Just recently I have been reflecting on how I go about my research and pondering on what actually motivates me to start researching.
A couple of months ago I stumbled across an old autograph album from 1951. Looking through it I saw several names that I recognised from Australian theatre. If you’d read the rest of my blog you’d know that I’m a passionate theatre fan, and love anything to do with it, including theatre history.
Needless to say I bought the album (for an extremely modest sum) and brought it home to look at more closely. Many of the autographs were signed with the person’s name, with “Mother Goose Panto” or “Theatre Royal” underneath. Well there was my reason for researching right there! I had to know more!
I had several problems which needed answers. Firstly I needed to be able to decipher some of the autographs which were very difficult to read. I wanted to know more about the Theatre Royal, a theatre unfamiliar to me, and I wanted to know more about the production.
Being a researcher is a bit like being a detective I think. You gather all the clues you can find and then bring it all together to solve your puzzle.
I started by verifying that there was indeed, a Theatre Royal in Adelaide during the 1950s. I had a clue about Adelaide in one of the autograph entries, and the original owner of the album had thoughtfully written a verse at the front, signed her name and listed her address!
An internet search led me to the History of Theatre database, and then through another link it was on to Ausstage. It was here that I managed to find the production I was after…Gay Fiesta / Mother Goose at Theatre Royal, Adelaide. The opening date was 26th December, 1951.
One of the autographs is Toni Lamond, whose Australian career I know very well. I remember seeing her as Nancy in Oliver! at Her Majesty’s Theatre, when I was very young. I later saw her in Gypsy. More recently it has been her son, Tony Sheldon, who has impressed me on stage. His role in Priscilla Queen of the Desert was superb, and I believe that his knowledge of Australian Theatre history is just huge.
An internet search of Toni Lamond led me to several interviews where she mentions her very early career, including her time of working on the Mother Goose pantomime. Apparently the cast of the evening show, Gay Fiesta, also performed in the Mother Goose panto each afternoon. How hectic their schedules must have been! This sort of schedule certainly wouldn’t happen today.
I am still in the throes of working out the other autographs, but I have searched the newspapers of 1951 and found the advertisement for the show, and a number of small articles. The State Library of South Australia has managed to find a review of the show in one of their newspapers, one which I haven’t been able to access here in Melbourne. I’ve been in touch with the Adelaide University, who hold the theatre program to these shows in their theatre collection. I have managed to find Toni Lamond’s autobiography, and this has led to more information about the show and its performers. Further searching has led me to an interview with Ms Lamond, which the National Library of Australia has in their Oral History collection.
I feel that I am well on the way in my research, and I will continue to see what more I can discover. I also need to work out how I am going to put all of this information together.
The internet has been a very important part of my research. It has allowed me to network with librarians in Adelaide and Canberra libraries. Each one has added to my research, and I am grateful that they have been so giving of their time and expertise. The internet has given me access to several interviews with Toni Lamond, each one adding snippets of information. Databases have allowed me to discover cast lists and small biographies of many of the cast members, and Picture Australia has led me to many pictures of the Adelaide’s Theatre Royal.
Our students need to have similar learning experiences. They need to be enthused about what it is they are learning about, and they need to feel the same excitement that I have, when they find more pieces of their own puzzle. They need to be encouraged to seek other’s expertise to help them gather their information, and networking via the internet can be extremely motivating.
How lucky we are these days to have such networking tools these days!