Richard Fawcett (1948 - 2026)
In late March we lost a much valued member of the SDS community with the passing of Richard Fawcett who clocked up close on 40 years involvement with the society. During this time he took part in some 40 productions onstage, directed over a dozen more and - away from the stage - served on the SDS general committee including stints as treasurer and chairman.
Born on Tyneside in May 1948, Richard made a mockery of one of his teacher’s predictions he’d ‘never amount to anything’ by immediately passing his 11 plus exam and embarking on an education featuring a Cambridge University degree and a Masters qualifications in languages. He used his language skills in his subsequent career that eventually brought him to East Anglia during his time teaching, and taught French and German at Sudbury Upper School (now Ormiston Academy) where he met his future wife Heather Clayton - also a languages teacher - with whom he jointly opened a music shop in Sudbury, Two’s Live Music, when they both left full time teaching in the mid 1980s.
As accomplished musicians, Richard and Heather gave music lessons and Richard also marked examination papers and set exam questions with their home at times being piled high with papers and cassette tapes of examination candidates’ oral language submissions.
Richard and Heather ran a ceilidh band, Whirligig, who were in demand for many years playing events in the area and both became involved in musical events at St Peter’s Church (now Sudbury Arts Centre).
Richard became involved in SDS in late 1986 when he was ‘recruited’ by a former teaching colleague who was directing Alan Plater’s ‘Close the Coal House Door’ - a drama set in Richard’s native northeast - requiring actors with convincing local accents.
Richard followed this up the following spring with the title role in the highly ambitious Dracula, and made his directorial debut for the society in 1988 with Molière’s The Miser - based on Richard's own translation of the original text.
Over the ensuing years, Richard acted in and directed a diverse range of productions, including several pantomimes and works by playwrights such as Shakespeare, Joe Orton, Alan Bennett, Harold Pinter, and Samuel Beckett. As an actor, Richard has played key roles in productions including Pinter’s The Caretaker, Tennessee Williams’s Night of the Iguana, Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist, David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, and, in March 2024, as the sole character onstage in Samuel Beckett's one-act play Krapp’s Last Tape.
As a director, Richard has brought to life plays such as Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons, Alan Bennett’s Habeas Corpus, Joe Orton’s What the Butler Saw, P. G. Wodehouse’s Come on Jeeves, and various Shakespeare plays including The Taming of the Shrew, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and King Lear which he directed twice, in 1992 and 2000, respectively. He has also directed various pantomimes, including Red Riding Hood.
Recognising his immense and lengthy contribution to SDS, Richard was given lifetime membership of SDS in 2024.
He will be greatly missed.