Musical Accompanist Glen Hogue
Chairman Ben Clarke
Devised and directed by Chris Fillis
MUSIC HALL had its origins in the exclusively male Song and Supper Rooms of the 1830’s. These Rooms provided a hot supper, drinks and a variety of vocal and instrumental music hosted over by the owner of the establishment. These Rooms later became Halls complete with stages and raised areas for the Chairman, as the host was now known.
Entertainment included a variety of acts but, at the heart of the performance, were the songs of the time that mirrored life with its simple joys and pleasure, and tears were often as close as laughter, as the rich were ridiculed and honest virtue found its own rewards. Honest vulgarity, sentimentality, robust joie-de-vivre, pointed social comment, all had a place in the smoky gas-lit magical atmosphere of a Music Hall presided over by a genial Chairman who introduced the acts, ad-libbed with both performers and audience and led the applause whilst retaining a dignified control.
Troupe:
Christine Fillis, Ann Robinson, Claire Warner, Rob Pring, Matthew Nankivell, Samantha Gaunt