Phoenix started in 1983 when it ‘rose from the ashes’ of another long established group, The St Thomas’ Light Operatic Society. At that time two groups were being funded by The Inner London Education Authority (ILEA). The ILEA decided it would only carry on funding one group. St Thomas’s decided they would go independent rather than merge with another company and so the Phoenix Players were born.

    Phoenix now had to supply a Director, Musical Director and a venue to rehearse. Willing volunteers were recruited and the first venue to hold a rehearsal was the now derelict Tulse Hill School. Phoenix decided that for their first venture they would move away from the Gilbert & Sullivan operettas, which had traditionally been done by St Thomas’s. It was decided that a pantomime was a good way forward and so the die was cast and the rest, you could say, is history!
    The next few years saw a panto performed every January and a summer show in July. Whilst forays were taken into the modern musical with shows such as Carousel and The Boyfriend, the company also stayed on familiar G&S ground with Pirates of Penzance and HMS Pinafore.
    It was not until 1992 that the group began to perform some lesser-known shows and it is this that has become one of the things Phoenix is well known for. Shows such as Chicago were rarely performed at amateur level but now the show finds itself on a record breaking West End run. Shows like Slice of Saturday Night, Dracula Spectacula, Dames at Sea and Viva Mexico! were all new to the amateur world but have now been tackled by other groups at amateur and professional level.
    The story would not be complete without the tale of Beasts in the Wood at St Oswald’s in 1996. After the Friday night performance a tragedy occurred when the church hall caught fire due to arson. Everything in the show was destroyed; lights, costumes, scenery and memories. The show may have been cancelled but Phoenix were not, and so, quite literally, the Phoenix had to rise again from the flames.
    Rarely now is a pantomime professionally written and so we rely on budding amateurs either inside or outside the company to come up with new modern scripts. Again catchy titles such as Beasts in the Wood, Fantos Monster Panto and The King’s Breakfast normally encourage a wider audience who have seen Cinderella many a Christmas before.
    We are just a group of keen amateurs who love putting on shows. We have little cash to plough into our shows but heaps of enthusiasm. Friendships and marriages have been made that will never be lost and good times and fun are as much a part of the company as the shows we perform.                 

'Dame' Ian Caldecourt