Preston's very own Certain Curtain Theatre company is 30 years on and still going strong

A proud Prestonian theatre company is toasting its 30th anniversary, having written 30 original plays.
Claire and John with the Co-operative Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to the CommunityClaire and John with the Co-operative Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Community
Claire and John with the Co-operative Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Community

Its work has allowed Certain Curtain Theatre to tour The Netherlands, Germany and The Falkland Islands as well as all over the UK.

Actress Claire Moore and playwright John Woudberg founded the company through a shared passion for theatre.

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“We’ve written 30 original plays, performed in excess of 2,500 performances reaching over 300,000 people,” said Claire. “I’m feeling proud of our achievements, especially when you consider we have had no revenue funding whatsoever – we are as passionate and determined today as we were 30 years ago,”

Since 1989 Certain Curtain has written plays with themes as diverse as teenage pregnancy, the Holocaust, gun-crime and domestic violence.

The company has also covered some of Preston’s rich history – writing, what is believed to be the first ever full length musical about football – Legend The Tom Finney Story, The Ballad of Andrew Ryding – a Preston cotton mill worker who tried to murder cotton kingpin Samuel Horrocks in a bid for workers rights and most recently Woman On Fire - about Preston’s most famous suffragette Edith Rigby.

John said: “We have taken some of society’s most difficult and taboo subjects and turned them into powerful, mesmerising pieces of theatre, helping to tell the untold stories that are so often ignored.

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"We’ve flown the flag for Preston and Lancashire wherever we’ve performed.”

Certain Curtain has started a £30 for 30 year fundraiser asking supporters to donate a £1 for each year. Donate at www.paypal.me/cctheatre