A Tribute to David Austin
It is with much sadness that DIY Theatre Company marks the passing of David Austin – who died on 13th April 2025 following a period of illness.
David was a brilliant artist and a remarkable man.
He was a founder member of DIY Theatre Company – one of a group of people who got a taste of drama while he was attending St George’s Day Centre in 1994.
He was the narrator in DIY’s very first production “Dick Ramsden” and decided he wanted more of it. He worked extremely hard over the next few years to make sure that he, and others around him, were able to continue doing the thing he loved so much.
David Austin is pictured on the right hand side
For over 30 years
David played a key role in every one of DIY’s core company productions.
He played LS Lowry in “Salford Streets” (1998) the intrepid spaceman in our multi-sensory show “Give Me Space!” (2018).
With fellow actor Martin, he played the jolly travel agent in the sparkly red jacket in “Don’t Call Me Babe!” (2014) with his persistent refrain “consider it done!”
David had an extraordinary knowledge and love of music and he brought his musicality to many of DIY’s productions.
David created the chord progression for the haunting “Swimming through the Stars, Dancing in the Dark” song which featured in our sensory show “Give Me Space!”. His love of Abba and their song “Eagle” became the inspiration for the soaring “Fly High” song in Hanging by a Thread.
David was a beautiful singer and and performed in a number of DIY’s shows. His haunting rendition of “Goodnight Midnight” by Clodagh Rogers in Platform 1 (2018) as he left his soulmate on a park bench was breath-taking.
His soaring rendition of “Fly High” in DIY’s current show “Hanging by a Thread”(2024) was beautiful.
David’s brilliance
Luckily, thanks to the incredible film archive that DIY has built up with Hilary Easter-Jones over the years, we have a fantastic record of David’s brilliance. Our 2014 film “David Remembers” is a testament to David’s fantastic memory and powers of recall, as he lists the shows that we had created up until 2014.
All those of us who have been part of or have seen DIY’s pandemic “I wish Everything was Back to Normal” film (2020) will continue be haunted by his plea for normality for many years to come. That film is now fittingly part of the North West Film archive as part of their record of experiences during the Covid 19 Pandemic
“Imagine them looking down on us as we prepare our shows”
DIY Theatre Company is nothing without the amazing people who have worked with us over the past 30 years.
A particular debt is owed to the amazing group of people who started DIY over 30 years ago, and who made the company what is it today.
David used to talk about past members and imagined them looking down on us as we prepared our shows. In particular he would talk about what he called the “late, great” Mark Dennison and Joan Lavin, who he pictured reunited in their roles as Romeo and Juliet from our Strange Capers show.
Now David has joined them and as we try to imagine the unimaginable – DIY Theatre Company without David Austin – he will continue to be a huge part of DIY and often in our thoughts.
David was a beautiful soul and everybody who knew David is going to miss him terribly.
Thinking about David together
On Tuesday 29th April, DIY’s core company held a memorial for David, where we looked at lots of lovely photos and a brilliant film made all about David and his work with DIY Theatre, by Hilary Easter Jones.
There are so many memories of over 30 years spent with the company – David will be missed terribly but his memory will live on.
Here are some of the memories of David that we shared with each other:
“He was really good at remembering all the words to the songs and he was a really good singer”
“David would always pick us up. When we were on a downer, when David came in he would lift us all up – usually with a song”
“I remember David as an astronaut in Give Me Space. He was measuring his feet against the space boots – they were too big. It was so funny”
“When BBC News came in David even got the reporter to go under the star fabric – she loved it!”
“I remember David with Martin playing Anthony and Samuel in Don’t Call Me Babe! David’s favourite bit was when the husband tried to sell his wife’s shiney shoes “You’re not selling those for a tenner!”
“I remember David playing a character in the park when we did our Inside, Outside performance. He was jumping out from behind a tree and shouting “cooooeeee. His comic timing was brilliant”
Watch David light up the camera
Below are a selection of the films David has starred in whilst being a part of DIY Theatre Company
Give Me Space – Watch here
David Remembers – Watch here
I wish everything was back to normal – Watch here
David recorded a Happy 30th Birthday video for us – Watch it on Instagram here
