Over the past decade, Teddington Theatre Club (TTC) has staged many award-winning productions at the Hampton Hill Playhouse and the club is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its home with another chip off the old block – a revival of Noel Coward’s Relative Values, writes Will Gore.

The show will run from July 5 to 11 and the first night will be a gala performance – curtain up will be at 6pm, preceded by a champagne reception hosted by Penelope Keith at 4.30pm.

A Coward play is an appropriate choice for the anniversary production as a grant from his estate, in conjunction with a Lottery award, paid for the kitting out of the theatre before its opening in 1999.

The club has also enjoyed a fruitful link-up with the Noel Coward Society, whose members will be joining the pre-gala show celebrations in the Playhouse’s Coward Room to mark their society’s own tenth anniversary.

TTC was originally based in the Old Ballroom in Hampton Court House but when the council decided to sell the building club members determined to raise the funds to build their own venue.

Mike Elgey, a long-standing club member who helped raise the money, says: “It was a protracted process to secure the site. We had people from all different parts of the theatre chipping in with what they wanted. There was a great deal of enthusiasm but the difficulty was keeping it going.

“We started our fundraising efforts in 1991 and, at the time, we didn’t seem to be going anywhere because the people who owned our preferred site wanted to build offices. They sat on the land for ages – all we could do was carry on fundraising and bide our time.”

Eventually the company cut its losses and sold up to developers St Georgev who then built flats and the theatre on the site.

The foundation stone was laid by Princess Alexandra in 1995 and the bare shell of the building was completed by the end of the following year.

The grants from the Noel Coward Society and the Lottery meant the theatre was eventually completed in time for the premiere of Jimmie Chinn’s The Garden Party on June 15, 1999.

TTC has since staged many revivals and a number of new plays at Hampton Hill Playhouse.

The club has also picked up plenty of Swan Awards, that recognise the best in local amateur theatre, over the past decade and members won a haul of awards last year, including the gong for best production for Festen.

All TTC members will be hoping Relative Values will be in line for a few awards of its own at the end of 2009 to cap what is sure to be a memorable 12 months in the history of the club and its Playhouse.

Relative Values, Hampton Hill Playhouse, 90 High Street, Hampton Hill, July 5-11, teddingtontheatreclub.org.uk