MANY will be familiar with the Albert Hall building which is now the Co-op Bank in Colchester High Street.

But it has had a great many incarnations - including as the home of a popular theatre company which would for the basis for today’s Mercury Theatre.

Colchester Repertory Theatre, explains Dorian Kelly whose own father Bernard was a director and producer, was founded by Bob Digby in the late 1930s.

Dorian, who spent a great deal of time at the theatre at the Albert Hall, says it came about after actress Beatrice Radley made the suggestion in a letter to Bob.

“Bob’s Colchester roots were at the great house at Kings Ford in Layer Marney which Bob has inherited which set up and indeed subsidised the theatre for the next 34 years,” he explains.

He adds: “It was the Albert Hall and School of Art so the deal was the theatre group could only use it on a part-time basis.

“They used it for a week and then they had to move everything out for two week before going back.

“During the time they were out of the Albert Hall they would take their productions round to village halls in the area.”

Pretty much a shell beforehand, the Repertory group created a stage and put in second hand seating for 363 which increased to almost 500 when a raked floor was later added.

Part of the deal for them to use it, says Dorian, were the pictures hung on the wall all had to remain as part of the art gallery which opened to the public on demand.

“I can recall two vast pictures high up on each wall, they must have been fifteen feet by ten each.

“One was a panorama of Dutch Refugees fleeing from something or other.

“There was also a couple of pictures of the Bluecoat Boy and the Bluecoat Girl.

“I wish I knew what had become of all these pictures, but they simply disappeared.

“If anyone has any knowledge of them I would be glad to hear about it.”

He also clearly remembers Mary Rawlings, the theatre’s house manager.

“Dressed in a faded slightly and dusty green velvet evening gown, she would stand at the front door and greet each and every member of the audience by name and saying goodnight personally to everyone at the end.”

At its peak the Rep was producing over forty plays per year, continuing until 1978 when finances got too much.

“The theatre took a turn for the better and under David Forder’s tutelage and the Artistic Directorship of David Buxton, the theatre thrived again and eventually moved into the much promised new theatre, Changing its name, but not its ethos to the Mercury Theatre,” adds Dorian.

The Albert Hall now houses the Co-op Bank.