EILEEN MAISIE (AITCHESON) TEWARD

Eileen Aitcheson hailed from the extensive Aitcheson Clan of the north Dunedin area. Until recently they were unaware of any relation as Eileen's father Alexander,  apart from his name, was a yawning  blank on the collaborative tree amongst several  of his well-rounded out  siblings - with no knowledge of his descendants or indeed if there were any at  all.  Interestingly paperwork cannot be found for his marriage to Jessie Cameron, whom it is believed he met whilst  she was  working at Seaview Seacliff Lunatic Asylum  (not sure what brought him in proximity but he was likely bringing in potential patients on behalf of the force),  or any of the three offspring, including Eileen,  leading to the possibility that they  may have never married at all.  As granddaughter Helen Quinlan put it Alexander, even though a police officer,  was considered the "black sheep" of  the family due to his behaviour such as violent outbursts which led him  to "not (be) allowed off the South boat" after their separation. 

Thus there is a possibility that the family, his parents John and Lydia Aitcheson who were based in Waikouaiti , may have distanced themselves from him deliberately. This particular branch of the Aitchesons seems to have broken away from the clan and settled in the Wellington area by the late 1890s to early 1900s ; A jumble of Wellington Aitchesons appear in the electoral roll circa 1911 - and we find Eileen at Te Aro School in 1910, and then Normal School, in the Wellington area also, soon after. Although, apparently she was born in that area in 1901. With no birth certificate having ever materialized it is hard to pin down an exact date or the family's movements. There is more than one reference to her brother Stanley (Winstanley) Aitcheson attending the Terrace School around this time.  

She seems to have regularly entered Eisteddfods and other similar competitions for singing and dancing - but then that wasn't at all unusual for those times. Some included the Shakespeare recital 1911, New Zealand Society's Vocal Instrumental And Elocutionary Carnival 1911, Sight Reading With Music Competition in 1911. Scotch Ballad Competition 1911 in which she is categorised as a "clever reciter", Pupil's Concert 1912 (...Miss Aitcheson, a tiny girl, won hearty applause for her rendition of "Guilty Or Not Guilty..."), Socialist Hall Pupil's Concert 1913, Vocal Instrumental And Elocutionary Carnival 1915, and Miss Flora Shaw's Concert, also in 1915. She performed the short play "Their First Attempt " at the Wellington South Senior Cadet Drum and Fife Band benefit concert 1915, at Flora Shaw's Farewell Concert, 1915 (she was obviously a performance tutor of Eileen's), and the play "Naturalised" was performed for the Roman Catholic Knitting Club Fund benefit concert in 1916.

There is mention of involvement in many small productions, By 1921 she is doing theatre and the like and appeared in a Midsummer Night's Dream at the Wellington Grand Opera House in the role of Hyppolyta. In 1923 she gives a performance for the Sanders Cup Concert.

In 1925 a Miss Aitcheson of Wellington is noted in the Evening Post's "Women In Print" social column as departing with a friend on a motor tour of the South Island. Apparently this occasioned her to be in Pigeon Bay for a costume ball which she attended as an "Egyptian Snake Charmer".

Eileen married Matthew Teward in 1923 but remained involved in the performing arts - as did her children Gordon and Valerie on occasion -Valerie was attending Trinity College of Music in the mid 1930s and there are numerous mentions for both Eisteddfods and competitions. During this time the family lived in Lyall Bay, a suburb on the south side of the Rongotai isthmus in Wellington, New Zealand.

Eileen Teward tutored the Senior and Junior Verse-speaking Choir in the late 1930s, as well as representing the position of honourable secretary for the Wellington Verse-Speaking Choir organisation. The craftsmanship of the voice seems to have been a particular interest.

She continued to perform in productions. She played a "sound characterisation" of the Irish housekeeper in "Aren't Men Beasts? " for The Thespians at the Town Hall in 1938 - "giving an excellent character sketch." She took the role of the matron of the school in "The Housemaster" for the Wellington Repertory Theatre 1939, "The Choice" and comedy "Yes And No" by Kenneth Horne (1939) for the Windsor Club at Constance Kelly Studio in the Hannah Buildings, and for the same Club J.B. Priestly's "I Have Been Here Before." She played Myrtle Bagot in Noel Coward's "Still Life" also in 1939. She then appeared in "Macbeth" for Thespians In Wellington at the Wellington Town Hall Concert Chamber in 1940 with son Gordon Teward, as well as a "The Romantic Age" (1940), "Fresh Fields"(1940) , the comedy by Arthur Macrae "Indoor Fireworks" (1940), and "When Ladies Meet" (1941) all for the Windsor Club. "You Can't Take It With You" 1943, "Jane Wogan " at St Francis Hall in 1944, "Claudia" at the King George Theatre also 1944, then again at the Opera House the same year. J.C. Williamson's production of "The Man Who Came To Dinner" in 1944 at The Wellington Opera House , and "Mr. Hacket's Prize" in 1945. This year she stepped up to the next level as producer for the Wellington Repertory Society's season of "A Mirror To Elizabeth." I am sure the long list continues but unfortunately records cut off at that year just when her career takes an interesting step up.

Eileen eventually made it onto television and starred as stout matriarch Elfrida Branson in "The Evening Paper", 1965. It did not differ much from the usual early style of theatre/radio format plays - except in this instance, probably riffing off the massive success of Peyton Place the previous year - the screenplay by Bruce Mason brought a dreary and suffocating suburban grind of life to the TV screen. It was something that had not quite been done before and the it stuck in the craw of the public, who perceived it as a cynical jab at their everyday ways and was labelled "inaccurate" and "unfair". One critic went as far as to describe it as "disgustingly crude , an insult to intelligence of New Zealand ..." To quote NZ On Screen - "The Evening Paper gave Kiwis their first on-screen dose of cultural cringe."

Watching it now, it seems so stilted and dull - that it is actually hard to imagine how anyone could be interested let alone offended. I guess the controversy may have given Eileen what she finally wanted - If not fame, then notoriety for her lifelong honing of the acting craft.

[http://http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/the-evening-paper-1965]

She passed away in 1979, aged 79, and is buried in Waikanae Cemetery with her husband and son.