SERJEANT MUSGRAVE'S DANCE
Written by John Arden
Directed by Robert Chetwyn
Ian McKellen in the role of Private Sparky
Arts Theatre, Ipswich, Suffolk
24 September 1963 - 5 October 1963
Words from Ian McKellen
Another ambitious choice from Robert Chetwyn, who was always concerned to mix the light with the heavy, the merely entertaining with the more thought-provoking. I enjoyed playing the young lad. Sparky, giving my "little-boy-lost" performance. Encouraged by my new agent Elspeth Cochrane and by James Cairncross (whom she also represented), John Neville and Frank Dunlop attended the matinee performance on 1st October. They were recruiting a company for the newly-built Nottingham Playhouse. I passed muster and was invited to join them in the autumn.