Maria and the Bellasis Family 17

Oct 14 1881 

I have been invited to go with my brother John Charles and his wife Mary to the theatre. I haven’t been to one for nearly two years, and am very excited. However, Mary was concerned that I didn’t have any appropriate gowns.  I usually wear a plain black dress, similar to the nuns except without the head dress and crucifix around my neck.  It is warm, comfortable and easy to put in the communal laundry. What more could I want? I do have some dresses from when I went to special occasions with Deborah a few years ago, but Mary says they are very out of fashion now.  “Nobody wears those oversized bustles anymore,” she said. 

So reluctantly, I agreed to accompany her to Liberty’s Department Store on Regent Street. They are well known for their fabrics and wall paper designed by William Morris, but I hadn’t realised they had a ready to wear department.  Mary said she was good friends with the head of the store, EH Goodwin, and he had suggested that he might have something that would suit me.

It is a very pretty dress, pale blue, with a very tight feature at the waist line. The neckline is modest, and has a layer of beautiful lace, which matches that on the sleeves. The sleeves have a tight feature on the elbows.  

Mr Goodwin said that he would give me a very good discount on it, as it has been made to measure for a customer, who in the meantime  had learned that she was increasing and there was no way she could fit into the very small waist.  I have never been other than thin, and the dress fit me to a perfection. 

So with shoes and a small hat  to match and a black jacket to wear over it, I was outfitted. Mary  said that nobody wears capes anymore either. Mary insisted on charging it all to her account. I didn’t argue, as this whole idea was hers, and John Charles has more money than he knows what to do with. He keeps giving it away and then seems to accumulate more. 

One of my friends helped me with fixing my now almost completely white hair, into a fashionable chignon, and when I walked down to the main lounge in all my finery, I had many compliments. 

It was the opening night of the new theatre. It has been completely redone from when it was the Beaufort, and is now called the Savoy. It is intended to be the main venue for Gilbert and  Sullivan operas from now on.   We are seeing Patience which has  been performed at the   Opera Comique for the last few months. 

The exterior of the theatre building is made from red brick and Portland stone.  The interior decoration, with white, pale yellow and gold predominating, includes a gold satin curtain, red boxes and dark blue seats.  There were none of the cherubs, deities and mythical creatures familiar from  rival theatres.  

The owner, Mr. Phipps took curtain calls along with Mr. Gilbert Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Carte. The Times commented, "A perfect view of the stage can be had from every seat in the house."  There are three tiers with four levels: stalls and pit, balcony, circle, and amphitheatre and gallery at the top seating 1292 people in all. It apparently is the first theatre ever to be entirely lit by electricity except the stage which still uses gas for the time being. 

I was momentarily startled when some of the bulbs blew out, but it didn’t detract from the actors on stage. Thank goodness they didn’t all blow up at one time. 

The Times concluded that the theatre "is admirably adapted for its purpose, its acoustic qualities are excellent, and all reasonable demands of comfort and taste are complied with." We had numbered seats, free programme booklets, good quality whisky for the men in the bars, the "queue" system for the pit and gallery  and a policy of no tipping for cloakroom or other services.

After the play, we went out to eat at Kettner's, a French restaurant in London, opened by Napoleon III's German chef Auguste Kettner in 1867.   However, it was the visits of the Prince of Wales, Albert Edward, that really began to draw in the crowds. Edward is said to have taken mistress Lillie Langtry to Kettner’s. Rumours even suggest there is a secret tunnel that connects the restaurant and the Palace Theatre where Lillie Langtry frequently performs, to facilitate intermission rendezvous.

Mary started to comment on how Lily had recently had an illegitimate child in France paid for by the Prince of Wales, but I asked her not to go into details, as I am sure it is all gossip. 

There is a most beautiful mosaic floor in the Champagne room.  We had seafood and it was all very delicious.

The next  day I was anxious to read the review of the play in the TImes. 

1n two acts the opera is a satire on the aesthetic movement   of the 1870s and '80s in England and, more broadly, on fads, superficiality, vanity, hypocrisy and pretentiousness; it also satirises romantic love, rural simplicity and military bluster. The Colonel was played by Richard Temple, the Major by Frank Thorntom, the Duke by Duward Leley, Bunthorne by George Grossmith, Governor by Turland Barrington, the Solicitor by George Bowley, Angela by Jessie Bond, Sapphire by Jule Gwynne, Ella by May Forgescue, and Jane by Alice Barnett and Patience by Leonora Braham. The audience was fully appreciative and gave  a standing ovation.