1931 – Premiere of Frederick Ashton’s Façade by the Camargo Society

Façade was originally an ‘entertainment’ in which Edith Sitwell, from 1922, recited a selection of her poems accompanied to music composed by William Walton.  This musical setting was expanded in the following years. In 1931 Frederick Ashton choreographed a part of the work for The Camargo Society, but without the poems, as Sitwell refused to allow their recitation in a ballet. She later regretted this, as the ballet, somewhat surprisingly perhaps, and despite some early critical comments about the broadness of the humour, was highly successful. In the ballet, Ashton satirised examples of different varieties of dance, including folk, social and theatrical. Apart from Ashton himself, the original performers included Lydia Lopokova and Alicia Markova, who memorably removed her skirt for the Polka movement. In some of the many revivals since 1931, the choreography was revised, added to and sections omitted, and, in some cases, recitation of the poems included. The original cast also included William Chappell, Walter Gore, Pearl Argyle, Diana Gould, Maude Lloyd, and Prudence Hyman.