Keith Vinerd Interview: Making the Boys Smile & Fagin on a Bus
Title
Keith Vinerd Interview: Making the Boys Smile & Fagin on a Bus
Date
6 November 2017
Description
Oral history interview with Keith Vinerd about the history of the Boys' Brigade shows at the Theatre Royal.
What's the story?
The Theatre Royal has a long history and involvement with local community-based organisations that have used the venue and its resources to stage their shows. These include Nottingham Operatic Society, Nottinghamshire Scouts and Guides (The Gang Show) and Carlton Operatic Society.
From the late 1950s another regular user was the Nottingham Boys’ Brigade.
Established in Glasgow in 1883 by Sir William Alexander Smith, the Boys’ Brigade was the first voluntary uniformed youth movement in the world and today engages with over 50,000 children and young people, providing opportunities to meet together in their communities and engage in a range of fun and developmental activities.
Keith Vinerd was a member of the Boys’ Brigade as a boy and continued to be involved in the organisation.
In this interview Keith talks about the difficulties of trying to get the boys to smile when they are on stage - and problems caused by the inadequate dressing room space at the Theatre Royal for such a large company of performers:
We had a job getting the boys to smile. I don’t know, you know, anybody involved with Theatre, they’re concentrating on what they’re doing, particularly if foot movements are involved, and so it’s very difficult to get them to put on a smile as well. And so we had various parents lined up in the wings with a card, so that as they turned our way, we put “Smile!” on. How it looked from the house, I don’t know. But that was good, that was particularly good.
One funny thing from there which I recall: we used to go outside. There wasn’t enough room in the theatre to provide enough dressing rooms for us, and so we went outside. And we have got a company at Mansfield Road Baptist Church and so this item that we were doing, they changed into costume there. But of course, then we had to transport them, because I believe you’re not allowed to walk the streets in costume, I believe, or in false makeup. So we got them on a bus anyway and it was so funny at the time. We pulled up at the traffic lights against the Victoria Centre there and we’d got all the lads made up and we’d got Fagin made up to look absolutely horrible. He really did look dreadful. And as we pulled up at the lights the lady on the bus turned and looked in the bus and looked absolutely petrified and wondered what on earth was at the side of her. That was quite good! Yeah, we used to transport them each night backwards and forwards. Not just there, we used changing rooms in all sorts of places.
From the late 1950s another regular user was the Nottingham Boys’ Brigade.
Established in Glasgow in 1883 by Sir William Alexander Smith, the Boys’ Brigade was the first voluntary uniformed youth movement in the world and today engages with over 50,000 children and young people, providing opportunities to meet together in their communities and engage in a range of fun and developmental activities.
Keith Vinerd was a member of the Boys’ Brigade as a boy and continued to be involved in the organisation.
In this interview Keith talks about the difficulties of trying to get the boys to smile when they are on stage - and problems caused by the inadequate dressing room space at the Theatre Royal for such a large company of performers:
We had a job getting the boys to smile. I don’t know, you know, anybody involved with Theatre, they’re concentrating on what they’re doing, particularly if foot movements are involved, and so it’s very difficult to get them to put on a smile as well. And so we had various parents lined up in the wings with a card, so that as they turned our way, we put “Smile!” on. How it looked from the house, I don’t know. But that was good, that was particularly good.
One funny thing from there which I recall: we used to go outside. There wasn’t enough room in the theatre to provide enough dressing rooms for us, and so we went outside. And we have got a company at Mansfield Road Baptist Church and so this item that we were doing, they changed into costume there. But of course, then we had to transport them, because I believe you’re not allowed to walk the streets in costume, I believe, or in false makeup. So we got them on a bus anyway and it was so funny at the time. We pulled up at the traffic lights against the Victoria Centre there and we’d got all the lads made up and we’d got Fagin made up to look absolutely horrible. He really did look dreadful. And as we pulled up at the lights the lady on the bus turned and looked in the bus and looked absolutely petrified and wondered what on earth was at the side of her. That was quite good! Yeah, we used to transport them each night backwards and forwards. Not just there, we used changing rooms in all sorts of places.
Type
Oral interview
Location of item
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall
Rights
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall
Contributor
Interviewers: Liz Mackenzie & Stephen Bray
Transcriber: David Chilton
Transcriber: David Chilton
