Ref. 29505-14THE curtain is about to rise on a new era at Swindon's Wyvern Theatre as Mike Ockwell takes over as the group director.

Mike will officially step into the role on Sunday when Hetherington Seelig Theatres of Buckinghamshire takes up its tender to run the theatre from Clear Channel Entertainment.

The director is no stranger to Swindon, as his father was brought up here and his grandparents lived in Crombey Street for many years.

"Every summer we spent two weeks in sunny Crombey Street and I would go to the 11am film showing at the cinema and see all the summer shows,'' said Mike, 37.

He has always wanted to return to Swindon and 10 years ago thought he would be back when his company put in a tender for the Wyvern. He is delighted to be returning to the town now.

"This is a great opportunity to make a difference,'' said Mike, who is also the group director for the Wycombe Swan at High Wycombe.

"The first thing I am going to do is to invite all the local societies to chat and see what we can offer.

"This is a community theatre. I want to get together visual arts, dance and drama to utilise the space at the Wyvern.''

Mike plans to build a community centre for the arts, encourage schemes such as the successful summer youth project and dance festivals and bring in more diverse and bigger shows such as opera and straight drama.

"The theatre reflects the society it serves,'' he said.

Mike was born in Inverness and is married to Jacquelyn, who was an actress before she became a freelance director. They have two children, three-year-old George and three-month-old Harry.

"I was an actor that was how we met,'' said Mike. "I moved into theatre administration 10 years ago.''

He is thrilled with the support he is getting from the Wyvern's staff.

The director also has plans to resurrect the Wyvern Theatre Club and have a public performance space in Studio 1.

Mike's dad, Tony Ockwell, was a railway worker in Swindon before joining the RAF. Mike said: "I feel I have a personal interest in the Wyvern as well as professional.''

He plans to live somewhere between High Wycombe and Swindon so he can easily commute to both theatres, and will be appointing a general manager to handle the day-to-day running.

Flicky Harrison