(Rosemary Bamford)
A former student of Professor
Rosemary Bamford, Murray McGibbon became a lifelong colleague and friend. He is
the former Director of Drama for NAPAC and The Playhouse Company and currently
Professor in the Department of Theatre, Drama and Contemporary Dance at Indiana
University, Bloomington, USA:
The telephone rang in Kloof, just outside Durban on Saturday
morning, December 13. It was my friend Christopher Catherine calling from
London. After enquiring about my recent flight from the USA and exchanging the
usual pleasantries, he said: “Have you heard about Rosemary?” “Yes,” I said, “I
spoke to her on Thursday and am going to see her next week.” “I’m afraid she
died on Friday night”, he said. I was
devastated. I had just bought her Christmas gifts on Friday and was going to
deliver them this coming week.
Of course, her death was not unexpected as she had been
critically ill for some months after undergoing heart surgery in early July. I
had seen her the day before the operation and she was sporting a bright green
hairdo, a relic of her 85th birthday party a week before. Or should I say
parties? I believe she had five different celebratory functions ranging from a
week-long Berg retreat, to a string of cocktail parties for various groupings
of her students, friends, neighbours and colleagues. There was nothing demure
about Rosemary!
“Rosemary died on Friday night”. The words keep ringing in
my ears. There is no way I could have known when I first met Rosemary (then
Miss Bamford to her students) as an 18 year old student at the then University
of Natal in Pietermaritzburg that we would become close confidants, colleagues
and friends over the next 40 years.
I had been besotted with the theatre since the age of three,
and the opportunity to actually study a subject that I was passionate about at
university was a dream come true. To have Miss Bamford as my first acting teacher
appeared to have been personally arranged by Dionysus himself! Miss Bamford WAS
theatre. I had never met such an eccentric, larger than life, exuberant, tornado
of a woman. I was to learn that beneath the grand exterior was a very kind,
thoughtful, generous and remarkable teacher. I was just one of many hundreds of
students lucky enough for some of her “theatre magic” to rub onto me.
A former student of the renowned Professor Elizabeth Sneddon
and Miss Joan Little, Rosemary Bamford was a product of the Durban Campus of
the University of Natal’s Department of Speech and Drama. After completing her
Honours degree in Drama, she taught English and Drama in Pietermaritzburg, most
notably at Epworth High School. Once
Professor Sneddon established the Pietermaritzburg-based department, Rosemary
was invited to join the faculty.
In 1975, the department was housed in the so-called Speech
and Drama Annex in Ridge Road. There was a converted theatre space known as the
Studio Theatre, and it was here that I first acted in a university production.
The play, a curious modern day type Everyman
by David Campton entitled The Life
And Death Of Almost Everybody, was to be directed by Miss Bamford. I had
the good luck to be cast as the devil of the piece, Aunt Harriet. It was a
fabulous role as Harriet appeared in a different guise on each appearance. I
remember having to learn to ride a mini motorcycle for one of the entrances! For a kid to be acting in a “proper” play
with a “proper” director was as exciting an adventure as I had yet encountered
in my young life. I had always dreamed of being an actor, and although this
role started a long and happy association with the department, I was also able
to observe what Rosemary could “do” with a play. I had never considered
directing, but I learned a great deal from her about the elusive art.
All Rosemary’s productions were unusual, and got people
thinking and talking. She had an uncanny knack of taking good students and
making them better. Nobody, however, came close to taking weak students and
turning them into competent performers. She never gave up on any student, but
turned their weaknesses into strengths. The work was edgy, thought-provoking,
intellectually stimulating, bold, risky and sometimes “dangerous” in terms of
“pushing the envelope”. She once cast me in a very outré piece called Silence
in which I played Jean-Pierre, a character who appeared on stage for the
duration of the play without saying a word. It was one of the most difficult
acting challenges of my career.
She was a tough taskmaster, particularly with the students
she cared about. I well remember in my second year arriving two minutes late to
an individual tutorial due so some car trouble. There were no cellphones in those
days and I couldn’t get a message to her that I was running late. When I
arrived and apologized profusely (she was a stickler for “professionalism”) she
told me that she didn’t care what the excuse was, and that I was late, which
she deemed to be hugely disrespectful. I tried to remonstrate with her and she
said: “Mr. McGibbon, (yes, we were addressed formally in those days!) you
arrived late for an appointment, so it has been cancelled. I will see you next
week. Goodbye”. I have never been late to any appointment since.
Rosemary was in the habit of having a closing night party at
her home in Winterskloof for every production she directed. I went along
somewhat tentatively to the first one, to be immediately put at ease by
Rosemary and her then partner Leda Troedson, later by Patricia Eagles. Wine and
snacks flowed, every actor received a handwritten card and a small gift, and
lifetime friendships were born.
Rosemary’s bounteous generosity and joie
de vivre at the functions compelled me to do the same in my career and to
this day, I still host an opening or closing night party, and every actor gets
a handwritten card. Unfortunately, the gifts have become a thing of the past.
Apart from her theatrical interests as a director and performer,
Rosemary loved the bush and was an avid birdwatcher. She was an accomplished
poetry reader and was forever compiling poetry programmes in which she directed
others and, on occasion, herself. She performed these programmes on her
frequent overseas travels, mainly in the United Kingdom but also in America, after
she had asked me to put her in touch with colleagues and friends in New York,
Chicago and Carbondale, Illinois. Rosemary was a skilled networker and she had
friends in all levels of society, from all races, and from many different
disciplines and persuasions all over the world.
“Rosemary died on Friday night.” The thought is appalling.
She beat several major illnesses with fortitude. She was indomitable, indefatigable.
She exuded old-school gentility and warmth in copious measure. The only thing
that could sink her was death itself.
Although she left no issue, she has left hundreds - if not thousands
- of students, colleagues and friends who will ensure that her light will burn
brightly for generations to come. I know that Rosemary was not particularly
religious, but I also know that there will be one extra burning star in the
heavens forever more. Her unbridled passion for people, places and animals,
along with her determination to perfect the art of living, made the world a
more joyful, colourful and exciting place.
In closing this short tribute, I would be remiss if I did
not pay homage to her close-knit circle of Pietermaritzburg friends who were so
good to Rosemary in her final years and months. For fear of leaving someone
out, I won’t name names, but you know who you are, and Rosemary and her more
geographically separated friends know too and so ... thank you.
There will be a memorial celebration at Rosemary
Bamford’s home in Pietermaritzburg on Friday (December 19) at 17h00. Those
wishing to attend should contact Carole Beckett on 033 239 0768.
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