Repertory

A hard word to spell, repertory. Even harder to explain what it was. My dad wistfully recalls days when there were many rep theatres, and they were a popular form of entertainment for decades, and a key way for young actors to earn their Equity cards and work their way up to the West End.

I'm sure a lot of it was awful, and you couldn't switch it off after 5 minutes and stick the snooker on, which is probably why television was so beautifully placed to steal its ecological niche and push it towards extinction. It's a shame TV took over, though. Just think what Sky could have achieved if they'd managed to deploy Live Pause at the Bolton Empire.

There probably isn't a Bolton Empire. But I suppose in some sort of post-apocalyptic nuclear bomb ravaged world where the North West of England is the first to recover we could soon all be under the dominion of hordes of suburban Mancunians desperate to avenge the Bolton massacre. Best to die in the first flash, I think.