Memories of Covent Garden in the 20th century

[ninamargaret]

My first visit was in the mid fifties when a very courteous man, approved by my parents took me to see Traviata, may have been the Sophie Fedorovich designs. At that time, there were ladies loos at the back of the stalls circle, where our seats were, and my very discreet escort pointed them out to me saying 'I think that's where you go if you want to powder your nose!' And I was entranced by the plush carpets, pretty dressing table and black clad attendant who guarded them and assisted ladies by doing up buttons or even,I believe, making running repairs to any clothing malfunctions!

[Jan McNulty]

I only started properly watching ballet in 1984 and I naively assumed that ordinary people could not go to the ROH!  I started watching London Festival Ballet.

 

My first visit to ROH was in December 1984 when we got amphi tickets to see Mayerling.  We saw Derek Deane in the title role.  Again I was so naive that I didn't realise we could even look in the main foyer if we had amphi tickets (entrance in Floral St) and so it was a couple of years later before I actually went into the main foyer.

 

The first time I sat anywhere other than the amphi I was in the orchestra stalls to see La Fille Mal Gardée and it happened to be Michael Coleman's final performance as Widow Simone.  I think it must have been 1990.

[Dawnstar]

2 hours ago, Jane S said:

The 'vestibule'

 

 

This area was changed quite a bit before the big rebuild, but at this stage you can still see the performance box office - not much more than a big cupboard by the looks of it - at the foot of the stairs, where there was also a board which showed any major cast changes. Out of shot on the right there was a bookstall, managed by the elegant Stella for most of the time I remember, and also a little winding staircase to the Stalls Circle.

 

I hadn't realised that the foyer had changed so much. It looks distinctly smaller than nowadays, without the wide corridor by the staircase. No wonder in the book (published 1939) that I recently re-read the heroine found it extremely crowded in the foyer in the interval.

Edited June 5, 2022 by Dawnstar

[Suffolkgal]

Just apropos of nothing really except thinking of former days  - can anyone enlighten me as to when RB most recently did wedding bouquet? Never forgotten Josephines teetering about! “Josephine may NOT attend the wedding!”

[Suffolkgal]

Oooh and anyone remember lovely Iestyn (madam galina) in the little cubbyhole in the main foyer? I have been reminded here of standing in floral street in the early morning waiting for the box office to open for on the days. And a dear friend doing it for me when I had not been successful in getting a ticket for a Ferri/Eagling R and J! Above and beyond ...

 

 

 

[alison]

I seem to remember we nicknamed it "Two weddings and a funeral" or some such: was it on a bill with Requiem and ... something else, or am I getting it confused?  At a total guess, I'd go for 2007.  I'm sure someone will look it up on the performance database and tell you.

[capybara]

There was a cloakroom near the Ladies under the Stalls Circle. One night there was an alarm and everyone had to evacuate the building. Knowing many of the audience members by sight, the attendant there, without being asked, was quickly passing people their coats as they filed out. So, while we were nice and warm during the long wait outside, patrons (small p ) from other parts of the house were having a very cold time out in Bow Street.

 

With reference to the separate entrance for the Amphi, I remember one particular audience member who would go in that way, only to surface in the Stalls Circle moments later. She (and others) would take the secret stairs all the way down for a better view. Maybe the SCS area wasn't as clearly delineated back then?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 6, 2022 by capybara

[Suffolkgal]

5 minutes ago, capybara said:

There was a cloakroom near the Ladies under the Stalls Circle. One night there was an alarm and everyone had to evacuate the building. Knowing many of the audience members by sight, the attendant there, without being asked, was quickly passing people their coats as they filed out. So, while we were nice and warm during the long wait outside, patrons (small p ) from other parts of the house were having a very cold time out in Bow Street.

 

With reference to the separate entrance for the Amphi, I remember one particular audience member who would go in that way, only to surface in the Stalls Circle moments later. She (and others) would take the secret stairs all the way down for a better view. Maybe the SCS area wasn't as clearly delineated back then?

