THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

May Billing

May Billing (1896-1902)

[Born Hailsham, Sussex 1876, died Tayport, Fife 5 Aug 1931]

Mabel Grace Billing was a chorister with D'Oyly Carte Opera Company "C" in 1896. In December of that year, still in the chorus, she made the first Company visit to South Africa. She returned to Company "C," and in November and December 1898 played Constance in The Sorcerer. In 1899 she appeared as Fiametta in The Gondoliers, substituting as Casilda in March.

It appears she remained in the Company "C" chorus over the next two years, and in April 1902 she was enlisted to tour South Africa again, this time playing the minor principal roles of Saphir in Patience, Leila in Iolanthe, Vittoria in The Gondoliers, Melene in Utopia Limited, and "Oasis-in-the-Desert" in The Rose of Persia. She also substituted in the title role in Iolanthe while in South Africa. Miss Billing left the Company in October 1902, midway through the South Africa tour.

She was for a time married to D'Oyly Carte baritone Albert Kavanagh.

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