In the early 1950s Murray Melvin acted with the Hampstead Drama Group, north London. My parents, Constance and George Hawkins, did too, and George was its “props maker”. A child at the time, I recall Murray as indeed a lovely man.
The HDG rehearsed its mostly one-act plays in Burgh House, and was run by Jess Harrison, a forthright, leftwing Scot from Shetland and then Glasgow, and one of my mother’s closest friends. Impressed with Joan Littlewood, Jess organised a group visit to her Theatre Workshop company. I think Murray moved on from HDG almost immediately.
Jennifer Hawkins Opie
At the Hampstead Drama Group, Murray Melvin and I acted together in one-act plays and They Came to a City by JB Priestley. We were mad about theatre and dance, and relished those early heady days of discovery.
Philippa Buss