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Theatre pioneer Wilfred dies at age of 91
Wilfred Harrison, who was Associate Director of the Sheffield Playhouse in the 1960s, has died aged 91.
He will be best remembered by most in the city for his performances as William Broadhead, the central character in The Stirrings in Sheffield on Saturday Night.
Stirrings was one of the first musical plays about local history to be commissioned by a provincial repertory company and proved to be the Playhouse's most popular production.
Wilfred was born in Sheffield and went to the Central School for Boys where The Star gave him his first rave review for playing the title role in the school production of The Admirable Chrichton.
His father was killed in action in the First War before he was born, and Wilfred grew up as a committed pacifist.
When war broke out at the end of his studies at Sheffield University, he registered as a conscientious objector and was required to work in farming and as a volunteer patient in medical research.
His early days in the theatre were spent with The Adelphi Players, a company that toured village halls and workingmen's clubs.
It was the difficulty of fitting up stages and performing in poorly equipped halls that sparked a meeting with John Ridley, an engineer who had designs for a mobile theatre.
In the dark days of 1948, Wilfred showed great enthusiasm and vision to set about raising the then colossal sum of 25,000 to build The Century Theatre – the first new theatre on which work started after the war.
Four strenuous construction years created this unique mobile structure which set out in 1952 to visit theatreless towns in the midlands and north of England with Wilfred Harrison playing Othello.
From Sheffield Playhouse he moved on to become director of the Bolton Octagon Theatre where a particular feature was a series of annual Shakespeare seasons in which he gave performances as Macbeth, Othello, Falstaff , Lear and Prospero.
A tall, distinguished figure with a commanding presence, Wilfred inspired great loyalty among those who worked for him and was much loved by actors who appreciated his skill at drawing sensitive performances out of them.
Aftrer retirement from the Octagon, he continued to live in Bolton, travelling widely, performing, lecturing and directing as far afield as Texas and Warsaw.
In the West End he appeared at the Old Vic and for several Christmas seasons played Badger in Toad of Toad Hall. TV saw him occasionally, notably in The Chief with Tim Piggot-Smith. But it was the theatre that was his life.
His proud claim was to have performed in every county from the Hebrides to Land's End.
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
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