A.D.C.
Heroic Founders
So for a little time I asked your respect for antiquity and your interest in an unbroken procession of players who, for half a century, expressed through the Hongkong Amateur Dramatic Club the mental moods of the age in which they lived.
The A.D.C. was founded in 1844. Military Officers were very prominent in its early productions, and it therefore seems not unlikely that it was originally a military venture that later outgrew its confinement and developed into its present form as a club for limited general membership. This, however, is pure surmise. What we do know is that for some years prior to 1855 the Club was producing plays under some disabilities in what was called the Victoria Theatre.
A description of this theatre, the first home of the Hong-kong A.D.C., gives us a vivid impression of the heroic stuff out of which its founders were made. Its exact location cannot now be traced. The nearest we can get to it is that it was in Queen's Road East, Wanchai. We have in our records an impressionistic sketch of it. It was the upper floor of a two-storey godown. The only way of getting in and out of the theatre was by a flight of very steep wooden steps outside the front of the building. These connected with a single door, formed by knocking out a window, and served alike the stage and the auditorium. The whole place was very malodorous with what was known as "Singapore Cargo" - that is, damaged rice, fish-maws, shark fins, and other foul-smelling produce stored in the basement. Evidently the Fire Regulations of the period were rather free and easy, and certainly the audience was less discriminating than nowadays as to its comfort and convenience.
Early Plays
We have, unfortunately, no record of the plays produced in this primitive playhouse. Examination of the four-page newsprints of the fifties yields no information in this particular. Still, we know that 'atmosphere' counts for much in drama and the possibilities of "Maria Martin" or "The Murder in the Red Barn" can hardly have been overlooked, while the trapdoor facilities for dealing with that chief impediment to the wider popularity of homicide - the disposal of the body - would have obvious advantages in the presentation of that old favourite "Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street".
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Continuation
A.D.C.
Heroic Founders
So for a little time I asked your respect for antiquity and your interest in an unbroken procession of players who, for half a century, expressed through the Hongkong Amateur Dramatic Club the mental moods of the age in which they lived.
The A D. C. was founded in 1844. Military Officers were very prominent in its early productions, and it therefore seems not unlikely that it was originally a military venture that later outgrew its confinement and developed into its present fora a club for limited general membership. This however, is pure surmise. What we do know is that for some years prior to 1855 the Club was producing plays under some disabilities in what was called the Victoria Theatre.
A description of this theatre, the first home of the Hong- kong A.D.C., gives us a vivid impression of the heroic stuff out of which its founders were made. Its exact location cannot now be traced. The nearest we can get to it is that it was in Queen's Road East, Wanchat. We have in our records an impressionistic sketch of it. It was, the upper floor of a two- storey godown. The only way of getting in and out of the theatre was by a flight of very steep wooden steps outside the front of the building. These connected with a single door, formed by knocking out a window, and served alike the stage and the auditorium. The whole place was very malodorous of what was known as "Singapore Cargo" - that is, damaged rice, fish-maws, sharkfins and other fulsome produce stored in the basement. Evidently the Fire Regulations of the period were rather free and easy, and certainly the audience was less discriminating than nowadays as to its comfort and convenience.
Early Plays
We have, unfortunately, no record of the plays produced in this primitive playhouse. Examination of the four-page news- prints of the fifties yield no information in this particular. Still, we know that 'atmosphere counts for much in drama and the possibilities of "Marià Martin" or "The Murder in the Red- Bern" can hardly have been overlooked, while the trapdoor facilities for dealing with that chief impediment to the wider popularity of homicide - the disposal of the body wound have obvious advantages in the presentation of that old favourite "Sweeny Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street".
J
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