Special fundraiser performance of Cox and Box

We are delighted to announce a special performance of Arthur Sullivan's Cox and Box, along with some G&S favourites in concert, being performed by a small group in support of PBGS. Don't miss what promises to be a great night's entertainment! Taking place at Harlington Village Hall, Sundon Road, Harlington Bedfordshire, LU5 6LR on Friday, 21st June at 7:45. Tickets £12 and include tea, coffee, juice and biscuits (feel free to bring any other refreshments). We look forward to seeing you there.

Tickets available from Ticket Source

 

Murder Mystery a huge sucess!

Well, we now know Who Dunnit! We had our Murder Mystery Evening - Death on the Stage on Saturday night and it was a huge success. Thanks go to our wonderful cast for all their hard work, and to our audience of supporters who really took the 1980s theme to heart by dressing the part. Everyone had a great evening's entertainment, exercised their little grey cells and had a hot buffet to boot! And we raised £900 to boost our funds towards our next October production of ‘Me and My Girl’. 

Well done to all!

Murder Mystery Evening

 

We are excited to announce our Murder Mystery Evening Death on the Stage! A great evening's entertainment from PBGS performers, and a hot fork buffet to keep those little grey cells working while you work out who the murder is. Who doesn't love a Who Done It? 1980's dress is encouraged so dig out those flares! 

7pm for a 7.30 start, 27th April at Harlington Village Hall LU5 6LS

Book your tickets now from Ticketsource

NODA Award Nomination for PBGS

HMS Pinafore, Spring 2023

 

We are excited to announce that PGBS has been nominated for a NODA East Award in the Best Technical Show category, jointly for our productions of HMS Pinafore and The Sorcerer. These are the official NODA awards for the whole Eastern Region. which take place at NODA's 125th Anniversary Gala in April. It's a great honour to receive this nomination and is a testament to the huge amount of expertise that goes into the technical side of our productions!

 

Many thanks and congratulations to NODA for supporting and celebrating amateur musical theatre for 125 years!

 

The Sorcerer, Autumn 2023

 

Thank you!

A big thank you to all our audiences this week for coming out to a new venue for us at Woodside Hall and supporting us! From all your laughing, clapping and lovely comments we know that you thoroughly enjoyed our production of 'The Sorcerer'.

A big thank you too to all the PBGS team that worked so hard to bring this Show together. You are all stars! Thanks are also due to Woodside Hall and Hitchin Thespians for making us welcome and being so helpful. 

We had a whole week of magic!

The Sorcerer takes the stage at Woodside Hall

It's show week and we are performing Gilbert and Sullivan's early work 'The Sorcerer' at a new venue for us, Woodside Hall in Hitchin, right next to our usual venue at the Queen Mother Theatre.

There are still plenty of tickets left for all nights and we have a Saturday Matinee! Just click on the 'Buy Tickets' button on the top right of this page to go straight to the Box Office, or scan the QR code below.

The show is full of magic and mayhem when a Sorcerer arrives in the village of Ploverleigh with a love philtre, and all kinds of chaos ensues! Full of wonderful music and comedy, this is a rare chance to catch a lesser known G&S. And here are some more production photos to tempt you!

 

 

 

 

Have you got your tickets yet! We are really looking forward to presenting our magical production of 'The Sorcerer' at the Woodside Hall, Hitchin. This is a new venue for us, right next to our usual home at the QMT and with the same ample parking.

This two-act comic opera was the third collaboration between W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. The plot satirically challenges the Victorian class system and creates the sort of topsy turvy storyline we now expect from their work.

Alexis, the son of Sir Marmaduke Poindexter, is captivated by the idea of love as a way to level all social ranks and distinctions. He invites sorcerer J. Wellington Wells to his wedding celebrations and asks her to give them a love potion for use on the villagers. This causes all those who drink it to fall in love with the first person they see, resulting in some comic mismatching. To overturn the spell, either the spell-purchaser or spell-caster must pay with their life. This aspect of the drama is brought to the fore in this production, which highlights the moral ambiguity of the characters who are perfectly happy to sacrifice an outsider to ensure they get their classic G&S happy-ever-after. 

