PBGS 50 Years Singing #8: The G&S Sketch Show in Buxton

Continuing our history of PBGS, in 2011 we returned for a third time to Buxton and the International G&S Festival with our Gilbert and Sullivan Sketch Show, which we performed at the newly refurbished Pavillion Theatre as part of the Festival Fringe. Written and produced by current Chairwoman, Paula Fraser, it took the audience on a whirlwind tour through all the Gilbert & Sullivan repertoire, linking highlights and themes together and marking each one with a succession of hats and props. It was huge fun for us and the audience, with some crazy moments backstage as we constantly changed characters, but it showcased the huge range of talent in the Society by giving everyone something to perform.

 

PBGS 50 Years Singing #7: We move to the QMT Hitchin

Iolanthe 2009

Continuing our story of PBGS over the last 50 years, 2009 PBGS moved to its current venue - the Queen Mother Theatre, Hitchin - following a couple of performances at Henlow Theatre. Rising costs, and the challenges of filling a theatre as big as Campus West in Welwyn Garden City with a smaller membership, made the QMT a much more viable home for the Society. The move also brought us new audiences, especially for Gilbert and Sullivan! Our first production was Iolanthe where we got the chance to spread some fairy dust on our new home.

 

 

PBGS 50 Years Singing #6: Back at Buxton with Princess Ida

On stage at the Festival

In 2000 PBGS performed for the first time at the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in Buxton and in 2004 we returned to Derbyshire to compete once again against G&S Societies from all around the UK and abroad. This time we took a production of Princess Ida. Produced by Paula Fraser, who also played our Princess Ida, the show was hugely well received by an enthusiastic audience at the Buxton Opera House. Performing at the Festival is a massive challenge for every society with only one rehearsal on the stage before the performance (where you start with Act 2 and finish with Act 1!), a set you’ve never seen, a steeply raked stage to adapt to and a full orchestra that you meet on the night! But PBGS likes a challenge...

All the photos are from the video of our Buxton performance.

 

PBGS 50 Years Singing: Peter Jenkyn's account of how PBGS began in 1971

June Pickard (centre L) and Peter Jenkyns (centre) with pianist June Game (centre R) in our 1987 Pirates

Many thanks to Life-Member Helen Farmer-Butler who has rustled up this lovely account of how PBGS started in 1971, written by our first MD, Peter Jenkyns, for our 21st Anniversary programme. It’s fascinating!

“Twenty five years ago Putteridge Bury was a ‘College of Education’, training teachers in an attempt to rectify a serious shortage of teachers in the area. Most of the students were ‘mature’ having had previous careers or, in the case of many women students, having raised a family and seeking the challenge of a professional career.

Into this atmosphere came a fifty-year old student straight from the Air Force (and, moreover, of ‘exalted rank’ as Gilbert might have put it!). His name was Brian Champion and he approached me one day (I was music lecturer on the staff) with the proposition that if I were to conduct “The Pirates of Penzance”, he would organise the whole affair. I agreed and called upon a very talented student of mine to produce the opera and sing the part of Mabel. Her name was June Pickard…

True to his word, Brian set to work. His method was similar to that adopted in a military campaign. His production office had huge charts on the wall into which were stuck coloured flags. On another wall was a ‘flow chart’. I had the feeling (shared by others I am sure) that, if we were behind schedule with any aspect of the production, there was quite a danger of being shot! In the event, the whole thing went with a precision which, I am sure, was unmatched by any other society in the land. As if the role of Generalissimo was not enough for him, Brian gave a memorable account of the Sergeant of Police!”

The 21st Anniversary programme

 

PBGS 50 Years Singing #5: We go to Buxton!

Our 2000 Gondoliers

In 2000 PBGS extended its horizons further under the leadership of our then Chairwoman, Dorothy Williams. Dorothy believed that the Society now had the confidence, reputation and skill to apply for the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival, which took place every year in Buxton. We applied with a video of our 1999 production of Ruddigore, were accepted, and the following year we appeared in competition there at the Buxton Opera House with our 2000 production of The Gondoliers. 

Produced by Gabriel Butler, who also played the Duke of Plaza Toro, and Conducted by Margaret Blenkin, the production was very well received by both the enthusiastic audience and the adjudicator and was a great start to the new Millenium for the Society!