Susannah Baring Tait’s profile

I was brought up in North Somerset as it was then. My parents were avid theatre-goers and, at first, introduced me to the Old Vic pantomimes. The first adult play they brought me to was O, My Papa! My mother had seen it a few nights beforehand and thought I would enjoy it They then took me to see Twelfth Night. It was an interesting production because there was little scenery, and props, such as trees etc., were stagehands carrying tree branches, like in Shakespeare’s time, my mother explained to me at the time.
I was in boarding school in Bath and we were often brought to Shakespeare productions. Then, my schoolfriend and I went to see plays, on our own, by Pinter and Ionesco and those in which Leonard Rossiter was playing.
Later, I was studying Aeronautical engineering design at Bristol so, until late 1964, when I moved to London, I went to see as many plays as I could at the Old Vic.

Seen, or going to see

All in Good Time, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, Bristol Old Vic Trust, 3^rd – 15^th February 1964
At the Drop of Another Hat, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1963 – 1964
The Rivals, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1963 – 1964
Around the World in Eighty Days, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1963 – 1964
Henry V, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1963 – 1964
Much Ado About Nothing, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1962 – 1963
Julius Caesar, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1962 – 1963
Becket, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company, 2^nd – 20^th October 1962
The Flanders Mare, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1961 – 1962
The Caretaker, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1961 – 1962
All’s Well That Ends Well, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1961 – 1962
Cinderella, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1961 – 1962
Macbeth, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1961 – 1962
Roots, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1960 – 1961
Richard II, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1960 – 1961
The Killer, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1960 – 1961
One Way Pendulum, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1960 – 1961
Caesar and Cleopatra, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1960 – 1961
A Man for All Seasons, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1960 – 1961
Rhinoceros, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company, 5^th – 17^th September 1960
The Comedy of Errors, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1959 – 1960
The Clandestine Marriage, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1959 – 1960
Romeo and Juliet, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1959 – 1960
Cyrano de Bergerac, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1958 – 1959
The Taming of the Shrew, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1958 – 1959
As You Like It, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1958 – 1959
Twelfth Night, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1957 – 1958
Hamlet, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1957 – 1958
Waiting for Godot, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1957 – 1958
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1957 – 1958
Oh! My Papa!, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, Bristol Old Vic Company, 2^nd – 20^th April 1957
Sleeping Beauty, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1956 – 1957
Dick Whittington, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, 1955 – 1956

Joined 11th February 2017.
Last logged in on 11th February 2017.

Last five observations

To production of Richard II, by William Shakespeare, Bristol Old Vic - Theatre Royal, 1960 - 1961: “Again, I saw this as a schoolchild when brought by our literature teacher as we were studying Richard II at the time. It remains very vivid in my memory because of Richard Gale’s excellent Richard II. His acting certainly brought us over to Richard’s side. Of course, it helped that Gale was a very handsome guy and we were teenagers! I think this was Richard Gale’s last performance as my friend and I wanted to go backstage to meet him but we were told he had already left for London. I never saw him in anything again and often wondered what happened to him.”
To production of One Way Pendulum, by N F Simpson, Bristol Old Vic - Theatre Royal, 1960 - 1961: “My school friend and I came to see the matinee of this play. All I remember was Leonard Rossiter’s spellbinding performance as Kirby, when he was talking to the weighing machines, and that we were the only persons in the house. We had front circle seats and felt the cast were actually directing their acting at us. Perhaps they were! I remember nothing else about it except that, on leaving the theatre, my friend and I were most perplexed and weren’t sure if we liked it or not.”
To production of Sleeping Beauty, by V C Clinton Baddeley, Bristol Old Vic - Theatre Royal, 1956 - 1957: “I first saw Peter O’Toole on stage at the Bristol Old Vic when I was 12 years old. He played the Wicked Witch in Sleeping Beauty and, in one scene, he swung diagonally down from the rafters and across the stage cackling piercingly as he descended. It rose the hairs on my neck, and I can still hear and see it now. I fell for him from that moment!”
To production of Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Bristol Old Vic - Theatre Royal, 1961 - 1962: “Harry H Corbet – the same who later played Steptoe and Son – was Macbeth. He was a complete unknown at the time. I have never forgotten this performance. Because we were studying Macbeth at school, our elderly, spinster literature teacher (who fancied herself ‘in love’ with Shakespeare) took us boarding school girls to see it. From the first moment that HHC stepped on stage, we began to giggle. At first in total embarrassment. By the time of his death scene, the whole audience was in fits and clapped in high amusement as he died. I’ll never forget the look on our teacher’s, by then, dangerously puce face. The more the poor man tried to be serious, the funnier he became. Perhaps, this was the moment when he discovered that comedy was to be his forte!”

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