Overview

John Percivale Moody (1906-1993) was an opera and theatre producer, actor and translator. His wife Nell (born Helen Pomfret Burra (1909-1999)) worked as a singing teacher, opera singer and translator of opera.

In 1930 Moody won a scholarship to the Webber-Douglas School of Singing. It was here that he met the opera singer Helen 'Nella' Burra. Moody was also an accomplished actor and made his debut at the Lyric, Hammersmith in 'Derby Day' in 1931. He played at the Old Vic for two seasons in 1934 and 1937. During much of the 1930s Nell Burra was in Germany training to be an opera singer. Alma Schadow tutored her in Berlin. Burra and Moody married in 1937 shortly after the death of her twin brother Peter Burra. Early in 1940 Moody became Principal of the Old Vic Theatre School where he stayed until 1942, when he was appointed as producer to the Old Vic Company in Liverpool. The Carl Rosa Opera Company approached him to produce 'La Tosca' in 1945. This was the start of Moody's career in opera. In 1949 he became drama director of the Arts Council and was subsequently the director of Bristol Old Vic. Bill Smith of Welsh National Opera approached Moody in 1959 about the post of Director of Productions. Moody was appointed. Subsequently he and Nell translated 'May Night' by Rimsky-Korsakov to create a new English libretto. In the following years the two collaborated to produced new English translations of libretti which included 'Prince Igor' and 'The Pearl Fishers'. Moody resigned from the WNO in 1969 to concentrate on his painting.

The Burra-Moody Archive represents the music and drama archive of John Moody, and the collected papers, correspondence, books, manuscripts and photographs of Nell and her twin brother, Peter James Salkeld Burra (1909-1937). In addition, the B-MA holds papers related to Moody's maternal line, the Ley family and includes: the Phillada Sewell Drama Archive, the letters of the painters William Sewell and Margaret Ley, the letters of Theodore Komisarjevsky to Phillada Sewell, and the letters of Ferruccio Busoni to Rosamond Ley.

Phillada Sewell (1910-1998) was a character actress and soprano who first broadcast on radio in 1937. She appeared in 'A Room with a View' (1985) and Maurice (1987). Her mother, Margaret Ley, was a younger sister of John Moody's mother, Louisa. Thus making John Moody and Phillada Sewell cousins. The paintings of John Moody form a linked collection.

The John Moody collection is being repackaged, conserved and catalogued as part of Bristol Old Vic's "Protecting and Sharing the Heritage of Britain's Oldest Theatre" project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Several other collections related to the Bristol Old Vic are held at the University of Bristol's Theatre Collection and Bristol Archives. These will also be catalogued as part of the project between 2017 and 2020.

What the collection holds

The collection comprises the personal and working papers of the actor, director and designer, John Moody, covering the period 1938 to 1959.

It includes promptbooks, programmes, set designs and models, production papers, scripts, correspondence and press cuttings relating to Moody's career with the Guildford Repertory Company (1938), the Old Vic Dramatic School (1940-1942), the Old Vic/CEMA at the Cambridge Arts Theatre and the Liverpool Playhouse (1942-1945), the Birmingham Repertory Theatre (1942-1945, 1949-1951), Bristol Old Vic (1954-1957), and the Ohel Theatre, Tel Aviv (1959).

The collection also includes some material belonging to John Moody's wife, Nell Moody (nee Burra).

This collection is being repackaged, conserved and catalogued as part of Bristol Old Vic's "Protecting and Sharing the Heritage of Britain's Oldest Theatre" project, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Several other collections related to the Bristol Old Vic are held at the University of Bristol's Theatre Collection and Bristol Archives. These will also be catalogued as part of the project between 2017 and 2020.

The online catalogue for this collection can be viewed here: 
JM - John Moody Collection

Further information

Further Reading
The Theatre Royal Bristol, 1766-1966: Two Centuries of Stage History by Kathleen Barker
The Bristol Old Vic: the First Ten Years by Audrey Williamson and Charles Landstone (1957)
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School: the First Fifty Years, 1946-1996 by Shirley Brown

Other Useful Sites
Bristol Old Vic Theatre
Bristol Archives
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School