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2020

The Lisbon Story - Production Photographs, 1952

Title

The Lisbon Story - Production Photographs, 1952

Date

March 1952

Description

Production photographs for Nottingham Operatic Society production of The Lisbon Story by by Harry Parr-Davies and Harold Purcell.

What's the story?

The Lisbon Story is a musical set against the background of World War Two espionage in occupied Europe, with music by Harry Parr-Davies and book and lyrics by Harold Purcell.
The show opened at the London Hippodrome in June 1943 where it ran for 492 performances.

These photographs form part of a collection of Theatre Royal material that belonged to Kathleen Davis (nee Beales), 1922 to 2014.
During World War Two, Kathleen worked for a company, whose work included developing pictures taken of productions at the Theatre Royal. This sparked an interest in the Theatre Royal and performing in general.
She took singing lessons and joined the Nora Morrison School of Dance, which led her to becoming a member of Nottingham Operatic Society, who regularly performed at the Theatre Royal.
Kathleen became a leading light of the society, which led to offers to sing and perform in London and the possibility of a professional career. However, Kathleen, now having met her husband Louis through NOS, chose to remain in Nottingham.
Kathleen continued to sing locally, performing with other groups at Nottingham’s Co-Op theatre and in Beeston. In the mid-1970s, Kathleen was performing around the Midlands area enjoying singing in working men’s clubs.
We would like to thank Kathleen’s son, Glyn Davis, for loaning and donating the programmes, scrapbooks, photographs and other ephemera from his mother’s collection to the Theatre Royal archive.
We are also grateful to him for sharing some of his own Theatre Royal memories of standing in the wings as a little boy and watching his Mum perform on our stage.

Type

Photographs

Location of item

Private Collection - Glyn Davis / Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham

Rights

Private Collection - Glyn Davis / Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham

Contributor

Researcher: David Longford