Val Watkinson

Val was a highly valued member of the Garrick, having joined in 1991.

She was multi-talented and became involved in every branch of theatre production : actress, director, technical assistant (sound and lights), stage manager, deputy stage manager, ASM, prompt, and producer - as well as being one of the longest-serving members of the Play Selection and Casting Committee.

Val was also well known as the Garrick trouble-shooter, solving issues as and when they arose. Most notably, she stepped in at the last moment to direct Aladdin, following the very sad, very sudden death of Terry Chandler in 2013.

Val appeared in many plays at the Garrick, including The Pocket Dream, There Goes the Bride, one of the three witches in Macbeth, An Ideal Husband, Fur Coat and No Knickers, and Love on the Dole. Most memorably, she played Vera Duckworth and Ena Sharples in Corrie (her last performance on stage).

Her credits as director and assistant director are impressive, and include Private Lives, Return to the Forbidden Planet (three times !), Amadeus, The Sunshine Boys, Hindle Wakes, Catherine Howard and Snow White.

After 2012, she was either Assistant Director or Deputy Stage Manager for some of the biggest Garrick musicals and Pantomimes (first with Adam Whittle and then Joe Meighan) such as Acorn Antiques, Grease, Cats, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Aladdin, Dick Whittington, and The Wizard of Oz.

Val was also very well known in amateur dramatic circles and was associated with CHADS, Tyldesley Little Theatre, the Wilmslow Guild and especially the Wilmslow Green Room. Every summer between 1991 and 2007, she was involved in the Green Room's productions at Gawsworth Hall, as an actress and, most importantly, back stage working as stage manager or sound or lighting technician.