No 8 — November 1977 Edited by Michael Walters
I.C.OS. GALA NIGHT, H.M S. Patygore Ltd., Public Hall, Budleigh Salterton, Sat. 6th August 1977
This event marked the 21st birthday of Imperial College Operatic Society and the 10th anniversary of their first summer sojourn in the charming little seaside town of Budleigh Salterton in South Devon. It was rather in the nature of a last–night party, and a number of former members of the Society returned to be in it, and in some cases to play parts they had played previously.
The evening began with Michael Withers conducting the orchestra in excerpts from Pineapple Poll, the orchestra were not free from wrong notes, but played with a Withersian vitality. This was followed by Cox and Box, with Roger Woodward (looking remarkably like Sydney Granville) as Cox, John Foster (looking slightly like Leo Darnton) as Box, and the welcome return of Richard Ault (after an absence of 7 years, and not looking a bit like Darrell Fancourt) as Bouncer. Richard was, I think, as thrilled to be back as we were to see him back. The song "The Dicky Bird and the Owl" (both verses) was substituted for "The buttercup".
After it was over, Michael Withers retired into the violins and David Pollard took up the baton for H. M. S. Patygore Ltd., a medley by Ian Gledhill of extracts from H.M.S.Pinafore, Patience, Ruddigore, and Utopia Ltd. It proved to be rather difficult to follow the rather tortuous plot, and a lot of it was a gigantic IN joke, much of the real significance of which must have been lost on the audience, who, nevertheless, still found it killingly funny. The scene was the harbour of Rederring, with the masts of H.M.S. Pinafore in the background, Castle Bunthorne on one side and Captain Corcoran's cottage on the other. The set had been painted in its entirety in less than 24 hours, a party of dedicated chaps had moved into the hall immediately after the final performance of Yeomen (reviewed elsewhere in this issue) and spent all night and most of the following day transforming the flats. It was a magnificent set, too.
The curtain rose to depict the crew of HMS. Pinafore singing the opening chorus from this opera. After this the rapturous maidens, led by Cecilia Gordon–Clark (Angela), Ann Hatton (Saphir) and Lindsay Foster (Ella) wafted on, and the men, after trying in vain to gain their attention, went off in disgust. The opening dialogue of Patience then continued, except that it was Sir Joseph Porter who was the object of the ladies' affections, and Josephine who was the object of his. It seemed that Lady Jane (Debbie Kemp) had caught Sir J. in Josephine's cottage teaching her father to dance a hornpipe, and he was not well as a result! Josephine had boasted that she loved a humble sailor on board her father's ship. Then who should come tripping on (unannounced) but the real Patience In the person of adorable Delith Brook, who then proceeded to sing "I cannot tell what this love may be". The dialogue then continued to the exit of the ladies, except that it was of course the crew of H. M. S. Pinafore, and not the dragoon guards who were on their way. After they all left, Mad Margaret (Teresa Quinn) appeared and thrilled us with her rendering of "Cheerily carols the Lark" – a lovely memento of one of her best parts. The dialogue with Rose Maybud followed, Rose being played by Jane Scotson (Mrs. Richard Ault), who had never actually played it before. It was, however, Dick Deadeye not Sir Despard, who had given poor Meg the Italian glance. After they went, the sailors entered again, headed by Max Taylor as Dick Deadeye–cum–Col. Calverley–cum–Sir Despard–cum Mr. Goldbury (he was obviously determined to enjoy himself, having travelled all the way from Manchester to be in it). They all sang "The sailors of our Queen", after which Max sang the first verse of Calverley's song, unchanged except that the chorus sang "No" instead of "Yes". The dialogue which followed was a crazy mixture of the Patience dialogue and the dialogue from Pinafore just after Ralph's entrance. Suffice to say that Ralph Rackstraw entered when the Duke of Dunstable should have done so. Ralph was in the person of Brian Parsons, equally determined to enjoy himself as it was his 25th birthday. The mottled libretto continued till what would have been the entrance of' Bunthorne, but the fact that Ralph said "who is the gentleman in the fancy uniform?" gave an inkling of what was to come, and sure enough on walked Peter Mills as Sir Joseph Porter, flanked by Janice Mills as Hebe, and all the rapturous maidens. They performed the entrance couplets (not Sir Joseph's Song). Then we had the dialogue following Bunthorne's entrance, and then they all went into the Ruddigore madrigal with Debbie as Lady Jane singing the second verse. The tenor line was sung by Steve Chaytow, who was a strange sort of omnibus person singing bits of Dick Dauntless, the Duke of Dunstable & Lord Dramaleigh as the demands of the "plot" required. After the Madrigal the ubiquitous Sir Joseph proceeded to deliver some of Grosvenor's dialogue about things being cloying, before exiting into the cottage. The sextette "I hear the soft, note" was then performed; Roger Nicholls, the Bo'sun, doing a stint as Major Murgatroyd! Ralph then wandered on, and the Act 1 finale of Patience proceeded to its end, with Ralph being Grosvenor, who, instead of being aesthetic, was "a sailor, a poor sailor". After this, there was a short interval, to enable us all to catch a breath and sort out our poor mad brains, ready to cope with the next onslaught.
The second part opened with Lady Jane on stage with her 'cello and she proceeded to do the famous song, after which she departed. Then Robina Vallance entered as Josephine and she and Ralph did the scene leading up to their duet, but did not sing it – instead they walked off and Sir Joseph and Jane came on, and romped through the Bunthorne–Jane scene; much merriment being caused by Sir Joseph calling Ralph Rackstraw a "white trousered idiot", and then realising that he too was wearing white trousers. They then performed the marvellous duet, which had to be encored, Debbie (her costume was 1920s) acting like a flapper. The text of Patience then continued with the aesthetic trio (Deadeye, Bo'sun & Dick Dauntless) the dialogue, and the quintette (with suitable name changes). After this was all over, Captain Corcoran (John Barratt) entered, followed by Sir Joseph and they whipped through the dialogue preceding "The hours creep on apace" which Josephine duly came on and sang exquisitely. Pinafore then proceeded more or less as written, through the Bells Trio to the entrance of Deadeye, but when the Captain says "What would you with me?", Max Taylor replied "Its time for your cabinet council'' whereupon he turned himself into Mr. Goldbury (which he had played), John turned himself into King Paramount (which he had played) and the remaining five who had played their respective flowers when the Society did Utopia (Tim Johnson, Dick Stockton, Richard Wilson, Steve Bodle & Steve Chaytow) all entered complete with musical instruments and they did the Christy Minstrel song – as you hadn't already guessed. After this they all went off and Ralph & Josephine entered again and commenced the Act 2 scene between Grosvenor and Patience, but stopped when Josephine (i.e. Patience) says "but you do love me, don't you"? whereupon Fitzbattleaxe, i.e. Brian, i.e. Ralph, i.e., yes, i.e., sang "A tenor all singers above" after which they went off, and Max Taylor, i.e. Dick Deadeye, i.e. Sir Despard (I'm getting as confused as you now) entered with Mad Margaret, i.e. Teresa Quinn (do you remember her?) and they did their duet (actually it was cut at the performance, as the two of them were not very happy with it, but I saw it at the Dress Rehearsal, ha, ha!). Then the entire company entered all set for the finale to Patience. Deadeye announced that Ralph Rackstraw had at length determined to select a bride, and he chose "the only one who had the good fortune to be distinctly lovely - Josephine" The farce ended with the Act 2 finale to Pinafore. I left the theatre limp, but happy! MICHAEL WALTERS
Web page created 6 June 1999