Welcome to Kaleidoscope Theatre!

Comradeship & Serious Joy

Kaleidoscope Theatre, founded by Carolyne and John Revell as the first company of its kind, began life one foggy October morning in 1980. That Christmas saw the cast perform its first play before an audience of fifty. Six years on came sell-out shows at the RSC's Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon and in the autumn of '92 the company flew halfway around the world, to the land of the rising sun, to play in Yokohama's finest theatre before an audience of one thousand.

Original and highly acclaimed productions have travelled countrywide and abroad since and to many important venues. Alongside tours to the Edinburgh Festival over the years the company has participated in international festivals in Britain and in Budapest and played theatres which include The Crucible in Sheffield & The Birmingham Rep.

Kaleidoscope's young thespians have made countless appearances on radio, television and in the press over the years and may have been spotted in A Touch of Frost on the small screen and in Shooting Fish and Titanic Town at the cinema. Kaleidoscope Theatre is a unique company having as it does an integrated cast of players of all ages and from all walks of life.

Eight members of Kaleidoscope (six of whom happen to have Down's Syndrome) live and work together all year round in a rambling house in Shropshire and they are joined by friends for rehearsal and performances. Each and every person involved is special. They come because they have a passion for theatre, because they believe in high standards of performance and in quality of life and, above all, because they have a love and high regard for one another.

Teachers, civil servants, tv director/producer, ceramicist, piano tuner, osteopath, prison officer, nurse, chartered surveyor, RAF engineer, vicar and postmistress are all to be found, on stage or off, in Kaleidoscope Theatre.

Since meeting Kaleidoscope Theatre several years ago Richard Stilgoe, Alan Titchmarsh and Neil & Glenys Kinnock have performed in its plays (with Wendy Craig often in the audience!) and now David Bradley has joined this merry troupe.

A production usually requires the creative efforts and co-operation of many people - scriptwriter, director, designer, players, backstage crew, costumiers, technicians, set and props. builders, administrators, publicists and fund-raisers - all of which would normally cost tens of thousands of pounds. As Kaleidoscope has little financial support everything is, quite literally, made in-house by the little community of eight together with the help of one or two who escape day to day work when they can. No-one receives a salary or expenses.

If THE CHIMES makes but a small impression upon you, & if you should leave the theatre tonight with but one thought-provoking memory, then Kaleidoscope's players will deem their work to have been of some use.

Life with Kaleidoscope Theatre has set in motion a voyage of discovery for its crew. Together they learn of language,literature, legend, history, music, art, dance, drama, relationships and moral values. Long may its travellers seek adventures new.

Patrons of Kaleidoscope Theatre: David Bradley, Wendy Craig, Judi Dench, Jerome Flynn, Susan Hill, Glenys Kinnock, Antony Sher, Richard Stilgoe & Alan Titchmarsh

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