2000 - 2005
Enter Stage Left
Jean Boht, who played the mother in the sitcom Bread, came up with the idea of a theatre company at Kitson Hall for young people in Barnes. She contacted the TV director Darrol Blake who was working on Emmerdale and Coeks Gordon, former production manager at the Old Vic for Laurence Olivier’s start-up on the National Theatre. Her idea was enthusiastically taken up by both of them.
Darrol’s wife, Anne Cunningham (who played Elsie Tanner’s daughter in Coronation Street) did the wardrobe. The Waldecks, Jo and Colin, were also a part of the team; Jo, Paul Daniels’ PA was in charge of publicity and Colin, a senior cameraman at the BBC, did all the lighting and tech. Coeks’ wife, Carolyn Pertwee, helped with the makeup.
Jean’s dream of a professional theatre company, the Barnes Youth Theatre, was fulfilled. Jean and Darrol took it in turns to direct. However, after many successful shows, both Darryl and Jean had to step down – Darryl to direct for TV and Jean to take up the part of the mother in Bread. Her friend, the actress Anne Carroll, who had been helping, took over and dedicated her life to the company which ran successfully for 20 years, earning her an MBE and the devotion of many young people.
At this time, the Old Sorting Office was put out for tender by the council and Anne and Coeks decided to bid for it. Anne and her son, Rusty Livingstone, wanted to develop the site into a drama school but this was considered too exclusive for the Barnes community. Instead it became the start of what the OSO is today.
2000
The OSO is born! Work begins on transforming the space into a fully equipped community theatre.
2002
The theatre refurb is completed. The OSO opens it's doors to the public for the first time.
2004
Actor Robert Pattinson, who was brought up in Barnes, started acting in amateur plays, aged 15, with the Barnes Theatre Company at the OSO, for example playing the role of Malcolm in Macbeth in 2004. The following year, he succeeded in gaining the role of Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter, which brought him to a wider audience at the age of 19.
He recently acknowledged the role that the BTC played in his formative years: ‘BTC thank you, thank you, thank you – we all owe you BIG TIME’
2005
The Barnes Literary Society (BLS), set up in 2004, ran a lot of its early events in 2005/6 at the OSO. Some of the ‘big name’ speakers who attended included: PD James; Margaret Drabble; Justin Cartwright; Claire Tomalin; Roger McGough (one of the OSO’s Ambassadors); and Santa Montefiore.