Opera House, Dudley

Performed by John Lawson and company.

‘Next week at the Dudley Opera House “Searchlights,” Irving’s great success, by Mr. H. A. Vachell, is to be produced' (Dudley Chronicle, 14 August 1915). The newspaper also advertised at the Opera House & Hippodrome, Dudley, in the week commencing Monday 16 August for six nights, the ‘First Visit and Important Engagement of Alick Chumley and A. Russell-Davis Co. in Mr. H. B. Irving’s Great Success Searchlights, By H. A. Vachell. From the Savoy Theatre’.

‘The easy fashion in which alien enemies in our midst may work here for the benefit of their own countries is the lesson which it is intended to press home by the author of The Enemy in our Midst, the up-to-date play which is to be presented at the Opera House, Dudley, next week, twice nightly, at 6.50 and 9. The play is replete with intrigue, danger, adventure, and exciting episode, and it creates just the right feeling at the present time, when so many people feel that all Germans ,whether naturalised or married to Englishman, should be interned. We can give it hearty commendation, more particularly as it is performed by a hard-working and talented company ... The searchlights, the appearance of a Zeppelin and its destruction by a bomb from a British biplane, will all be seen, and there is little left to the imagination. Early bookings are advisable’. Dudley Chronicle, 17 March 1917.

The Dudley Chronicle, 26 May 1917, advertised ‘The Gigantic Revue, “Stop Press”’ at the Opera House and Hippodrome, Dudley in the week beginning 11 June.

Performed by Frank Bateman and company alongside "Sapho", and "The King and the Orange Girl".

(The Stage - Thursday 01 November 1917)

Advertised in the Dudley Chronicle, 24 November 1917: ‘Mr. Will H. Glaze’s Co. presents the most Realistic Play of the Times – His Last Leave’. The Stage, 29 November 1917, listed His Last Leave as On Tour from 26 November at the O.H., Dudley.

Performed by Miss L Bateman and Fred W Goddard.

‘There are excellent materials in wartime for burlesque, and these ingredients have been skilfully employed in “How Do You Like It?” [which] as a title is good, because the people whose experiences are the subject of so much humour and frolic are continually something fresh in their wartime [??]. One scene, the first, shows a recruiting office for the W.A.A.C.’s [i.e. the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps], and here, of course, the opportunities are fully realised for merriment. Then there are diverting scenes in the heart of the country when the “land girls” are both industrious and fascinating. The “dug-out” interlude is well done, and things are all settled up nicely before the curtain falls. Topical songs are numerous, those by Miss Ruby Kimberley winning instant popularity. She is most successful throughout the production. In the course of the evening her part in the revue calls for some quick and exacting changes, and she meets every demand with a resource and ability that promise well for her career on the stage. The whole company is a very capable one, including Mr. Eric Wingfield, Mr. Tom H. Solly, Mr. Geo. Millard, Miss Lill Clifford, Miss Ruby Bradford, Miss Adeline Raby, and the Five Weetmans in speciality dances, while the chorus is of unusual strength’. Dudley Chronicle, 24 August 1918.

Home From The Trenches is on tour 16 September at O.H., Dudley. The Stage, 12 September 1918.

The Stage, 19 December 1918, listed Bubbly as On Tour from 23 December at the O.H., Dudley.

‘Mr. Arthur Rosebery is presenting next week at the Dudley Opera Home, twice nightly at 6.15 and 8.30, his latest and greatest production, “For Sweethearts and Wives,” the up-to-date naval drama. Naval plays are always popular, and “Sweethearts and Wives” will be found far ahead of all others ... “For Sweethearts and Wives” is in eleven scenes, that of the control chamber of the submarine should not be missed’. Dudley Chronicle, 8 March 1919.

‘“The Black Sheep of the Family” and “The Devil of the Underworld” are the plays being performed here [the Opera House, Dudley] by the Fortescue Repertory company, the casts including Norman Worcester, Lewis Nanton, May Payne, Charlotte Ballinger, May Day, Dallas York, Geo. Arnett, John Le Moran, Elwyn G. Walters, and Bert Cowley’ (The Stage, 24 May 1928). The author of the play is not named, so there is no certainty that it was Gladys Hastings Walton, but no other play with the same title was licensed by the Lord Chamberlain’s Office.

‘The anniversary of the first week’s appearance of [the Fortescue repertory company] at Dudley [Opera House] is being marked by performances of “The Shaughraun” and “Neither Wife Nor Maid”’ (The ‘Stage, 21 June 1928). The Dudley Chronicle, 21 June 1928, advertised for the week commencing Monday 18 June the ‘52nd and Anniversary Week of [the] Fortescue Co’ with on Thursday-Saturday Neither Wife Nor Maid: ‘cast includes:- Norman Worcester, Lewis Nanton, George Arnett, May Day, Dallas Yorke, Bert Cowley, Elwyn C. Walters, John L. Moran, Charlotte Ballinger, May Payne’.

Performed at the weekend by the Fortescue Repertory company.