BASINGSTOKE ENTERTAINED

Mervyn Gould

Mercia Cinema Society, 2007

Paperback, 98pp., £8.95

ISBN 10: 0-946406-62-6

Since Basingstoke has never had a purpose built theatre this book, perhaps naturally, centres on the history its cinemas. However there is a record of plenty of live entertainment within its pages and its author, long time SMA member, Mervyn Gould, in his fourth book (and there are three more in the pipeline!) has, as usual, spared no effort in his research to provide an exhaustive study of his subject. We may read about strolling players, live entertainment at the Hiring Fairs, and fit-ups in various venues both under cover and al fresco, long before the moving pictures came on the scene. Later there was still room for variety, pantomime and even weekly rep. and no theatre history is complete without a fire.

For this reader a gazetteer would have been useful to help keep track of the frequent changes of name and the rebuilds at the numerous sites enumerated in this work. Much at the centre of cinematic activity in Basingtoke for more than twenty years was George Casey, who in 1913 converted the Corn Exchange, at that time a skating rink, into a cinema and variety theatre. He later converted the old Drill Hall into a variety theatre before it was reconstructed as a cinema. His other interests and activities are fully explored.

Appended is a lengthy newspaper report of the fire which all but destroyed the Grand Cinema, formerly the Corn Exchange, in 1925. The fire occurring at night, there were no fatalities, but a touring revue company, currently in occupation, lost all their props and costumes. The shell of the building was later redeveloped and eventually renamed the Haymarket.

The expansion of the cinema industry, developments in sound technology, the rise of the national circuits and the more recent arrival of the multiplex cinema, are all subjects examined in as far as they were manifested in Basingstoke.

The book concludes with a study of the formation of the Horseshoe Theatre Company at the Haymarket, later developments at that venue, the building of the Anvil concert hall in 1994 and the current provision of public entertainment in Basingstoke.

The author’s thoroughly readable style, is, as usual, enriched by the provision of numerous illustrations, from photographs, plans, programmes and advertisements. Interwoven throughout are details of both amateur and professional live entertainment and wider aspects of social history, making this a valuable aid to our understanding and a wider knowledge of our national culture.

(Reviewed by Graeme Cruickshank)

Basingtoke Entertained is available from

Stuart Smith, Mercia Sales 100 Wickfield Road, Hackenthorpe, Sheffield, S12 4TT

At £8.95 post free (payable to Mercia Cinema Society)