 

 

 

 

 

This has just reminded me of a rather eccentric regular audience member who did this. I won’t share the name although I suspect no longer with us but I wonder if it’s the same person! 

[MaddieRose]

39 minutes ago, Suffolkgal said:

Just apropos of nothing really except thinking of former days  - can anyone enlighten me as to when RB most recently did wedding bouquet? Never forgotten Josephines teetering about! “Josephine may NOT attend the wedding!”

The database says it was last given in 2004, in a bill with Requiem and Les Noces

 

https://rohcollections.org.uk/SearchResults.aspx?yearfrom=2004&yearto=2004&searchtype=performance&genre=Ballet&company=The Royal Ballet&page=9

[alison]

Eek - it *was* that long ago!  I must admit, that had been my first thought, with the Ashton celebrations, but since it hadn't been in a terribly Ashton-y bill I'd thought better of it.

[LinMM]

I can remember being in the queue outside and not getting a ticket until about 7.15-20 and then having to dash all the way up the old stairs to the amphitheatre. Always just made it …on younger legs then of course…on todays legs I’d be having a rest half way up so might have made it by the interval lol. 
The lady who was eccentric ….she didn’t have black hair always tied a la ballet bun and wear a black coat a lot of the time did she? 
There was a lady like this who until I eventually spoke to her always imagined she was some mysterious past Russian ballerina. I can’t remember her name now though. 

[Suffolkgal]

oh gosh i can remember her name but not sure i should share it here!

[bridiem]

1 hour ago, LinMM said:

I can remember being in the queue outside and not getting a ticket until about 7.15-20 and then having to dash all the way up the old stairs to the amphitheatre. Always just made it …on younger legs then of course…on todays legs I’d be having a rest half way up so might have made it by the interval lol. 
The lady who was eccentric ….she didn’t have black hair always tied a la ballet bun and wear a black coat a lot of the time did she? 
There was a lady like this who until I eventually spoke to her always imagined she was some mysterious past Russian ballerina. I can’t remember her name now though. 

 

Or even worse, waiting for a return (since people used to stand outside offering tickets, right up to the last minute, with other people standing there waving money in the hope of being offered one at an acceptable price) and finally getting one at 7.27pm just when you were going to give up...

 

I remember that lady too, and I thought the same about her!

[capybara]

20 minutes ago, bridiem said:

I remember that lady too, and I thought the same about her!

I was referring to someone else, not the ‘lady in black’ who felt that she needed to be present whenever Anthony Dowell was dancing.

But, hey, every theatre needs its characters and they were a feature of a 20th Century ROH experience too.

[Beryl H]

Did anyone ever see Princess Diana going in a special door near the amphi entrance? I was hanging about once waiting to go in and a man asked if I was waiting to see Diana, he explained she often used this private door and staircase on Friday ballet evenings.

 

 

[alison]

Presumably the staircase to the Royal Box?

[Suffolkgal]

1 hour ago, capybara said:

I was referring to someone else, not the ‘lady in black’ who felt that she needed to be present whenever Anthony Dowell was dancing.

But, hey, every theatre needs its characters and they were a feature of a 20th Century ROH experience too.

Yes that was the one I was thinking of! And yes Diana so often came incognito 

[Jamesrhblack]

I remember Sergeant Martin in his top hat. I also remember having my first smoked salmon sandwiches in what is now the Crush Room before ascending what was then the left hand staircase with my mama go watch Swan Lake with Doreen Sells and David Wall,

.

[Lindsay]

Wow this is really taking me back - I briefly moonlighted as an usher in the early 90s and remember Iestyn and other characters mentioned very well.  I think that 'the lady in black' was not the only self-upgrader - as I recall the house often seemed emptier in those days than it does now and the moment the lights went down, there was a genteel scurrying from the amphi to claim any empty seats.  Which our unspoken duty as ushers was to ignore...

 

Also Cafe Des - where the bar staff knew to have the pints poured and ready for the brass section bang on time for the interval in Nutcracker....

