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Theatre renamed in honour of Victoria Wood

Steven BellBowness-on-Windermere
News imageIan West/PA Wire Comedian Victoria Wood appearing on the Graham Norton Show in 2014. She has a blonde bob haircut and is wearing a black blazer. The background is bright red, with purple and orange lights.Ian West/PA Wire
Comedian Victoria Wood died in 2016

A theatre is to be renamed after the comedian and playwright Victoria Wood in honour of her legacy.

The Old Laundry Theatre, in Bowness-on-Windermere, will be renamed the Victoria Wood Theatre in January - nearly 10 years after the comedian died from cancer at the age of 62.

Wood performed at the theatre a number of times and premiered a stage version of her award-winning TV drama Housewife, 49 at the site.

Fellow comedian John Cleese described her as a "terrific performer" while the theatre's owner Charlotte Scott said it was a "great delight" to have the venue renamed in her honour.

News imageActors Celia Imrie, Victoria Wood and Duncan Preston pose in Victoria Wood's Sketch Show. Victoria Wood is in a cleaner/dinnerlady outfit. Celia Imrie is dressed in a turquoise dress and Duncan Preston wears a three-piece suit. The image is from 2001.
Celia Imrie and Duncan Preston starred with the comedian in Victoria Wood's Sketch Show

Wood found fame in the 1980s and was best known for her BBC sketch show Acorn Antiques and the comedy Dinnerladies.

She won five Baftas including two for her one-off ITV drama Housewife, 49, which was based on the World War II diaries of a Barrow-in-Furness housewife.

Wood was a trustee and patron of the theatre which is attached to the World of Beatrix Potter tourist attraction.

Roger Glossop founded the Beatrix Potter attraction in 1991 and decided to convert an unused part of the building into a theatre.

'Completed the circle'

The renamed theatre will host the musical Fourteen Again in May next year which uses songs created by Wood.

Glossop and Scott, who run the theatre, said they had been "firm friends" with Wood.

They said it was "very special" to be renaming the site.

Scott said: "A friendship and, at times, a working collaboration over more than 40 years makes me feel we have completed the circle.

"Vic was always so supportive of all our ventures but the place they all emanated from - or ended up at - was this theatre and building so we will hang the signs with pride and continue to present and produce work in this venue for the foreseeable future."

News imageBBC / Jonathan Birch Comedian John Cleese is pictured wearing a beige suit jacket and a black woollen jumper. He is standing in front of some net curtains. He has brown eyes and white hair.BBC / Jonathan Birch
John Cleese said Wood "had a very individual take on things"

John Cleese told BBC Radio Cumbria that Wood was "terrific".

He added: "She was very, very good and I thought she had a very individual take on things.

"I met her once or twice and she seemed quite quiet, quite shy, but I thought she was a terrific performer."

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