Book your tickets now by clicking on our Order Tickets button to go straight to our Box Office or by scanning our QR code here:

PBGS awards for Yeomen and Pinafore!

Congratulations to all our NODA Eastern District 3 winners and nominees at Sunday's District Meeting in Toddington! We had quite the PBGS line up. 

 

Well done to our winners David Crew and Sue Wookey as Sergeant Meryl and Dame Carruthers who won Best Performance in a Musical for “The Yeomen of the Guard", Katharine Crew who won Most Innovative Director for her wartime “HMS Pinafore” and to Margaret Johnson who won Most Innovative Production Team Contribution as MD for “HMS Pinafore” with her wonderful interval Jazz music.

 

We also had runner up certificates in a very tight field for Emma Crew who was nominated as Best Actress for Phoebe in "The Yeomen of the Guard” and Manda Fraser & Katharine Crew for Best Costumes in “The Yeomen of the Guard”.

 

It’s a wonderful tribute to all the stellar performers and varied talents that PBGS has in its ranks. Congratulations all round and many thanks to our rep Nova Horley for recognising all the hard work performers do across the region.

Sorcerer booking now open!

Booking is now open for our fantastic and fantastical production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Sorcerer!

You can buy your tickets online now by clicking on our booking link wherever you see it or by scanning the QR code.

"This two-act comic opera was the third collaboration between W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. The plot satirically challenges the Victorian class system and creates the sort of topsy turvy storyline we now expect from their work.

Alexis, the son of Sir Marmaduke Poindexter, is captivated by the idea of love as a way to level all social ranks and distinctions. He invites sorcerer J. Wellington Wells to his wedding celebrations and asks her to give them a love potion for use on the villagers. This causes all those who drink it to fall in love with the first person they see, resulting in some comic mismatching. To overturn the spell, either the spell-purchaser or spell-caster must pay with their life. This aspect of the drama is brought to the fore in this production, which highlights the moral ambiguity of the characters who are perfectly happy to sacrifice an outsider to ensure they get their classic G&S happy-ever-after.

The opera was first shown in 1877 and then revived in 1884 and was so successful that Gilbert and Sullivan went on to write ‘HMS Pinafore’ and a string of other hits culminating in ‘The Mikado’ and ‘Yeomen of the Guard’."

PBGS Performance Nominations!

Our NODA East - District 3 representative, Nova Horley, has made her personal nominations for this year’s best local musical Am Dram performers and contributors, onstage and off, and there are a lot of PBGS nominations this year! Huge congratulations to:

Best Actress: Emma Crew as Phoebe in "The Yeomen of the Guard"

 

Best Performance in a Musical: David Crew & Sue Wookey as Sergeant Meryl & Dame Carruthers in "The Yeomen of the Guard"

 

Most Innovative Director: Katharine Crew for “HMS Pinafore”

 

Most Innovative Production Team Contribution: Margaret Johnson, MD for “HMS Pinafore”

 

Best Costumes: Manda Fraser & Katharine Crew "The Yeomen of the Guard"

Congratulations are also due to PBGS Member Bryony Reynolds who picked up performance and costume nominations in two productions with other groups, TADS and Parodos Theatre School.

It’s a wonderful tribute to all the stellar performers and varied talents that PBGS has in its ranks. Well done  all round and many thanks to Nova!

 

You will find the nomination post here with details of all this year’s nominees! 

 

Emma Crew as Phoebe

David Crew as Sergeant Meryll and Sue Wookey as Dame Carruthers

Katharine Crew, HMS Pinafore Director

 

Margaret Johnson, HMS Pinafore Musical Director

Manda Fraser, Yeomen Costumes

Sorcerer Launch Night!

The Launch Night for our next production will be on Tuesday 16th May at 8pm at Harlington Methodist Church Hall and we really hope you'll join us there to hear more about Gilbert & Sullivan's The Sorcerer! We will also be serving some light refreshments, very appropriate for a show that actually has a song listing everything that makes a perfect high tea.

We always welcome new members so please feel free to turn up and introduce yourself when you arrive. If you are not a singer but would still love to join in we'd be equally thrilled, you have no idea how much work happens before show week and behind the scenes off-stage to make a successful production!

We look forward to seeing you all and sprinkling some Sorcerer magic.

Harlington Methodist Church