| Description | Album containing programmes for productions of dramatic and musical entertainments which were performed principally at West End London theatres, 1898-1908. A small number of programmes relate to productions at venues in Europe. There are, for example, German programmes of productions performed at the Bayreuth Festival Playhouse in 1899 and at the Dresden Opera House in 1899 and 1905 and a Norwegian programme for a production of 'Anne Pedersdotter at the National Theatre in Oslo in 1908. There are also a number of programmes for entertainments performed at public venues in Kent, principally at the New Public Hall in Gravesend but also elsewhere. Some of these entertainments were fund raising events such as a grand entertainment in 1905 at the Factory Hall in Northfleet in aid of Northfleet Football Club. There is also a ticket and programme for the production of 'The Agamemnon of Aeschylus' in the open air Greek Theatre at Bradfield College, Berkshire which was performed to celebrate the jubilee of the foundation of the college.
The majority of the programmes include cast lists and some include colour illustrations. Many of the programmes have also been annotated by Sir Thomas Colyer-Fergusson to include the date of his attendance and the initials of others accompanying him. A programme for Peter Pan at the Duke of York's Theatre in London, for example, is annotated with the date of Thursday 22 February 1906 and a note 'Philli's 1st Theatre', possibly a reference to one of his daughters. There are no programmes for 1903 and only one for 1904: this gap is perhaps explained by the death of his first wife in 1902 |