This Precious Stone: A Pageant Play of Guildford
Pageant type
Notes
Performed by the Guildford Youth Committee
Performances
Place: Technical College hall, Stoke Park (Guildford) (Guildford, Surrey, England)
Year: 1944
Indoors/outdoors: Indoors
Number of performances: 5
Notes
23–27 May 1944
Name of pageant master and other named staff
- Director [Pageant Master]: Thorndike, Eileen
- Assistant Director: Frances Paton-Hood
- Musical Director: M.S. Chesterfield
- Stage Manager: J. Thomas
- Properties: R. Cross
- Lighting: Mark White and J. Martin
- Executive Officer: F.S. Tosswill
- Organiser: Thomas O. Pope
Notes
Names of executive committee or equivalent
n/a
Names of script-writer(s) and other credited author(s)
- Codd, Leslie
- Ligett, M.D.
- Nicklin, C.E.
Notes
Names of composers
n/a
Numbers of performers
n/a
Financial information
Object of any funds raised
n/a
Linked occasion
n/a
Audience information
- Grandstand: Not Known
- Grandstand capacity: n/a
- Total audience: n/a
Prices of admission and seats: highest–lowest
n/a
Associated events
n/a
Pageant outline
Act One: A Room in A Large House in Guildford, 1944
Act Two: Royal Manor, Guildford Park, 1489
Act Three: A Meadow in Guildford, 1569
Act Four
Scene One: St Nicholas Parish, Guildford, 1574
Scene Two: Abbot’s Hospital, Guildford, 1627
Act Five: The Guildhall, Guildford, 1660
Act Six: The Red Lion, Guildford, 1668
Act Seven: Angel Inn, Guildford, April 1740.
Act Eight: Alice in Wonderland, scene is the Court of the King of Hearts
Act Nine: The Present Mayor and Corporation of Guildford
Act Ten: Grand Finale. Spirit of Guildford and March-Past
Key historical figures mentioned
- Henry III (1207–1272) king of England and lord of Ireland, and duke of Aquitaine
- Edward III (1312–1377) king of England and lord of Ireland, and duke of Aquitaine
- Henry VII (1457–1509) king of England and lord of Ireland
- Elizabeth [née Elizabeth Woodville] (c.1437–1492) queen of England, consort of Edward IV
- Elizabeth I (1533–1603) queen of England and Ireland
- Charles II (1630–1685) king of England, Scotland, and Ireland
Musical production
Performed pieces included Edward Carpenter, ‘England Arise’
Newspaper coverage of pageant
Surrey Advertiser
Book of words
n/a
Other primary published materials
n/a
Guildford Youth Committee presents This Precious Stone: A Pageant Play of Guildford. Guildford, 1944. [price 3d]
References in secondary literature
n/a
Archival holdings connected to pageant
- This Precious Stone Memorabilia Album, Reference 5211/1
Surrey History Centre, Woking
- Correspondence between the author Leslie Codd and Miss Liggett, Guildford Chief Librarian and others, Reference 5428/1/
Surrey History Centre, Woking
- Typescript, Reference 5428/1/1/15-69
Surrey History Centre, Woking
Sources used in preparation of pageant
- Blackstone, William, The Great Charter. London, 1759.
- Pepys, Samuel, Diary. London, 1660
- Russell, G.W. and J., ‘A Descriptive and Historical View of Guildford’, 1845
Summary
This pageant was put on by the Guildford Youth Committee. A film of the pageant was made, but the editing took a great deal of time. It was finally shown at the Gaumont British Cinema, Wardour Street on 27 March 1946 at 11am.1
Footnotes
- ^ Surrey History Centre, Woking, Reference 5428/1/1-2 [?]
How to cite this entry
Angela Bartie, Linda Fleming, Mark Freeman, Tom Hulme, Alex Hutton, Paul Readman, ‘This Precious Stone: A Pageant Play of Guildford’, The Redress of the Past, http://www.historicalpageants.ac.uk/pageants/1325/