Jean Rogers – Actress/Writer/Director/Activist
The Friends of Coventry Cathedral have asked us to help promote their forthcoming event which will be held following their AGM on Saturday 28th September 2019 at 2.20 p.m. in the Chapter House at the Cathedral.
Jean Rogers was an actress who was once part of the Belgrade Theatre Company when it was a repertory company. She was working at the Belgrade Theatre in 1962 when she also worked at the Cathedral as a volunteer guide.
Non-members of the Friends are welcome to attend her talk which is free to members and at a charge of £5 for non-members.
The friends write “Within a year of leaving the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Jean joined the Belgrade Theatre Company in Coventry for the 1962 Cathedral Festival Season appearing in Andre Obey’s Noah.
“She was born in London and raised in Worthing where a grant from West Sussex County Council funded her acting dream. After a year at the Belgrade she joined Sir Laurence Olivier’s Chichester Festival Theatre, then becoming a founder member of his Royal National Theatre where she played Ada Figgins in Hobson’s Choice and Oello in Royal Hunt of the Sun.
“In the world premiere of The Wizard of Oz she played Dorothy, and the director Alan Ayckbourn included her in a couple of BBC Radio dramas which led to more than twelve hundred broadcasts, many specialising in playing young boys and girls, presenting Listen with Mother and also Poetry Corner. Voice work became her lifeline while her children were small.
“Among her Television credits Jean is best known for her eleven-year portrayal as Dolly Skilbeck in YTV’s Emmerdale. Over a hundred of her episodes were shown earlier this year on ITV3’s Classic Emmerdale.
“Jean’s career has included a number of Ayckbourn comedies, Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov, Coward and principal boy in Pantomime. Her experience in the acting profession is wide and has shaped her belief in the value of unions and activism. She served for 24 years on Equity’s Council and ten as Equity Vice President. She is the proud 2017 winner of the TUC’s Women’s Gold Badge Award, Chairman of the British Equity Collecting Society (BECS) which collects and distributes performers’ rights remunerations and in contrast this year has become the Royal British Legion Sussex County President.
“Recently she has written and performed a two-hander called My Dear Miss Terry based on the love letters between the literary genius Bernard Shaw and the celebrated Coventry born Shakespearean actress Dame Ellen Terry. Having performed it in 2017 in the Barn Theatre at Ellen’s National Trust home Smallhythe it would be wonderful to bring it to Coventry.
“She is delighted to be back as guest of the Cathedral Friends.”
Tickets for the event can be purchased for £5 from the secretary of the Friends, email [email protected]
