Planning the Pageant

Description:Discussions between the Town Clerk and Gwen Lally about the Birmingham Pageant began in January 1938. Her enthusiasm for the project was evident from the start and she had very clear ideas about the type of production that she wanted to deliver. Initial discussions with another pageant producer had contemplated speaking parts and suggested around 800-1,000 words per episode; the Clerk reported that Lally ‘prefers mime performances, with incidental music throughout’, a method that was recommended by Sir Barry Jackson, founder of the Birmingham Rep. A prologue and epilogue would, however, be spoken ‘by an experienced person and written by an eminent writer’; S. C. Kaines Smith, Keeper of the Museum and Art Gallery from 1927-1941, wrote these parts along with the rest of the scenario. The total time of the Pageant was approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes, although audiences at the first few performances complained of the late finish.