Here is another gem from my collection of old programmes. This time it’s from 1972. Noteworthy, apart from the stellar casting, is that the director of this production was John Gielgud.
Colour printing was reserved for the cigarette adverts. The one on the back cover has an interesting reminder of what theatre tickets used to look like. They were small, printed on very thin paper and very easy to lose. Again, the other adverts are fascinating. Dinner, two courses including wine and coffee, was £1.95 at a nearby restaurant. Kenneth Williams was at the Globe theatre. No Sex, Please, We’re British was in the second year of its very long run at the Strand. With Ralph Richardson and Celia Johnson at the Savoy, it seems like another world. As for ‘the best musical in town’, has anyone today ever heard of I and Albert ? There is a feeling throughout that going to the theatre was a ‘posh’ thing to do. Although London theatre is still expensive today, that feeling of ‘poshness’ seems to have gone.
Theatre names change quickly too. The Queens is now the Sondheim, the Globe is now the Gielgud and the Strand is now the Novello. Will we soon have a Dench or a McKellen ?
Perhaps the oddest things in this programme are the reviews of a restaurant in Hampton Court, hardly suitable for a post-show supper, and a book about Cecil Rhodes with no theatrical connection at all.
Private Lives programme 1972