User:Szeng74/sandbox1

The Waddell Sisters
Roberta (Bertha) Johanna Waddell (17th June 1907 - 17th August 1980) was a theatre writer, actor, director, and manager. Her younger sister Janet Jane (Jenny) Waddell (13th August 1905 - 7th January 1984) was theatre director, costume designer, and musical accompanist. Together, the Waddell sisters would come to establish the Scottish Children's Theatre and be the first to pioneer British children's theatre provision creatively. None of the sisters ever married, and would stay in the family home through their lives.

Early Life
Bertha and Jenny were born to architect John Jeffrey Waddell and primary school headmistress Jean Leadbetter Swan. From a young age they expressed a great interest in the arts, seeing performances of those like Anna Pavlova, Forbes Robertson, and Ellen Terry. Governess-educated, the sisters learnt dance, singing, and piano, and would later attend drama and speech classes in Glasgow.

Careers
Bertha and Jenny would both join local amateur companies, and later the Scottish National Players. Whereas Bertha's career would develop into her becoming an actress, Jenny developed as a musical accompanist.

In 1927 the sisters would establish the Scottish Children's Theatre in the McLellan Galleries, and it would run until the sisters' retirement in 1968. This would later come to be known as Bertha Waddell's Children's Theatre, or The Children's Theatre, and was the first professional theatre company specifically for children. Their first performances would be well received, and they would be noticed by the Directors of Education, resulting in them being invited to perform in some schools in Scotland. Eventually their touring would develop on a seasonal basis into schools and public halls even beyond Scotland. The company would be supported by SAC (school assessed coursework), which determined the internal assessments of the Victorian school curriculum. Highly respected, they would come to even host performances for Royal family members such as Princess Elizabeth and Margaret

Later life
The sisters would retire in 1968, and

Achievements
In 1930, the CUKT(the Carnegie UK Trust) would award the company with £300.

The company would often be invited to perform for Princess Elizabeth and Margaret over the years,