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Member of the Players Club, David Clayton, August 2003
22 August 2003
Greenwood, Hudson, Quebec

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"We rehearsed quite often in the house because our performances were being rehearsed in the winter... Phoebe was a very tough lady, she didn't seem to feel the cold at all but we'd be rehearsing in that dining room in the winter and we'd be absolutely frozen and we'd be sitting there, hands under our armpits to keep warm, and Phoebe wouldn't even notice it and I think if you talk to other members of the Players Club group who rehearsed there, you will find that all tell the same story... Phoebe had undoubtedly gone through a lot in her professional career as an actress where she'd be rehearsing for hours without any sustenance, I suppose she thought we could do the same!"

"We did our performance of Twelfth Night and, under Phoebe's direction, I was cast as Malvolio and of course Malvolio makes an absolute fool of himself in a pair of yellow stockings which he thinks Olivia is going to like. So Phoebe got these yellow stocking for me out of the what we used to call her dress up box, and these are the ones that I wore..."

" Well it's the bit where Maria and the others make a fool of Marvolio by leaving this letter for him to find... a fictitious letter, which is supposed to be a sort of love letter from Olivia and he just read the letter and he think it is fantastic and he says:
" Daylight and champaign discovers not more: this is open. I will be proud, I will read politic authors, I will baffle Sir Toby, I will wash off gross acquaintance, I will be point-devise the very man. I do not now fool myself, to let imagination jade me; for every reason excites to this, that my lady loves me. She did commend my yellow stockings of late, she did praise my leg being cross-gartered; and in this she manifests herself to my love, and with a kind of injunction drives me to these habits of her liking. I thank my stars I am happy. I will be strange, stout, in yellow stockings, and cross-gartered, even with the swiftness of putting on. Jove and my stars be praised! Here is yet a postscript." (Act II, Scene V)

"After the show I of course had the costume with me at home I was going to bring it back to Phoebe, but time passed by and various things happened and I'm afraid that they got mislaid and I never did bring them back and unfortunately Phoebe passed on, and there I was left with the yellow stockings and her copy of Twelfth Night annotated by Phoebe..."

"Phoebe was a very, very skilled and determined lady... her knowledge of Shakespeare particularly was quite enthralling and she taught us an awful
lot... she never made anybody feel small, she was always very good at explaining to people what was required and very, very helpful..."

"She did something quite often which I am sometimes told is not a good thing. I've heard people in the professional theatre say "Oh you should never give actors line-readings". Personally I think that's not true, one has to do that. Phoebe certainly subscribed to that there were times when people could not quite get the right nuance and Phoebe would not only read the lines, she'd act the part right in front of us and it was very good, that's the way to learn..."

"The contribution particularly to the Players Club was tremendous, the Players Club learned an awful lot from her. We were fortunate to have her to direct. We had several performances in St Mary's Hall, down here, not only Shakespeare, but some of the Restoration plays , and she was so knowledgeable, she taught us an awful lot, she made a tremendous contribution..."