Tag: Theatre Royal

by Laura Bray

They say the past is a different country and many of us bemoan the seeming madness of some of the Health and Safety restrictions we live under, but in a less regulated age, we can occasionally wander and wonder.

Such an example would be the Opera “Dorothy” performed 100 years ago today (27^th October 1923) at the Theatre Royal by the Merthyr Amateur Operatic Society – and oh that Merthyr could field such a society today!

Anyway, “Dorothy” is a comic opera is three acts with music by Alfred Cellier and a libretto by B.C. Stephenson. The basic story involves a rather dissolute man who falls in love with his disguised fiancée and it became very popular amongst audiences, opening in London in 1886 and running for 931 performances, making it, at the time, the longest-running musical theatre production in history. It toured in Britain, America and Australia and enjoyed numerous revivals until at least 1908 and so it is easy to see why it was popular with amateur theatre groups. Indeed “The Times” described it, in 1908, as “one of the most tuneful, most charming, and most shapely of English comic operas”.

The Merthyr Amateur Operatic Society clearly did a splendid job of performing it. The review in the Merthyr Express announced that the scenery was “amongst the finest ever seen on the local theatre stage”, the costumes were “almost perfect”, the makeup “really good”, and, as for the singing, it was “magnificent”, reflecting the great choral tradition of the town.  In fact, there was no part of the cast and crew not mentioned in his praise, from the performers, to the orchestra, the producer and musical director, and the officials of the society.

But notwithstanding that names sold papers, the Express also reports that the opera played to packed houses each night; that on the Saturday evening, hundreds were turned away; and that an additional matinee performance was added and tickets given to over 100 “inmates from the workhouse”. So, perhaps in this case the praise was well deserved.

The highlight of the opera was clearly Act 2, described as a “masterpiece”, greeted with “thunderous applause”, as the audience prepared for a scene depicting the a hunt and the meeting of the hounds. Not for the Merthyr Amateur Operatic Society puppets, cut-outs or toys. Oh no! They had the foxhounds from the Gelligaer and Talybont Hunt, loaned to them by the Master of the Hunt (who was Seymour Berry’s daughter) Miss Eileen Berry. Imagine now, trying to put on an opera, to packed houses, with the local foxhounds on stage! Health and Safety would have a field day!

The photo in the paper (of poor quality now, but below) shows about a half dozen hounds, looking remarkably relaxed, on the stage with the cast.

The interesting thing about all this is that it does not seem unusual to have working dogs on stage.  The Bwllfa Hounds from Aberdare appeared in a theatrical production in the Gwyn Hall in Neath at about the same time. It was truly a different time.

I wonder what the dogs themselves thought of the “thunderous applause” and their nightly performance in Act 2!  And I wonder how many were not beautifully behaved on stage…..