Ada Campe Revives Edwardian Classic BEHIND THE NIGHTLIGHT in New Show
New stage show brings Edwardian imagination and women's creativity to life
A remarkable Edwardian book and its musical legacy are being brought back to life in a new show by award-winning cabaret performer Ada Campe.
Behind the Nightlight, first published in 1912, was a collection of short stories describing the imaginary creatures seen by a three-year-old girl named Joan in her nursery. Her mother, actress Nancy Price, transcribed Joan's stories verbatim and the book was an immediate success, running to four editions in just two years. Contemporary reviewers were captivated by the rare insight into a child's imagination, with Joan's fantastical creations being frequently compared to the characters of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
In 1913, the stories took on a new life when Joan's godmother, acclaimed composer Liza Lehmann, set fourteen of them to music. Lehmann was one of the most prolific and respected composers of her time, with more than 300 published works, an international performing career, and a long-standing presence at the Proms from the late 19th century into the 1930s.
Both Nancy Price and Liza Lehmann were members of the Actresses' Franchise League, a group of theatre and entertainment professionals campaigning for women's suffrage. Together, they toured the musical settings of Behind the Nightlight across the UK in 1913, celebrating creativity, performance, and the imaginative world of a young child through live music and storytelling.
More than a century later, Ada Campe brings these extraordinary creatures back to the stage in a new show that revives Lehmann's original settings, features additional songs by the composer, and tells the remarkable story of the Behind the Nightlight phenomenon. The production weaves together history, music, and performance to rediscover a largely forgotten cultural moment at the intersection of childhood imagination, women's creativity, and early 20th-Century Theatre.
Performed by Ada Campe with accompaniment from Sarah Rose on piano.
Directed by Janie Dee (currently in Fallen Angels at the Menier Chocolate Factory)
Produced by Dr Naomi Paxton - historian of suffrage theatre and alter ego of Ada Campe
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