Walter Blunt’s Diary 

2nd day of October 1920 

My Music House 

I had thought myself about to leave to join the Auxiliary Division, but the Royal Irish Constabulary found some reason for delay. A problem with the records from my time with the British Army in Gaza I think. With time on my hands, and tired of the city, I explored the other direction, and once again puzzled about the Music House, just about two hundred yards along King Street. I had heard there was a theatre there, as well as the public house. I have no knowledge of theatre, except for a Punch and Judy show from Wales that visited Norwich when I was about ten. The man with the puppets was Romany, but from here originally. My sisters and I spoke to him  — Mr Codman, a nice old man. 

Anyway, right enough, when I walked round to the door of the Music House it was open and immediately my luck was in, for I met Mr Monck. He runs the theatre and he was happy to satisfy my curiosity about the place. I have talked with him since, as he tells a wonderful tale. He has done plays in London and elsewhere but came to Norwich, to Blackfriars Hall in 1908, to put on tableaux vivant. That is actors, costumes, sets, lights and so on  — but no movement. It does seem to me that this would be less fun than Punch and Judy.  

He brought with him costumes and other bits and pieces from an earlier enterprise of his. So he was well able to put on singing and dancing shows (he called them masks, but they sound like a pageant) at Blickling Hall, which is somewhere near Aylsham  —  further North than I have ever been. He had help with dancers from a Londoner called Cecil Sharp. In 1911 he started the Norwich Players and three years later came to the ‘Old Musick Room’ (it has many names). He puts on about nine plays a year, and they run for a week. Last month it was Candida, written by an Irish writer called Shaw, and the next one is Hippolytus, by an ancient Greek. It is, he said, the smallest licensed theatre in England. 

Mr Monck could see I was interested so he took me inside to look around and I was captivated. The theatre is above the Great Hall, almost in the roof, with dozens and dozens of seats. And the place was full of life: actors and actresses practising their lines, costumes being passed about, hammering and sawing. There was some sly laughter when they saw that I had come in with Mr Monck. “Where did he pick you up, young fellow?”, one said. 

But soon I found myself helping move scenery about, and when work stopped for tea Mr Monck asked if I’d like to join the company as a sort of assistant stage manager. Yes, I said, excited I admit. A young actress with the most beautiful red hair gave out a little whoop. I determined that I would talk to her soon.  

Mr Yeats told me that the building is the oldest house in Norwich. It was built in about 1170 and lived in then by a Jewish family called Jurnet. Apparently Jews had come to Norwich about 100 years before, when William the Conqueror brought them over. He needed them as they would trade in money, which Christians would not. Mr Yeats said something about a play called The Merchant of Venice and said it was unfair that Jews were called moneylenders as an insult. Back then, it was thanks to Jewish moneylenders that the funds were found to build our famous cathedral.   

Norwich Jews numbered no more than 200 and did not live in a ghetto. Most of them lived near the castle, so they were protected by the King’s Men. Sadly, they were falsely accused of killing a Christian boy called William in some sort of ritual. There was talk of his mutilated body being found on Mousehold Heath, and later a chapel was built for him up there. That started what Mr Yeats said is now called a blood libel against Jews. There were similar lies being told in towns and villages across the land. In 1290 Jews were expelled from all of England and not allowed back for nearly 400 years. 

Various families owned this house over the centuries  — Paston and Coke are two I remember. Some time in the 1700s, five singers from King Street called the Waites set up here as City Music and that is when it got the name Music House. Nevertheless, by the end of that century, the building had become an alehouse. 

No sooner had Mr Monck set up his theatre here than the war came and the company was dispersed. Mr Monck himself produced five Shakespeare plays for our troops in Egypt. I too was in Egypt at that time but alas saw none of them. The Norwich players came back last year with another Shakespeare play, Much Ado about Nothing. 

Mr Yeats is some years older than Mr Monck and he laughed as he revealed the full name of the man he calls his protégé  — Walter Nugent Bligh Monck. He is Nugent Monck in public; his friends call him Walter; some folk behind his back call him Moncklet and it is true that he is short in stature. With some trepidation, I asked the great man how he came to be involved with this little theatre. He said he arrived to review a production for the Morning Post and Mr Monck soon had him arranging chairs. They hit it off and Mr Monck travelled to Ireland with him. 

But when I told him I was to be an auxiliary soldier in his country he looked dismayed, wished me well, and soon moved off. Beatrice, my new actress friend with the red hair, told me later that Mr Yeats’ politics has him very opposed to the British control of Ireland. I did not know what to think. I hope it is right for me to go. 

Later, I tried asking Mr Monck about Ireland. He just said it was a country he liked very much, but that was Dublin, not Cork, which is where I think I would be. He was happier talking about his future plans. He hopes to secure a new theatre space in the middle of the city. It is a building that has been a Catholic chapel, a grocery warehouse, a branch of the Salvation Army, and a baking powder factory. It has what is called a barrel roof, which is said to be in imitation of the Sistine Chapel, and gives the hall a good acoustic. It is next to the Church of St John, Maddermarket, but Mr Monck has yet to decide on a name for his new theatre. 

Story Makers is made possible by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.