DONATION OF THE MONTH - OCT
6 Oct 2023
Donation of the month - October Special
Something special for you this month...
A few weeks ago, we had a visit from a very special lady who has a deep connection to Bristol Old Vic.
She shared a beloved family photograph with us and her story of why she came all the way from Canada to stand on King Street as part of a family pilgrimage.
We thought she should tell you in her own words.
HERITAGE DONATION OF THE MONTH
Family Photograph belonging to Rachel Neville Fox
My father John Neville and my Mum Caroline Neville (neè Hooper) were actors and worked at the Bristol Old Vic after the war. I grew up knowing all about that and many members of the company remained family friends throughout my life.
Also, me and two other siblings (there are six kids in the family) are mixed race and we were adopted as infants in the 50’s. I recently discovered my birth mother and her relations, going back many generation are from Bristol.
I was here singing services at Bristol Cathedral for the week with a visiting choir from Canada where I now live and thought I would take the opportunity to finally see the theatre I had heard so much about as a child.
First of all I was so pleased that the original building is still being used and the new part a welcome addition.
As I stepped to the lobby there was a great vibe, a sense of energy, of it being a people’s theatre, that young and old enjoy the theatre together whatever their circumstances.
Everyone was very welcoming and Nancy (Medina) and Andrew (Stocker) were so extraordinary kind and generous giving me the history of the theatre, a brilliant tour and a fantastically deep dive into the digital archives to show me pictures of my Dad in various roles.
The whole visit was the absolute highlight of my visit to Bristol and I will be sharing the photos with my brothers and sisters when I see them in person.
I send you and the Bristol Old Vic and all who work there continued success and much love.
Dad would have approved.
Rachel
John Reginald Neville, CM, OBE was an English theatre and film actor who moved to Canada with his family in 1972.
Neville was a West End star of the 1950s, hailed as "one of the most potent classical actors of the Richard Burton–Peter O'Toole generation".
A leading member of London's Old Vic Company, he played many classical leading roles, he played Romeo to Claire Bloom’s Juliet, Hamlet to Judi Dench’s Ophelia and Othello to Richard Burton’s Iago (and vice versa).He was also an acclaimed Richard in Richard II, with Virginia McKenna as Queen Anne.
He was a frequent performer at Bristol Old Vic.
In the 1960s he became joint Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse before emigrating to Canada with his family in the early 1970s, where he devoted his later career to the Canadian theatre.
He enjoyed a resurgence of international attention in the 1980s as a result of his starring role in Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) and had a recurring role in The X Files.
