THE HARLOW theatre community has paid tribute to one of their former members, Jo Bacon, who has passed away.

Here is a tribute from Harlow Theatre Company.

IT is with much sadness that we inform our HTC members past and present of the passing of Jo Bacon on June 14th following a short and brave battle against cancer.

Many of our members will remember Jo and her force of nature, her wit, her fun, her passion and her natural ability as an actor. She became a member of Harlow Theatre Company at its inception in 1978. She appeared in many plays in iconic roles such as Portia in The Merchant of Venice, Maddie in Dirty Linen and Beverly in Abigail’s Party along with reviews, musicals and pantomimes all at the Harlow Playhouse.

After training at The Actors Institute, she decided to leave her job at Longmans Publishers and venture into the world of professional acting with considerable success. Her first job was as Jane in Nell Dunn’ s Steaming at The Dukes Theatre in Lancaster and an early film appearance was as Natalie’s mum in Love Actually.

Jo went on to appear at, amongst others, Hampstead Theatre, The Sheffield Crucible, Stratford East and the National Theatre.

She popped up on our televisions many times in various drama series. Her most notable role lately was as Jackie in four series of Breeders and as Phylis in Moonflower Murders with Lesley Manville. Her next job was to be a character in Sharon Morgan’s next series Mandy.

Jo will be sadly missed and fondly remembered. She continued to support HTC attending many of our productions. She would settle herself in the front row with a notebook and watched with a critical eye and her passion for theatre. She never forgot to praise our work.

Thank you, Jo.