The Diamond Troupe, 1917. Front row (from left to right): Pte. Eric John Dean, Lt. Col. E. Trevor Wright, Pte. Lawrence Nicol. Middle row: Pte. Hubert Holmes (cellist), Corp. Frank Pollard, L/Corp. Robert James Stannard, Pte. William Threlfall, Pte. Arthur Sykes, Pte. H. Palmer (violinist). Back row: Pte. Neville Giordano, Pte. Jock McKinley, Pte. Alec Hill, Pte. George Hangle, Pte. J. Morris.
Type
Theatre group
Purpose
Concert party
Location
Arras, France
Membership
Musicians, singers, and actors from nine regiments within the 29th Division (United Kingdom)
The Diamond Troupe was the concert party of the 29th Division, a First World War infantry division within the British Army. Also known as the "Incomparable Division", the 29th was formed in 1915 by combining units that had previously been acting as garrisons about the British Empire. The division fought throughout the Gallipoli Campaign and, from 1916 to the end of the war, on the Western Front in France.
Concert parties were an integral element of the war effort, and by 1917, virtually every division had at least one. They mirrored the Pierrot troupes of music halls and seaside resorts, offering soldiers a respite from war, reminding them of home, and providing a neutral outlet to air grievances about "food, conditions, and sergeants".[1]
The Diamond Troupe was one of a small number of concert parties to achieve considerable notoriety, both on the battlefield and at home. Its success was due to a combination of factors, not the least of which were the fame of the division itself and the exceptional performances of many troupe members, especially by what historian Larry J Collins described as "the show-stopper": the female impersonator.[2] The troupe's music director, Robert James Stannard, wrote in his diary that "…the biggest hits were [Alec] Hill with his fine singing, Queenie [the troupe’s female impersonator], who deceived a great many of the audience and Larry Nicol, the trick cyclist…"[3]
Jason Wilson, in his history of the well-known Canadian concert party, the Dumbbells, singled out the Diamond Troupe as being one of the "notable concert parties of the British Expedition Forces"[4] – an assessment presaged in the 1919 edition of The Stage, where the Diamond Troupe, along with the Australian troupe, Anzac Coves, were praised for having earned their applause "… by legitimate artistic means, and not on account of the increased wartime popularity of khaki or blue".[5]
^Collins, Larry (13 December 2012). "War Culture: WWI Theatre. Military History Monthly". Retrieved 5 May 2015.
^Collins, Larry (13 December 2012). "War Culture: WWI Theatre. Military History Monthly". Retrieved 5 May 2015.
^Somerset Standard. "Looking Back: 'Honour to perform for the Queen in matinee show'". Frome Standard. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
^Wilson, Jason (2012). Soldiers of Song: the Dumbells and other Canadian concert parties of the First World War. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
^Carson, Lionel (1919). "The Stage" Year Book. London: "The Stage" Offices. p. 35.
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