History

Our Early Amateurs

Some little time ago I found this postcard promoting the Railway and Tramway Musical Society production of the comic opera Les Cloches de Corneville. The reverse revealed that the production was at the Railway Institute on February 1 & 2 1907, and that tickets cost 2 shillings and 1 shilling, with reservations at 6d extra available at Palings. A company member had spent a penny in postage to encourage family members to attend. 102 years later, I suppose we’d SMS, email or twitter a reminder today.

Making a Scene in the 1800s

Leann Richards discovered that making a living in the craft side of the performing arts has long been hard going. The 19th century was a time of change for the art of scenic design. In the last years of the century the introduction of electricity and development of three dimensional stage design turned the artist designer into a multi tasking tradesman.