Events Diary
2024
Our next productionDid You Know?
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This was our Golden Jubilee production. Pirates has become something of an anniversary event for us, having also performed this operetta for both our 40th year and our Diamond Jubilee in 2009.
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After the sensational success of H.M.S. Pinafore, many American performing companies presented unauthorized versions of that opera. Gilbert, Sullivan and Richard D`Oyly Carte decided to prevent that from happening again by presenting official versions of their next opera, The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty simultaneously in England and America. The opera premiered on December 31, 1879 at the Fifth Avenue Theater in New York with Sullivan conducting, but a single performance had been given on the previous day at the Royal Bijou Theatre, Paignton, England, to secure the British copyright.
Modernized versions of "Pirates" include Joseph Papp's 1981 Broadway production, which ran for 787 performances, winning the Tony Award for Best Revival and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical.
Producer/Director : Michael Kirby
Musical Director : Keith Webster
Cast
| Major-General Stanley : | Robert Thurman |
| The Pirate King : (Pirate Chief) | Chris Sowerby |
| Samuel : (His Lieutenant) | Kenneth Davison |
| Frederic : (A Pirate Apprentice) | Jeremy Shoesmith |
| Sergeant of Police : (Edward to his friends) | Malcolm Parkinson |
| Mabel : (General Stanley's 'youngest' daughter) | Carol Parkinson |
| More of General Stanley's daughters | |
| Edith : | Stephanie Roe |
| Kate : | Rachel George |
| Isabel : | Catherine Roberts |
| Ruth : (A Piratical Maid-of-all-work) | Pamela Thorne |
Ladies & Gentlemen of the Chorus :
Tracey Barker, John Berry, Neil Bird, Verity Bird, Jill Calleja, Ian Castle, Janice Child, Paul Child, Pat Davison, Rachel George, David Hall, Margaret Hanson, David Hirst, Keith Horner, Samantha Jones, Gill Leverton, Elaine Mantle, Karen Morton, Dina Powell, Sue Ralph, Sally Roberts, Stephen Roe, Alison Sowerby, Debbie Stringer, Pamela Thorne, Ian Townend, Kathryn Thurman & Dorothy Whitworth.
