Wolverhampton Grand at 125: Larking around to plug theatre show
Larking about on Lichfield Street is where shoppers and office workers would often find actors appearing at the Grand that week.
A couple of the cast, sometimes more, would meet an Express & Star photographer outside the theatre on the afternoon of the first performance for a picture to promote the show.
Seen here are actors Ken Farrington and David Ross who used an old grocer's bicycle as a prop.
The show they were appearing in was the comedy It's a Madhouse, by the ground-breaking Boys From The Blackstuff playwright Alan Bleasdale, which took a light-hearted look at lunacy.
The play was based on the events of a typical evening in the psychiatric ward of a general hospital in the north-west of England. The photo is reproduced here as part of celebrations to mark the Grand's 125th anniversary year.
Farrington, in the doctor's white coat, first came to prominence in the role of Billy Walker, wayward son of Rovers Return landlady Annie, in ITV's long-running soap Coronation Street. He joined the series in 1961, continuing in the role on and off until leaving the programme for good in 1984.
He also played long-suffering Chief Inspector Teal's right-hand man in the TV series The Saint, and appeared in episodes of The Avengers, Redcap and Z-Cars. In 2004 he joined Emmerdale, playing the character Tom King for three years.
In the Grand production he played Eddie who ran the ward. David Ross, best known for the sitcom P.O.B, played a woman-hater who kept his cigarettes in his shoes.
* If you have any stories or pictures of visits to the Grand, email 125@grandtheatre.co.uk or in writing to 125 Memories Project, c/o Stage Door, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, Lichfield Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1DE.
