Allen Saddler left school at fourteen with no qualifications and educated himself in the public library. As he was living in London he was able to see shows and plays just before the war. He formed an attachment to twice-nightly Variety, and saw the big shows at the Palladium and elsewhere. He became fascinated with Bernard Shaw, who was still alive at the time. He came from the library with armfuls of Shaw’s plays and treatises on many subjects. Later he become a devotee of Unity Theatre, a leftwing organisation who put on shows, some satirical reviews, some classic plays, particularly Sean O’Casey. In the end this was valuable background experience. When he moved to Devon he became the West Country theatre reviewer for The Guardian, and wrote for The Stage and other theatre magazines. He did this for twenty-five years. It was the time of fringe theatre. They used to tour, so he saw Belts & Braces, The People Show, 784, Major Road, Joint Stock and most of the others. He followed the fortunes of the local groups in Plymouth and Exeter, and got mixed up with the campaign to save Footsbarn, the Cornish travelling show, and became the main chronicler of their struggle to survive. In the end they all went to France, forming a base to tour the world. Fringe theatre was anything from two men lighting matches in the dark to wild spectacular events that spilled out into the street. Through working for The Stage he needed to attend events classed as ‘light entertainment’ (holiday shows, panto, cabaret). >>
