This is the year that the Drama Department at the University of Hull turns 60. We asked alumni to send in their memories and photographs and have had a fantastic response. This article is the first of a series that shows just what Drama at Hull means to you, our alumni.
Below you can see the memories sent in by some of our Drama alumni including former MP Sir David Hanson, Stephen Gallagher, whose work for TV includes Dr Who and Silent Witness, Dr Ghee Bowman, author and academic at Exeter University. There are also many great photographs – with thanks especially going to Cliff Dix, the writer and owner of lighting and audio supply company Phosphene for a wonderful collection of pictures from the 70s.
Sir David Hanson, BA Drama 1978
Drama at Hull. A teacher suggested I apply and it ended up opening doors I never knew existed. It started with a discussion of “The Fire Raisers” by Max Frisch over the long walk to the Department through the university for interview – a moment forever implanted in this student’s mind.
A place at the Drama Department in Hull offered a truly life affirming experience – what a place to be in the 1970s when I had the good fortune to be a student 1975-78.
The Gulbenkian Centre gave us the chance to act, understand TV and radio, create theatre sets, do sound & light, explore film and of course study the texts, history and impact of dramatists from Shakespeare to Brecht, Pinter to Chaucer. And a degree at the end of it all!
I loved it.
And surrounded by excellent staff – Don Roy, Mike Walton, Robert Cheeseman, Vivien Bridson, John Harris, Tony Meech and future Oscar winner Tony Minghella – I was blessed.
Never before had I operated a camera, flown in scenery, lit a set, or acted in live theatre, in the centre and even a in a pub near Hull – the pictures here show some of those days with people who even then I knew had star quality. Theatre led me to the student union and some “agit prop” political theatre and a springboard to a different life but that’s another story – Hull Drama Department: congratulations on 60 years – you changed lives.
Stephen Gallagher, BA Drama 1975
Dr Ghee Bowman, BA Drama 1983
What a catalyst you turned out to be
I was not a very good student during my time at Hull from 1980 to 1983. I missed most of the lectures, went to seminars without having read the texts, failed one module completely. Academically I simply wasn’t ready for it.
But on another level it was perfect for me and me for it.
I threw myself into doing the shows. In my first term I played a Chinese monk in a classical play, I did the flies for a memorable production of Oedipus, and I played Judge Brack in Hedda Gabler with a crazy Greek director who was known for shouting at the players ‘Give it balls you fucking bastards!’
Two years later – in my third year – I knew that the Gulb was where I felt at home. I directed, I did lighting, sound and stage management, and I even did a little more acting. Notably I shaved my head before a lunchtime show and the audience spent the discussion after the single performance staring at my bald shiny pate. There was also the single-greatest show of my time: Hot Cakes, starring Mik Cahill and Tom Collingridge in a 3-minute play that was created (and performed) in a drunken haze.
So although I scraped through with a 2:2, I learnt skills for life from being involved in 3 or more shows per term. And I took those skills with me in my 7-year career in the theatre and the 30 years since I left (long story…).
I learnt about teamworking: there is no better environment than a theatre for it. I gained a sense of all the tasks and roles needed to put on a show, how they fit together and complement each other, how they need to respect each other and how none are surplus to requirements. And that there is joy and skill and interest to be found in every aspect of putting on a show.
I learnt about sheer hard work – nobody I’ve met works harder than a crew doing an all-nighter to fit up a show. And deadlines! You can’t get away from the 7:30 curtain – there’s nothing you can do to magic it away. I’ve used these skills again and again throughout my life, in every job or voluntary role I’ve had.
I learnt all kinds of extraordinary arcane knowledge from the scripts – about the life and songs of Edith Piaf, about the 1970s comedy scene from Comedians and about the Peasants’ Revolt from our first year project directed by Anthony Minghella. And I still quote lines 40 years later.
And I learnt about acceptance, about saying ‘yes’ to what people suggest in an impro situation. Go with the flow and see where it takes you. There are no wrong answers.
And of course I learnt how to have fun, to party hard, and I made friends for life.
As for the academic side? Well, that came along about 10 years later, when I was finally ready to become an adult and learn that studying can actually be rewarding.
I hope your time at Hull was/is half as good as mine!
Cliff Dix, BA Drama 1974
University of Hull Alumni Association 