Living Archive Exhibition
To celebrate SISTER ACT playing at the London Palladium the FOH displays have been given over to a celebration of the rich cultural heritage of black performance in the UK and at the London Palladium in particular.
The Really Useful Group Theatres and Stage Entertainment are pleased to be supporting the work of Positive Steps in presenting The Living Archive Exhibition, paying tribute to over 200 years of Black British Entertainment history.
Positive Steps is a performing arts and multimedia agency founded by Leon Robinson which houses one of the biggest and most authoritative collections of primary source material on black artists who have contributed to the artistic culture of England from the 18th Century onwards. He has selected a small amount of this material to display in the box office and front of house areas at the London Palladium to highlight the collection and hopefully to build on it by providing educational workshops and other events which can expand awareness of the rich cultural heritage it represents.
The material being showcased includes such names as the 18th century street entertainer Billy Waters - who could be found entertaining audiences outside the Adelphi Theatre - as well as the internationally acclaimed Black Victorian Shakespeare actor Ira Aldridge, who performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
The Living Archive Exhibition also honours the forgotten Black Edwardian Music Hall entertainers - including Bert Williams and George Walker, stars of In Dahomey at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 1903 and bringing us up to the Queen of Happiness, Florence Mills, who starred in Dover Street to Dixie at the London Pavilion, now commonly known as The Trocadero. The exhibition also throws a spotlight on 100 years of black performers specifically connected with the London Palladium - from bringing Harlem Renaissance star Adelaide Hall back to the theatre where she made her West End debut in 1931 to the newly crowned Queen of the Palladium and star of Sister Act, Patina Miller.
At a launch event held at the London Palladium on June 18th Leon explained his work and ambitions to an invited audience of theatre practitioners, government officials and community workers with the help of the actor Simon Callow and dancer Steven Clark of the Clark Brothers. Transcripts of the speeches they made on the day are given below.
Whoopi Goldberg, one of the producers of Sister Act, also sent a message of support which read:
'This history is one that not many people know about. This collection brings to the forefront all those performers who gave their all to British entertainment. I'm very proud of it. '
