In this episode, we go on three very different nights out.
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The Queen's Theatre
,
Haymarket
,
London
Ghosts
Written by
Viel
Richardson
Performed by
Olivia
Bell
Delve Deeper
Wikipedia has an article on Handel’s premiere of Rinaldo. The BBC has a video concerning the meaning of Georgian face patches.
About this story
Writer Viel Richardson considers the layer upon layer of history and ghosts present front and back stage in London’s West End Theatres.
Theatre Royal
,
Drury Lane
,
London
A Horse in Your Lap, Madam?
Written by
James
Rampton
Performed by
Dame
Joanna
Lumley
Delve Deeper
The Arthur Lloyd website has photos of the 1909 production of The Whip, including the train and the horses preparing for the race.
About this story
Theatrical extravaganzas of 19th and early 20th century had the ‘freedom’ of few or no health and safety laws. Spectacular coup de théâtres included railway crashes, infernos, waterfalls, horse races.. you name it.
Café de Paris Nightclub
,
3-4 Coventry Street
,
Piccadilly Circus
,
London
Stormy Weather
Written by
James
Rampton
Performed by
Jasmine
Elcock
Delve Deeper
The National Portrait Gallery has several portraits of Elisabeth Welch. The British Film Institute has the scene from Derek Jarman’s 1979 film The Tempest of Elisabeth singing Stormy Weather (at the age of 76) on YouTube. The National Archives website has an article about the bombing of the Café de Paris in 1941.
About this story
Black American nightclub singer Elisabeth Welch came to the UK in the 1930s and stayed and performed in the West End throughout the Second World War.
