Illustration depicting a scene on a stage from the side-stage. Illustration by John Crockett in 20st Century. John Crockett Collection.

John Crockett was the producer and artistic director of the Compass Players Company, a small post-war British touring company dedicated to producing a repertoire of classics. Their work incuded Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, plays by Shaw, Synge, Chekhov, Moliere, Fry, Milton's masque Comus, and exciting versions of Chaucer's The Pardoner's Tale, and Jonah and the Whale - both adapted by John Crockett, the company's artistic director as well as a dancer and an accomplished artist.

The Compass Players were based in John Crockett's home, an old house and estate in Gloucestershire, and played wherever they could - in village halls, miners' Institutes and schools across the country, with everything carried in a recycled laundry van called Bertha. It had seats for nine and space behind them for the sets, props, costumes, lighting and sound equipment for the three or four productions for each tour. The entire company acted, stage-managed, lit the show, maintained the costumes and props and put up and struck the set. A school matinee and an evening show daily was normal. Hospitality was offered in many places, and gratefully accepted since everyone in the company existed on 15/- per week plus their keep. Company members might find themselves guests in a miner's cottage one night and in a mansion the next, and Compass players never ever forgot the training they gained or the impact their visits had on the many small communities that welcomed them.