| History 1925 to 1950 |
| The first production of Dorothy was described by the local press as a "lavish production" with a cast of 70 performers. Although not a financial success the future looked bright. An overdraft of £130 was granted by Barclays Bank Ltd, Norwich and was guaranteed by the President ( The Lord Mayor), Lady Manse, Sir Hamilton Ballance and Ivan Spain. The future was set. |
|
At this time there were at least three major theatres in Norwich, the Theatre Royal, the Norwich Hippodrome in St Giles Street and the newly opened Regent Theatre on Prince of Wales Road, and this was to lead to more than one issue for the Committee - the first was where do we perform? First negotiations were between the Theatre Royal and the Regent with an offer from the Committee to rent the Regent for
"Takings up to £400 - 50% with a dimininshing scale of 5% for each £100 above the first £400". Jack Fitt - then owner of the Theatre Royal, heard about this offer and made a counter offer to the Committee of £150 for hire of Theatre Royal for the week 25th to 30 October 1926 to include all staff, Orchestra and usual advertising. The Committee accepted his offer for 1926 and 1927.
|
The show for 1926 was “Les Cloches de Corneville” and preparations were made which included costumes from B & H Drury in London and a Perruquier at “£10/10/- and £7/7/- per week plus rail fare respectively. At this time it was agreed that the orchestra should consist entirely of professional musicians and a Mr E Weeks had agreed to lead it. It was estimated that this orchestra would cost an extra £25.00 over the previous producer. With Miss Ransome as Dancing Mistress and Miss Channell as accompanist with fees of £10/10/- and £15/15/- respectively, costs were mounting up.
It was at this time that Vice Presidents of the Society were to be invited. and on acceptance to contribute a donation to the society. Notable figures invited included Lord and Lady Albemarle, Prince Duleep Singh, Lord Leicester, Lady Mann, Richard Jewson, E.G. Buxton, Lady Betty Trafford and Sir Earnest Wild.
The “Guarantee List” stood at £117 at this time and the acting members were asked to suggest further guarantors to boost the society’s security. A ticket price increase of between 20 and 30% also helped to raise further income.
Why not have a look at our Photo Gallery. We will be constantly adding photos from previous shows |
 |
 |
 |