Events Diary
2024
Our next productionDid you know?
- Our 42nd annual production and the Society's 5th production of "The Gondoliers". This year we were pleased to work with a new producer, David Fletcher.
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Gilbert apparently got the idea for "The Gondoliers" from a book on Venice in the 15th century which made much of the country's strong republicanism.Gilbert saw that a satire on republicanism ideas would have an appeal to a contempary audience (an 1889 one that is).At the time more than 50 Republican Clubs had been established in the previous 20 years. Ant-monarchy and pro-egalitarian principles were being vociferously championed.
The Gondoliers is musically pan-European with music borrowed from France - the stately gavotte; from Spain - the Andalusian cachucha; from Italy - the saltarello and the tarantella; and from Venice itself - the Venetian barcarolle.
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Producer/Director : David Fletcher
Musical Director : David Wilkinson
Cast
| Duke of Plaza Toro: (a Grandee of Spain) | Malcolm Parkinson |
| Luiz: (his Attendant) | Ian Townend |
| Don Alhambra Del Bolero: (the Grand Inquisitor) | Robert Thurman |
| Venetian Gondoliers | |
| Marco Palmieri: | Jim Cooper |
| Giuseppe Palmieri: | David Atkinson |
| Antonio: | Jeremy Haigh |
| Francesco: | Neil Bird |
| Giorgio: | George Chapman |
| Annibale: | Stephen Roe |
| Page: | Paul Stringer |
| Duchess of Plaza Toro: | Margaret Lister |
| Casilda: (her daughter) | Stephanie Roe |
| Contadine | |
| Gianetta: | Carol Parkinson |
| Tessa: | Rita Close |
| Fiametta: | Pamela Brooke |
| Vittoria: | Alison Sowerby |
| Giulia: | Kathryn Thurman |
| Prudence: | Verity Bird |
| Inez: (the King’s Foster-Mother) | Dorothy Whitworth |
Chorus of Gondoliers and Contadine :
Marie Bullock, Judith Gill, Karen Morton, Sally Roberts, Rachel Roe Tracey Spencer, Debbie Stringer Andrew James, Vernon Newman, Ian Stringer, Chris Sowerby
