Forum topic: Richard Attenborough and Palmers Green

Richard Attenborough, who died on Sunday, made his stage debut, aged 17, in 1941 at the Intimate Theatre in Palmers Green. He played a "lovesick teenager" in Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness. Six years later he played Pinkie in one of the greatest British films ever made, Brighton Rock.

The unassuming looking Intimate Theatre has a more interesting history than you might expect. Palmers Green & Southgate Life recently told its story. If you want more detail, there's a very interesting article in issue 4 of Oakleaves, which can be obtained from the Southgate District Civic Trust . And if that whets your appetite, there's an entire book about the Intimate by Geoff Bowden. I haven't read it and it's probably out of print, but this photo of the cover gives you some idea of the former significance of our local theare..



One of the most fascinating periods in the theatre's history was just after the Second World War, when BBC Television broadcast live productions from the intimate. These are described in two articles on the Screen Plays website .