the legendary 'Lilian Baylis' of her time. 'No experience?' she would say to an aspiring actor. 'Well you know we can't afford to pay you anything, but you've got to start somewhere.'

"Formerly a derelict roller-rink and film studio, their Q Theatre opened on Boxing Day 1924, modelled on the Everyman at Hampstead, and soon became a focus for new writing. Plays were tried out, went to the West End or were gently forgotten. Dozens of writing careers were launched, although Philip King's clerical farce, See How They Run is the only Q discovery to become a classic. The tiny theatre was a scene of triumph, riot, litigation and a disastrous fire.

"It staged its last professional show in February 1956 and then turned to amateur use, finally closing its doors in March 1958 before demolition and replacement by a faceless office block. But in its last decade the upcoming talents included Jill Bennett, Joan Collins, Geraldine McEwan, Patricia Routledge, Denholm Elliott and Irene Worth, among the thousands offered the chance to exercise their art while finding their feet in the profession. And there is an absorbing coda carrying us on to the creation of the De Leon Drama School in Richmond upon Thames, eventually forming the nucleus of the now thriving Richmond Drama School, part of the borough's Adult Community College.".