Murder, Monsters and Dreams theatre programme

Chosen by Liz Murphy

This theatre programme for the plays ‘The Great Salmon Hunt’, ‘Dreams’, and ‘Murder by Numbers’ from the Rhodes Centre Junior Theatre Group was chosen by our Customer Services Assistant, Liz Murphy, as she is named in the cast.   She played ‘Dave’ – one of the Greeks in ‘The Great Salmon Hunt’.

Liz remembers the show.  “I have really fond memories of the Rhodes Drama Group, especially our performance of The Great Salmon Hunt.  I was about 10 or 11 years old when I first joined the group and we had a lot of fun rehearsing for the shows (once our teacher had rounded us up from whatever place we’d decided to explore – mainly the dressing rooms downstairs).  The Great Salmon Hunt told the story of a group of school children on a trip to Loch Ness who decide to create some havoc by building they very own Loch Ness Monster. 

My character was called Dave, and I remember being particularly put out at first about having to play a boy, but, once I got into the role, I had a great time. We also had to play a lot of ensemble parts, and I was a tourist who had to faint at the sight of the ‘Loch Ness Monster’. I had bruises for a good week afterwards – the stage is very hard!”.

The Rhodes Centre Junior Theatre Group produced and performed multiple theatrical performances starting in the 1970s through to the 1990s with participants aged 9 to 15.

Did you perform in this or other shows at the, then, Rhodes Centre?  Why not share your memories with us and record an oral history for our archive?  Contact us at museum@southmillarts.co.uk to find out more.

To see this and other interesting artefacts please visit the Bishop’s Stortford Museum in South Mill Arts.