Gwen Spinks

Gwen Spinks Joined the Settlement Players circa 1933 and has credits spanning 35 Years, directing around 45 productions as well as appearing on stage on 18 occassions.
At the Settlement, Gwen and Ken Spinks have a craft room named after them, opened in 1975 to acknowledge their heavy involvement with The Settlement Players. Gwen was also secretary of the Letchworth Little Theatre Drama Festival Committee having helped start the festival in 1963 and became known as Mrs Festival. In the 25th Little Theatre Drama Festival in 1987, new stage curtains were dedicated to the memory of Ken and Gwen Spinks. A portrait of the Spinks can be found in the Spinks Room close to the clock.

gwen spinks 20 festival

Acting Credits

Judith in The Devil’s Disciple, February 1933
Gloria Clandon in You Never Can Tell, February 1934
Araminta Dench in The Farmers Wife, April 1934
Maria in The Young Idea, November/December 1934
Olivia in Twelfth Night, February/March 1935
Lady Britomart Undershaft in Major Barbara, November 1935
Gwenny in The Late Christopher Bean, February 1936
Madam Wang in Lady Precious Stream , May 1937
Eliza Muggins in The Man Who Wouldn’t go to Heaven, February 1938
M’selle in Nine Till Six, April 1938
Mrs Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer , November 1938
Mariana in The Red Velvet Goat, February 1939
Tamar in Solomon’s Folly, May 1939
Mummer in Mimes and One Act Play, June 1942
Mrs Peachum in The Beggars Opera, July 1943
Cast in 1066 and all That, December 1945
Dame Marion in The Queen who kept her Head, November 1949
Cast in 1066 and All That, 1951

Technical Credits

Director / Producer
Barnet’s Folly, May 1936
Laburnum Grove, March/April 1937
Nine Till Six, April 1938
Arms and the Man, December 1940
The Fourth Wall, April 1939
Call to Kenilworth; Celestial Meeting; The Sword is Double Edged, February 1940
The Sister who Walked in Silence; One Evening at Nero’s, February 1940
Puppet Play, May 1940
20th Century Lullaby and Cats of Egypt, December 1940
Its Autumn Now; Back to Adam; Midsummer Nights Dream, February 1941
A Hundred Years Old, April 1943
The Beggars Opera, July 1943
Caesar and Cleopatra, October 1944
Mr Pim Passes By, April 1945
1066 and all That, December 1945
Puppet Show, May 1946
Dear Brutus, November 1946
Lucrezia Borgia’s Little Party, April 1947
The Cradle song, March 1948
An Inspector calls, November 1948
Willow, Woe is Me, May 1949
The Queen who kept her Head, November 1949
Bonaventure, May 1950
The Widow of Heardingas, May 1951
The Night Outlives your Bravery, May 1952
The Caliph’s Cure, (co director) December 1952
One Act Plays and Mimes, 1953
Beauty and the Beast, 1953
The Pie and the Tart, May 1953
Home at Seven, April 1954
The Surprise, 1955
The Barretts of Wimpole Street, October 1955
The Lady’s not for Burning, November 1956
Robert’s Wife, November 1957
Cradle Song (Excerpt), June 1959
Towards Zero, March 1960
The Heiress, March 1961
Half Dead, March 1962
The Pie and the Tart, June 1962
When we are married, November 1962
Waters of the Moon, February 1966
Lord Arthur Savile’s crime, May 1967
Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime (act 2), June 1967
Bonaventure, May 1968
A Hundred Years old, May 1969

Assistant Director
The Insect Play, November 1936
1066 and All That, 1951