Bulbeck Gilbert and Sullivan
Swaffham Bulbeck Summer Theatre, now in its 27th year, will be performing Gilbert and Sullivan's Yeomen of the Guard from Wednesday 4th to Saturday 7th June 2008 at Downing Farm, Swaffham Bulbeck. Evening performances start at 7.30pm and on Saturday there is a matinee at 2.30pm. There is a licensed bar at evening performances and tea, coffee and soft drinks are provided at the matinee. Ticket prices are £7 for Wednesday and Thursday evenings, £8 for Friday and Saturday evenings and £4 for the matinee. Tickets will be available from Kari Karolia, 133 High Street, Swaffham Bulbeck, Cambridge CB25 0LX, tel: 01223 813655, e-mail: kari.karolia@gmail.com from 28th April 2008 and from the Country Stores, Swaffham Bulbeck from 12th May. See also our website www.sbstgands.co.uk .
Yeomen of the Guard
This operetta, first performed in 1888, breaks away from the topsy-turvy farce
of its antecedents, and presents a coherent and dramatic story of wit, gravity
and pathos. Sullivan wanted something more like serious opera from Gilbert and
the plot enabled him to put more of his musical talent on display. Set in the
Tower of London in Tudor times Gilbert uses old English dialogue and the
costumes reflect that era. The only twist that the audience is asked to believe
is that the prisoner Colonel Fairfax can be unrecognisably transformed into
Sergeant Meryll's son Leonard, merely by shaving off his beard and dressing
in a Tower warder's uniform.
Fairfax has been falsely condemned to death in the Tower. As a last wish he is secretly married to Elsie, the travelling jester Jack Point's merrymaid. She marries him for a purse of money with Jack Point's approval, on the assurance that he will be dead in half an hour. She is blindfolded and cannot see his face. But Fairfax's old friend Sergeant Meryll, aided by his daughter Phoebe, helps Fairfax to escape and hide amongst the warders, and the blame falls on the gormless jailer Wilfred. In the second act Elsie, believing that Wilfred, goaded on by Jack Point, has shot Fairfax dead escaping across the river, in turn falls for the wooing of Leonard (alias Fairfax). Fairfax is portrayed as a rather devious character throughout and does not attract much empathy. The plot crystallises to everyone's satisfaction at the end, when Fairfax is reprieved, except for poor Jack Point, who has nurtured a lifetime of love for his travelling partner Elsie.. .. .