Programmes

I have always kept the programme when I have visited the theatre and I now have a large collection going back to the 1960s. This one is from one of my first visits to a West End show. Click on the image to see the full pdf. As you can see, it cost a shilling (5p) and the best seats in the house cost 35/- (£1.75). I was in the balcony at 6/- (30p). It seems like a bargain price to see so much legendary talent onstage. The seat cost six times the price of the programme. Today programmes cost about £4 but you’ll struggle to find a West End ticket at six times that price.

The advertising is fascinating. The show that had ‘broken all box office records’ is now totally forgotten. The author does not even get a credit in the ad. Most of the advertising is about eating, drinking and smoking and, in the Showguide, we can see that Des O’Connor was at the Palladium, Ginger Rogers was at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and the Black and White Minstrels were threatening a new season at the Victoria Palace.

What I still recall as if it were yesterday is the voice of John Gielgud as he spellbound the audience with an elegiac soliloquy about all that we had lost. Ironically grand performances such as his are now also lost.

I love theatre programmes and am always disappointed when I find that all that is on offer is a copy of the script with a couple of pages of ‘programme material’ at the front. Hats off to theatres like the National, Hampstead and the RSC who still believe that a detailed, informative programme can enhance one’s enjoyment of the show and, of course, can make a great souvenir.