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It all began in 1948 when George Price left England for Kuwait. His wife Joan, then 18 years old and newly married was to stay in England until she would join her husband later that year. George remembers traveling alone to start a new job with the Kuwait Oil Company. The plane landed at Kuwait Airport amid a sand storm, and barely able to see, he caught sight of a man sitting on his cart with a donkey, George Price wondered if this form of transport was his pick-up which would take him to his new posting in Ahmadi, but it wasn’t. He recalls there were no roads, the aircraft had landed on a single bitumen strip runway. Eventually, after waiting in a tent, which was the reception area for the airport, he found his driver and off they drove along the sandy tracks towards Ahmadi. George missing his wife, sent for Joan 9 months later and it was not long after her arrival in Kuwait they both decided something had to be done with friends at the weekend in a form of entertainment. Between them, they began a small social dramatic club for those working in KOC. They met with colleagues from the Company every Thursday afternoon at the Magwa Club.
George and Joan distinctly recall those days when they called themselves the KUOCO in dependent Players. Rehearsals were held in the Price’s tin house because the theatre was used most of the week as the local cinema. Old packing cases were used as wardrobes and dressing rooms. It was in that same year in 1948 that the KUOCO Independent Players staged their first production, (Worms Eye View) in the indoor cinema. George produced and Joan was the leading lady for most of the productions. Access for rehearsals and the building of scenery was difficult. The erection of scenery and animating had to be done at the last minute outside the theater itself. Car head lamps were used for lighting, and the majority of the materials used for the show were on loan from the materials department of KOC.
Eventually, in 1950 KOC recognized the need for the Players to have a more suitable stage. They donated a small hut with a dais just 18” high for them to use. It is from that moment on that the tiny Nissen hut with its small stage became known as the Kuwait Little Theatre. In 1952 KOC offered them larger premises in Main Street which was known as the old spinney’s shop. Seating in the theatre became top priority for the Amateur Dramatic Society.
Kuwait Little Theater is now over 50 years old and in that time George transferred to Kuwait National Petroleum Company. George and Joan are living in Kuwait and still active members of the Society. |