 

 

[Sim]

I started going to the ROH in 1978 when I had come to London to go to university.  As a poor student, my visits were few and far between, but I remember the excitement of the tickets arriving through the door in my stamped, self-addressed envelope, and waiting to see if I was given the particular seats I'd asked for (I always wrote a polite note to accompany the ticket application form asking for certain seats, and I was almost always given them), almost always for performances starring David Wall and Lesley Collier.  Many fond memories of those early visits, I can now even laugh about having to queue for a whole interval to use the ladies' room...there seemed to be only two in the tiny facilities up in the amphi!  

[Jan McNulty]

1 hour ago, Sim said:

 I can now even laugh about having to queue for a whole interval to use the ladies' room...there seemed to be only two in the tiny facilities up in the amphi!  

 

I remember those loos and the long waits!

[Iestyn]

On 06/06/2022 at 11:44, Suffolkgal said:

Oooh and anyone remember lovely Iestyn (madam galina) in the little cubbyhole in the main foyer? I have been reminded here of standing in floral street in the early morning waiting for the box office to open for on the days. And a dear friend doing it for me when I had not been successful in getting a ticket for a Ferri/Eagling R and J! Above and beyond ...

 

How lovely to read this, thank you.  Madame Galina still keeping my fridge full. Fouettes at fifty-seven...who would have thunk it?   

 

 

 

[Jan McNulty]

Hello Iestyn and welcome to the Forum!

[Suffolkgal]

Oh Iestyn - what a star - remember you so well in both guises!

[Suffolkgal]

2 hours ago, Iestyn said:

 

I hope we might see you back in Suffolk soon ...

[LinMM]

I was chatting to a friend yesterday and remembered that the deserts the 10 people ordered in the mystical restaurant of long ago somewhere on Bow St or Floral st we’re NOT knickerbocker glories but banana splits!! Hence the headache at having to prepare and deliver so many safely down the stairs. 
Does anyone remember banana splits? 
Even better does anyone remember eating a banana split in a very close to the theatre restaurant back in late 70’s or 80’s. 
Would the posh French restaurant have sold them 🤔

 

[ninamargaret]

On 06/06/2022 at 17:38, capybara said:

I was referring to someone else, not the ‘lady in black’ who felt that she needed to be present whenever Anthony Dowell was dancing.

But, hey, every theatre needs its characters and they were a feature of a 20th Century ROH experience too.

I'm afraid my.late husband always referred to her as Dowell's mum!

[Suffolkgal]

She was convinced he could not dance if she was not there

[alison]

Oh, her.  I don't think I've ever met her, but I've certainly heard of her!

[li tai po]

I remember "Dowell's mum" very well.

 

I once sat next to her in the old box office in Floral Street, where the Indian restaurant is now.  She was in an absolute fury, because they would not sell her the seat behind the conductor.  "They know very well that Anthony will not give a good performance, if I am not there", she fumed.

 

A friend of mine sat next to her in the Stalls Circle for The Sleeping Beauty and she closed her eyes during the Rose Adagio.  "Are you feeling unwell?", he asked.  "No", she said, "but if I do not will the ballerina to hold her balances, she will fall off point".

 

Just before Christmas, Anthony Dowell came out of the stage door, clocked her and scurried hastily towards the underground station.  She chased him purposefully.  "Anthony, I have your Christmas present".

[capybara]

I think that many of us had the experience of sitting next to this lady. As I said upthread, every theatre needs its characters……..and she chose the very best of dancers to support in her very individual way.

Nowadays, ‘super fans’ are not only at the Stage Door but also all over social media and sometimes not in the most benign manner. The ‘the old way’ (while obviously difficult for the dancers concerned) somehow seems more respectful to them.

[Two Pigeons]

We used to call her The Ghost of Covent Garden.  She was seriously eccentric!

[taxi4ballet]

Somewhat earlier than the 20th century...

 

My ancestors were married at St Paul, Covent Garden and their descendants were baptised there, including my great-great grandfather. I'd love to know what it was like back then.