A Variety Show from Tagora

Roll-call

La Belle Époque is created, directed and performed by: V David Adamson, Joceline Adamson, Ian Bennett, Maimu Berg, Yucel Biricik, David Bousquet, Angela Brewer, David Crowe, Grégoire de Victor, Isabelle Dousset, Catherine Dreyfus, Imogen Hattenville, Louis Hattenville, Nell Hattenville, Paula Hinchy, Pelin Iscan, Banu Karamanoğlu, Selina Kenny, Julia Laffranque, Oscar Laffranque, Tobias Laffranque, Elena Malagoni, Roger Massie, Ann Meyer, Tina Mul- cahy, Bridget O’Loughlin, Maria Oreshkina, Louise Palmer, Simon Palmer, Edmond Perrier, Edouard Per- rier, Lucy Perrier, Maria Psarrou, Sabine Rinck, Milica Sajin, Doris Schaal, Mónica Soler-Pérez, Martin Swit- zer, Janis Symons, Martyn Symons, Andrew Tattersall, Richard Thayer, François Thouvenin, William Valk, Julie Vauboin, Armelle Weber, Julia Whitham, Andrew Wright, Jonah Wright, Liam Wright, Marie- Anne Wright, Martin Wright, Owen Wright.

Backstage V Morgane Agez, Dianne Bartsch, Hazel Bastier, Lois Ceredig, Sara Rekar.

Wardrobe V Marie-Claude Leroux, with the help of Janis Symons and Julie Vauboin. A variety show Décor V Martyn Symons. from Tagora Technical team V Albin Bernard, Richard Cruse, Hal d’Arpini, Carlos Hernández, Jeannine O’Kane, Rob Simmons. Cube noir Front-of-house/bar Koenigshoffen, V Guido Brockmann, Pelin Iscan, Marloes Kerstens, Michèle Lotz, Claire Massie, Lourd McCabe, Dave Strasbourg Parrott, Milica Sajin. 13-15 December 2013 Acknowledgements Grateful thanks to: Michèle Adamson, Amicale du per- 18-20 December 2013 sonnel du Conseil de l’Europe; Albert Ashok; Pierre Charpilloz; CREPS; Finnish National Gallery, Hel- sinki; Ann and Christopher Grayson; Adrienne and Michael Ingledow; David-Michel Muller; Xavier Schmaltz; Marie-José Schneider; Collectif Trois 14; Ville de Strasbourg V uProgramme The music hall tradition u Tagora asked J.R. Hayter, veteran music corre- Music hall was very eclectic. Song and ur programme is in spondent of the Daily Telegraph, to give us a dance certainly, but also comedians, male Othree parts, with a few thoughts on music hall, and what it stands and female impersonators, mime artists and twenty-minute interval at for. He writes: impressionists, trampoline acts and comic each break. Your master of n the late 1950s, when I was in my teens, pianists. e names are largely forgotten now; but in their day Marie Lloyd, Dan ceremonies will be guiding my parents took me to see the Crazy IGang, at the Victoria Palace. Some of Leno, Little Tich, Vesta Tilley and a host of you from one act to the the humour and sentimental songs were others were known and loved (or occa- next, but here is a brief familiar from the BBC Light Programme, sionally hated) by all. glimpse of what’s in store. but not the accompanying bawdiness, which Music hall was often subversive. In an era would have been quite unacceptable on the when certain topics were strictly taboo in Part I wireless in those strait-laced days. e most spheres of society, Marie Lloyd sang audience rocked with laughter. So did my In which we meet our She Sits among the Cabbages and Peas. When mother. She was too young to remember the called to account by the London County dance troupe, The Belle music hall, but had heard all about it from Council’s Licensing Committee she Hops; discover the best her grandmother, a sparky east-ender, who demurely changed it to I Sits amongst the Chinese laundry in Hert- had sat through many performances at the Cabbages and Leeks, which duly passed fordshire; learn how a old Hackney Empire. muster. e origins of music hall are lost in the small incident can lead to Space prevents me from elaborating mists of time. Suﬃce it to say that “the further. But for those who wish to know a life of crime; admire the stage”, in its broadest sense, has always more let me direct you to a surprising source. sights of suburban oﬀered the ordinary man and woman an My old friend Sir John Major is quite London; and thrill to the opportunity to mock convention and laugh unfairly known as the most boring British emotion and drama of our at their so-called betters. And there lay its essence: it was popular entertainment, not prime minister of the twentieth century. Not first playlet of the evening, high art. so many of you know, however, that his The Spanish Tragedy. Some date the music hall era from father, Tom Major-Ball, appeared with his roughly 1850 to 1960, although BBC tele- wife, Kitty, on music hall stages across Part II vision’s e Good Old Days continued to draw Britain and beyond. John’s tribute to his dad We begin by singing the an appreciative audience well beyond that. – he’s called it My Old Man – is a fascinating Its heyday was the late Victorian and early account of music hall from its inception to praises of one of our Edwardian period – say the 1880s to the its demise. Warmly recommended. Enjoy favourite tipples; continue outbreak of the First World War. the show. V with the derring-do of The Flying Fortissimo Family; Du café-concert au music-hall and, between two fine examples of chanson De Paris, notre correspondante spéciale, l’Alhambra, le Music-hall des Champs- française, relive Aino and Louise St-Albèdes, voit les choses sous un Élysées, Bobino… autre angle. Herman’s experiences of Des deux côtés de la Manche Strasbourg in La Belle e début du vingtième siècle est marqué par l’apogée, et bien vite le déclin, des Le terme music-hall est anglais. Il y a de Époque. Part II concludes L caf’ conc’ et par la montée en puissance des nombreux échanges entre 1880 et 1914 with the story of Pretty salles de music-hall. entre les deux pays, comme l’utilisation en Penny – a traditional Victo- Le café-concert, comme son nom France des girls qui vient directement rian melodrama with curi- l’indique, était un débit de boissons dans d’Angleterre ou le succès de la revue à la ously modern echoes. lequel des artistes venaient chanter des française qui s’impose en Angleterre à romances, des chansons comiques et des partir de 1910. Part III airs d’opéras. Certains de ces cafés concerts Des tournées vont vite passer d’un pays à l’autre, grâce à des producteurs de specta- Look out for surprise appelés aussi cabarets sont restés célèbres comme Le Chat Noir, Le Carillon, ou Le cles audacieux. Les artistes vont se produire special effects in our open- Lapin à Gill (plus tard Le Lapin Agile, un une saison à Paris, une autre à Londres, une ing song, which is followed nom dont les fidèles de Tagora se souvien- autre à Marseille. Harry Fragson chante en by a critique of the West dront). Angleterre un certain nombre de chansons Clare Railway system in Le music-hall, ou théâtre de variétés, sur Paris et à l’inverse à Paris des chansons rural Ireland. We then était une salle de spectacle où le programme sur l’Angleterre. Il joue sur sa double natio- meet La Diva de l’Empire était composé de numéros divers et variés : nalité. Les chanteuses françaises s’exportent

très bien en Angleterre. On y apprécie leur

before being transported musique, chansons, sketches comiques ou

dramatiques, revues à grand spectacle, acro- côté sexy et leurs chansons à sous-entendus.

to Dickensian London for baties, attractions, etc. Les salles de music- En France, on apprécie plus les comiques u A Christmas Carol – or hall les plus renommées étaient l’Olympia comme Little Tich ou Charles Coborn, ainsi u two. V (créé en 1893), l’Empire, l’Apollo, que des danseuses excentriques. V Roll-call

Backstage V Morgane Agez, Dianne Bartsch, Hazel Bastier, Lois Ceredig, Sara Rekar.