So there we found ourselves sitting in the centre of the dress circle - Subscriber

As a subscriber, I recently received your newsletter and request for memories, and I thought I would provide you with a memory of what was my first visit to the RSC in Stratford in 1976 with my brother. I have his permission to relate this story, and it’s thanks to his meticulous diary-keeping at the time that we have the exact date. We lived in Stirling in Scotland, and had grandparents in Cardiff, our father’s home town, where our grandmother had become ill in the summer of 1976. So my brother and I (then aged 23 and 20 respectively, he by then employed, but I still a student) undertook a trip together by car down to see her in September (she in fact passed away the following year), visiting various places on the way, including Stratford and parts of the Cotswolds. When we arrived in Stratford on 16th September, we found a B&B to stay, and then thought we would try and see if we could get returns at the theatre, although not particularly hopefully.  We joined the end of quite a long queue in the outer glass foyer which was then in place, and as returns came in, the queue gradually went down, till we found ourselves at 2nd place in the queue.  The couple ahead of us were offered two tickets at £4, which to us then seemed a very large amount of money, and we pondered what we would do if we were offered anything at a similar price.  Now at the head of the queue, shortly the next returns arrived – which were two tickets at £5 in the dress circle!  We were so stunned that we just looked at each other in astonishment, nodded our heads and took them, ignoring the consequences on our financial resources.  Neither of us had dressed particularly smartly, and my brother indeed was wearing an old green shirt, which my mother had long been persuading him to get rid of, but of which he seemed inordinately fond.  So there we found ourselves sitting in the centre of the dress circle, surrounded it seemed to us largely by wealthy American tourists, but with the immense privilege of seeing Judi Dench and Donald Sinden in Much Ado About Nothing, which was a completely unforgettable performance.  I now live in Cheltenham and have been lucky to have attended many performances in Stratford since, as have my brother and his family, albeit living further afield, but neither of us has ever forgotten that first performance we attended.