touring - Sburnett

The Beginning :1974: How a Brummie Art Student Joined the Pip Simmons Theatre Group

How a Brummie Art Student Joined the Pip Simmons Theatre Group

Birmingham College of Art it’s 1969 a crowd of art students travel down to London which turns out to be great time to decamp. 1969 the year of free music concerts, The Rolling Stones in Hyde Park, OZ magazine, Suck magazine Time Out, man lands on the moon & jobs are plentiful. Rod Beddall (my significant other) and I fall in with a theatre crowd at the infamous Oval House. Pip Simmons Theatre Group re-invented itself and are looking out for candidates. Chris Jordan (actor, composer musician with Pip Simmons Theatre Group (PSTG) meets Rod Beddall who can sing, dance, play the fool so is invited to join the group, I tag along after having had a taste of Theatre at the Oval house, had this chance and took it.….

A new life begins in 1974 : Life on the road with The Pip Simmons Theatre Group

Pip Simmons and Rudi Engelander

The group that re-formed was, with one or two exceptions, a company of new recruits and I was one of them.The company had re-invented itself in 1974 with a residency in Rotterdam which produced two so-called horror shows. One was a version of Dracula, the other An Die Musik, a true ‘horror story’. An Die Musik a disturbing representation of the Nazi’s extermination of the Jews. This was perhaps The Pip Simmons Theatre Group’s best-remembered work, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the liberation of Holland from German occupation.

I performed with the group for 10 years. I had a camera. I took photos. I wrote postcards to my family, telling them what we were doing

Shows had no script, they were built out of improvisation, research and hard work.

Emil Wolk : a handstand on the roof of Milan Cathedral

Rod Beddall, the perfect candidate for Dracula, 6ft 2in a shaved head, he could sing, play guitar, piano and tin whistle. Rod was prepared to wear fishnet stockings & a leather jockstrap. The journey began, a couple of Art students from Birmingham in Rotterdam, a new company the re-invented Pip Simmons Theatre Group rehearsed & performed Dracula 1974 and for me, a leap in to the unknown….

L/R starting bottom row-Eric, Pip, Chris, Rudi, Olly, Sheila, Rowan, Laura, Rod, Emil, Nick, Fritz

The Beginning :1974: How a Brummie Art Student Joined the Pip Simmons Theatre Group

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