Noel Coward's play This Happy Breed first opened at London's Haymarket theatre in 1943 and starred Coward himself as Frank Gibbons. Despite his image as an upper-class sophisticate, the family's background was not unlike his own. However when it came to casting the film version a year later, the director David Lean felt that he was too far removed from his humble origins and cast another actor, Robert Newton, in the part. Also in the film cast was John Mills who lived in Suffolk and sadly died this year.
The Play is Coward's look at the humour, resilience and stoicism of ordinary English people set against the backdrop of some extraordinary events. The events are history now, some people in the audience will have lived through them, others will have studied them at school. Some of Coward's views may seem old-fashioned but the notion of what it means to be English is surely as relevant today as it was when the play was written.

Directed and produced by Jo Bytham, assistant director Sue Brown.

Cast
Frank Gibbons	Peter Upton
Ethel Gibbons	Celia Bramwell
Mrs Flint	Celia Bradnam
Aunt Sylvia	Kerry Curtis
Bob Mitchell	Paul Davis
Billy Mitchell	Rob Nicholas
Queenie Gibbons	Denise Clayden
Vi Gibbons	Kara Gould
Reg Gibbons	Mark Gould
Sam Leadbitter	Steve Powter
Phyllis Blake	Wallis Gowers
Edie	Emily Ryan

Behind the scenes
prompt	Christine Oxford
costumes & props	Daphne Smith, Jill Davis, Sandra Loader, Sue Brown, Quay Costumes, Hammond Hire
lighting	Alan Barney
sound	Laurens Wilming
stage manager	Steve Brown
set decoration	Peter Bradnam
set design & construction	Alan Barney
make-up	Ali Dellar
music consultant	Celia Bradnam