Programme cover for 42nd Street at City Hall Truro

42nd Street is a musical based on the 1930s novel by Bradford Ropes and the subsequent film adaptation of the same era. The show centres on the efforts of a famed director to successfully mount an extravagent stage production during the worse years of the Great Depression. The programme cover for the 1995 T.A.O.D.S production of the musical features the distinctive cathedral inspired logo of the society along with bold and striking text to convey the name, place and time of performance.

Illustrated souvenir programme cover for Bless the Bride, 1983

A Vivian Ellis and A.P. Herbert muscial, Bless the Bride tells the story of an English girl who marries a French actor in which she has been led to believe has been killed in action during the Franco Prussian War. The musical was performed by the T.A.O.D.S at City Hall Truro in November 1983. This programme cover features an illustration of a married couple with an accompanying decorative border and bold modern text.

Calamity Jane Poster

The T.A.O.D.S performance of Calamity Jane ran between the 10th and the 15th of November, 1975. It was produced and choreographed by Debbie Underwood and featured Harry Jordan as musical director and Elizabeth Willis as ballet mistress. The poster showcases the theatre and design trends of the 1970s, featuring striking coloured text to convey the title of the musical, the venue and prices which appear in contrast with the bolder black capitalised text that’s used to advertise the society and performance dates.

Illustrated souvenir programme cover for Call Me Madam at City Hall Truro

Call Me Madam was performed by the T.A.O.D.S at City Hall Truro in 1972. This souvenir programme features an illustration of the lead character Mrs. Sally Adams and the T.A.O.D.S distinctive logo of the three spires of Truro Cathedral. The American flag on the cover is reference to the fact that the musical is set in 1950s America and satires its political landscape and foreign policy affairs. The programme also celebrates the diamond jubilee of the T.A.O.D.S who formed in 1912.

Souvenir programme cover for Ruddigore at City Hall

A Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration, Ruddigore, or “The Witch’s Curse”, is set in the fishing village of Rederring in Cornwall and tells the story of the cursed Baronet brothers who must commit a crime every day to avoid a painful death. The comic opera ran for 288 performances at the Savoy Theatre in 1887 before eventually being revived in 1920 to critical acclaim. Although initially regarded as a failure by critics, the opera soon proved to be a success after running for 8 consecutive months and amassing a total of £7,000. Directed by Mr. Gordon Hall, the opera was performed at City Hall by the T.A.O.D.S between the 19th and 23rd of January 1926.

Memories of Queueing for Tickets – TAODS

Joyce : Ann and Jill always used to camp out in front of the hall overnight before a show so they would first in the queue to buy them.   Keith 1 : eventually more people started queuing overnight and one day there was a big queue with dozens of people camping out to get the best tickets. It was a really rough night with wind and rain and they were all getting wet, cold and miserable when the caretaker opened up one of the dressing rooms so they could sleep inside.

Memories of the City Hall – TAODS

Joyce : when I joined TAODS there as a waiting list to be a dancer.  They only had 12 dancers and you had to be over 16.  I was 15 when I joined and had just turned 16 when the show was staged in September.  We loved performing in City Hall. Our shows were very popular, especially our plays and the carolaire where there was always a great atmosphere. We also used it for other events – one year we were staging Carousel and held an Autumn Fair in the Hall . We managed to get hold of a proper carousel and put it in the hall for the fair – we made a lot of money that year.   Keith 2 : I joined TAODS because I wanted to chat up Joyce who was already a member there.   Keith 2 : the guttering was inside the back of the building. When it rained you could hear the water running along back stage.  There was also a metal bar at the top of the stage area to keep the pigeons out – they made a lot of noise and you could hear them when the performances were taking place.   Chris : there was always dancing at City Hall – there was a different band every Saturday night and famous people like Victor Sylvester came to Truro.   Joyce : there were also professional pantomimes at City Hall – one year Alan Gale staged a panto.  Keith 2 : when I was stage manager I had a crew of about 9 or 10 people . They were a wonderful team. We sometimes had up to 22 back cloths for a show which had to be changed. We built a gantry and had women up there who would lower down the cloths. It was a hectic time but a great time.   Keith 1 : there was a corridor at the back of the stage which had a cast iron stair case.  When I was the call boy I used to go down the stairs whistling and singing to let people know I was coming as it was a very popular place for a quick snog.

Memories of City Hall Annex – TAODS

Keith 1 : the annexe was used a lot for different things, including rehearsals for the main shows.  One Saturday evening we had a singing rehearsal in the annexe. There had been a caged bird show in building next door and the birds tried to join n the singing.

Chris : it used to be used for teas for the cast between the matinees and the main evening show. On the last night everyone on the stage would be presented with a gift and during that day families would be coming in with presents which were stored in the annexe until after the final performance had ended.

Keith 1 : we also entertained it to entertain other societies from across Cornwall. We also went to other places.

Keith 2  : when you had a show which was very popular you would open up the annexe as well – there was restricted views but it let more people in.

Joyce : there was a proper bar in the annexe