Roger Bradley founded About Theatre in 1998. He was a popular and well loved theatre performer and director in the Lancaster area, who died on February 11th 2007 after a long battle with skin cancer. Born in Yorkshire, he moved with his family to Morecambe when he was eleven years old. At an early age, he became a loyal supporter of both theatre and Morecambe Football Club.
He was a member of Lancaster Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Society and Lancaster Footlights for over 20 years and served as actor, director and committee member for both societies.
Roger appeared in many productions for LADOS including Jesus Christ Superstar, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, West Side Story and La Cage Aux Folles. He directed Chess for LADOS and Into The Woods, Return To The Forbidden Planet and Little Shop of Horrors for Lancaster Footlights. He was also a regular performer in the well supported and highly popular Footlights Pantomimes at the Lancaster Grand Theatre.
Roger formed his About Theatre company so that he could introduce productions that were of specific interest to himself and were unlikely to have been produced by local amateur theatre societies, to this end, his first show was Girls Night Out – a “Full Monty” style comedy in which he both starred and directed and which was performed over many months at several different theatres in the North West. One of Roger's greatest loves was the music of Stephen Sondheim so it was no surprise that the second production by About Theatre was “Company” which played at the Grand Theatre in October 2002. It was the success of Company that led him to direct Into The Woods for Lancaster Footlights in 2004. This created a general interest in Sondheim among local actors and friends of Roger which has culminated in bringing "Putting It Together" to the Lancaster Stage.
Roger's interests extended beyond theatre and he was a follower of all sports especially Morecambe FC, cycling and athletics. He was particularly sad that he would miss the Olympics in London in 2012. Roger was also an accomplished gardener and, with his friend Jim Carey, won a medal at the 2002 Chelsea Flower Show. His garden at Warley Avenue in Morecambe was a source of great pride and he opened it to the public on several occasions to raise funds for the Grand Theatre. Since his death, his garden was opened to the public for the last time by his family and this event raised over £800 which was donated to skin cancer charities as was Roger's wish.