BACK IN TIME WITH COLIN BAKER

BoB's very own Time Lord recalls his early days on the amateur stage, lodging in Liverpool and playing pranks as a professional at The Playhouse

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I have very happy memories of my brief time in amateur theatre which started from one of those serendipitous moments when my mother and I went to see an amateur production of the King and I at the Palace Theatre in Manchester. I had always enjoyed being involved in school productions (Gilbert and Sullivan) and as we stood to leave, I expressed my enjoyment of the show to my mother and said I would "love to do something like that..." The words had barely left my mouth when the man sitting in front of us turned round and identified himself as the president of the North Manchester Amateur Operatic Society and invited me to come along the next Friday for rehearsals for their next production, South Pacific. I did and so began a journey...

I also have very happy memories of my season at Liverpool Playhouse a decade later. I was part of the autumn season and appeared in Conduct Unbecoming, Vivat! Vivat Regina!, A Game Called Arthur and Christie in Love, culminating with my Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol.