Terry lane
Terry Lane designed and built the Traverse Theatre Club in the autumn of 1962. He became the first Artistic Director and Manager of the fully professional company which opened its doors to the club’s members on the 2nd January 1963. During his time in Edinburgh he directed a number of British premieres. These included three works by the Spanish playwright Fernando Arrabal; Comedy, Satire, Irony and Deeper Meaning by Christian-Dietrich Grabbe; Stanley Eveling’s first play The Balachites; Beebee Fenstermaker by William Snyder; and the Noh Plays of Yukio Mishima.
Of the first night of Alfred Jarry’s avante garde classic Ubu Roi the drama critic in The Scotsman wrote “If the Traverse should shut down . . . it would have justified its existence by Terry Lane’s production. . .” In The Observer Bamber Gascoigne wrote, “The play gives splendid opportunities to a director . . . Terry Lane grabs them all . . . All the best touches turned out to be his.”
Born in Woodford in 1937 Lane began his Theatre career in the West End of London offices of the impresario Jack Hylton. He was Stage Manager with Bromley Repertory, the Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Perth Repertory and for Stephen Joseph' s Theatre in the Round company in Scarborough and on tour. In 1964 he left Edinburgh and the Traverse Theatre and directed Joseph's Scarborough season before going on to direct the pilot Theatre go Round for the Royal Shakespeare Company in London. He was one of the directors for the Pitlochry Festival company in 1965 and 1966.
In 1966 Stephen Joseph asked him to take control of his company in Stoke on Trent during what became an inter-regnum season in 1967, during which he directed a Documentary Music Hall and Big Soft Nelly by Henry Livings. He became the first Director of Productions at the Midlands Arts Centre where his productions included Eugene Ionesco’s Jacques played in masks, and Gammer Gurton’s Needle on a genuine hay-wain. The Birmingham Post described the production as “A sheer riot”.
Elsewhere he has directed seasons in Bournemouth, Cardiff, Kidderminster and individually, My Fair Lady, Oh What a Lovely War, and on the Edinburgh Fringe National Health and M. Ragou. He now paints portraits.