PROFILE FEATURE
Meet Merry Wife of Windsor -
Ali Chadwick Funnily enough it was the part that Ali Chadwick had to turn down that she is most physically suited to! Diminutive and with decidedly elfin qualities, Alison was chosen to be the First Fairy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Stamford Shakespeare Company at Tolethorpe in 1995. This was in the run-up to her wedding and quite a physically demanding role so Alison thought the better of it! She had already taken her first Tolethorpe role as Jessica in The Merchant of Venice the previous season where she had auditioned in front of a panel of four including the formidable and highly experienced company director, Jean Harley. Jean, Alison remembers, would fire you if she didn’t think you were up to the part and it was touch and go for Alison for a while as she has a naturally quiet voice and had to learn quickly to project! But she was no stranger to the boards even then, as she had taken ballet classes at the Mumford Miller School of Dance in Peterborough from the age of five, and been a member of the National Youth Music Theatre as a child. At just 16 she had appeared in the Edinburgh Fringe in Bendigo Boswell and then toured the southern counties. Recalled for RADA, Alison was told to go back when she was older – an ambition fulfilled when she took a short course there at the age of 42! Having taken a break from acting when her daughter India was small, she was tempted back to appear in Stamford Shoestring Theatre Company productions, altogether appearing in seven productions: as Becky Sharpe in Vanity Fair, Anita McCracken in Ayckbourn’s A Small Family Business, Yelena in Uncle Vanya, Cecily Pigeon in 20
The Odd Couple, Rose Gwynn in Nell Gwynn and Nell Gwynn herself in Playhouse Creatures and Oh What a Lovely War!
The play runs for four weeks in total: two weeks in July and two in August on a week on/week off basis.
Now back at Tolethorpe after a break of 25 years, Alison auditioned for the roles of both Mistress Ford and Mistress Quickly in the 2018 production of The Merry Wives of Windsor. She was successful for the role of Alice Ford in front of a panel who this time were very friendly and approachable. The audition for the two parts was over in just ten minutes.
Outside of the theatre Alison is a busy career woman with her own business of 17 years, The Vital Consultancy, where she is a Sales, Management and Communications Trainer and Coach. In demand locally, nationally and overseas, Alison’s career began in Peterborough where she worked as a telephone sales person on Emap publication Performance Bikes. Now her work has grown into the self-management, assertiveness and mindset coaching arena. Taking her from London to Seattle, she gives a percentage of her profits from her new Self-Management For Men workshop to the Samaritans and Survivors Of Bereavement by Suicide. Her charitable work also takes her into schools where as a Schools’ Services Volunteer for Childline she speaks in assemblies and runs workshops on the ‘speak out, stay safe’ theme.
After a week’s waiting the phone rang and the Director Ken Walsh imparted the glad tidings! An initial read-through then took place with the rest of the cast and at Tolethorpe all three plays for the season are read on the same day in different parts of the building. Later the whole cast meets together for drinks and a buffet lunch. Rehearsals take place twice a week from February then stepping up to three in the weeks leading up to the first night. The Stamford Shakespeare Co at Tolethorpe is considered to be one of the biggest and best amateur dramatic companies in the country, on the tourist trail and attracting a stunning number of 35,000 people for the summer season. Standards are high! Each costume is individually made for the performer, sets are second to none and the rural setting adds a sense of magic and drama of its own. Alison is enjoying her sojourn as a merry wife in what is primarily a funny play, this time set in the Forties but with themes that resonate with topical causes such as ‘Me Too’. Directed by accomplished actor and retired head teacher, Ken Walsh, a high level of commitment is expected.
If there is any spare time it is spent doing yoga and Pilates and a ballet Barre class at Vivacity Premier and of course there is always a plan afoot – for now, a new business venture ‘Vital You’ – offering personal positivity and mindset coaching for individuals as a departure from the corporate training for which she is known. Meanwhile India, Alison’s daughter, is enjoying the start of an acting career of her own studying at the Guildford School of Acting on their Musical Theatre BA; she was fortunate enough to be among the 1% of those that apply to be accepted. She started ballet at four and for years played lead roles at the Key Theatre as part of the Key Youth Theatre, now Kindred Drama. One senses another acting dynasty in the making!
