24-28 March 2015

presents

The Pirates of

Penzance or

Artistic Director Alan BorthwickMusical Director David LyleAssistant Musical Director Margaret DonaldsonAssistant Director David McBain

www.edgas.orgThe Edinburgh Gilbert and Sullivan Society is registered as a charity and limited company

in Scotland (company number SC356199) (charity number SC027486) Registered office: 26b/4 St John’s Road, Edinburgh EH12 6NZ

Libretto by Music by W. S. Gilbert Arthur Sullivan

The Slave of Duty

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KING’S THEATRE 8-11 April

FESTIVAL THEATRE 23-28 March

FESTIVAL THEATRE 21-25 April

FESTIVAL THEATRE 28 April – 9 May

KING’S THEATRE 11-16 May

KING’S THEATRE 14-18 April

FESTIVAL THEATRE 1-4 April

KING’S THEATRE 21-25 April

KING’S THEATRE 4-9 May

FESTIVAL THEATRE 2-6 June

With Phill Jupitus & Louie Spence

J302937_MKT_ADS_Pirates Prog 170x240_wc090315.indd 1 10/03/2015 17:44

WelcomeGood evening and welcome to the Edinburgh

Gilbert and Sullivan Society’s production of The Pirates of Penzance, our third event of 2015, which is proving to be a busy and exciting year for the Society. We have already held our 90th Anniversary Concert and Sing-along of The Mikado, both in St Andrew’s and St George’s West Church.

Our next event will be our performance of Pirates in Harrogate for the International

Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in August. In October we are having a break from tradition and will be performing Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific in the Church Hill Theatre. It is, of course, one of the all time favourite musicals and we are looking forward to doing something completely different. I do hope you can join us and enjoy an enchanted evening!

If you would like to join the company for South Pacific or our 2016 production of The Gondoliers, you will find details of auditions on page 18 of this programme.

To round off the year, we will be performing our annual concert in the Usher Hall with the band of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines Scotland. This is always a popular evening and is held in aid of the Seafarers charity. This year for the first time the concert is on a Saturday evening, 21st November.

I hope that you enjoy our trip to the rocky shores of Cornwall and look forward to seeing you again on the, hopefully warmer, shores of a South Pacific island in October.

Thank you for your support, which is much appreciated. It is only through people like yourselves supporting us that we are able to keep these wonderful shows alive.

Michael Head(President)

Synopsis

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Frederic is a young pirate apprentice who has a somewhat abnormal conscience. When he learns

that he has been wrongly apprenticed to the pirate band he remains true to his indentures until they expire. Today is his twenty-first birthday, and today he is free!

This sense of conscientiousness seems to be catching for Major-General Stanley, whose beautiful daughters fall into the clutches of the pirates while enjoying a little promiscuous paddling. He becomes stricken with remorse after telling a lie to secure their release.

After taking his leave of the pirates, Frederic now feels that it is his duty to exterminate his former friends and he enlists the services of a squad of policemen to help him carry out his plan. Unfortunately at the critical moment, Frederic discovers that, having been born in a leap year on the twenty-ninth of February, his twenty first birthday is still somewhat distant. He is therefore still legally a member of the pirate band.

Much to the despair of Mabel, General Stanley’s eldest daughter and Frederic’s sweetheart, Frederic rejoins the pirates just as they are about to attack the Major-General’s castle.

However, the police lie in hiding and it’s anyone’s guess who will win!!

About The OperaIn 1879, in an attempt to benefit from the success of H.M.S. Pinafore in

America, Gilbert, Sullivan and D’Oyly Carte sailed across the Atlantic to present the ‘official’ Pinafore and to follow this with a completely new opera. Unfortunately, on his arrival in New York, Sullivan discovered that he’d left all his music for the first act of the new piece at home in London and he had to write it all again from memory. Sullivan’s diary records the feverish pitch at which he was forced to work, and it is said that Gilbert himself sat up all night the day before the first performance to help in the writing out of the orchestral parts for the overture. However, the critics who reviewed the new opera had nothing but praise for the piece. Sullivan would prove throughout his collaboration with Gilbert that he worked better when under severe strain.

The new opera, probably partly inspired by the Americans who had pirated Pinafore, was called The Pirates of Penzance and the official premiere took place on the 31st December 1879 at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, New York, hence securing the American rights. A scratch performance had however been given the previous day in Paignton, Devon, by D’Oyly Carte’s second Pinafore touring company so as to secure the British rights. It was to be another three months before London would see the new opera and by that time D’Oyly Carte had three new companies touring the piece throughout America.

Of all the Gilbert and Sullivan operas The Pirates of Penzance is probably the best loved. It may lack the subtlety of The Mikado or the elegance of Iolanthe, it may not have the sunny glow of parts of The Gondoliers and undoubtedly, in the case of many of its wonderful tunes, familiarity has bred some undeserved contempt but no other opera in the series has such vitality and sheer exuberance. The libretto sparkles with wit and there is never a dull moment. No other Gilbert and Sullivan opera has such wonderful characters – the Pirate King who, when contrasting his profession with respectability, considers himself “comparatively honest”; Frederic, who’s somewhat fanatical sense of duty nearly causes him to lose Mabel, the slightly dotty love of his life; the Major-General, who obviously spends every spare moment siring daughters (no wonder we hear nothing about his poor wife); Ruth, the man-mad piratical maid-of-all-work; and of course the Sergeant of Police whose lot is “not a happy one” and who would rather run a mile than face these dangerous pirates (who are actually all noblemen – but don’t let us spoil the story!).

The music in Pirates was considered to be so operatic that, on first seeing the score, the original orchestra threatened to strike unless they were given more

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money. (In response, Sullivan threatened to do without them and accompany the show on the piano. They quickly relented.) The operatic style is particularly noticeable in the writing for Mabel who, as soon as she enters, launches into a coloratura aria that would grace any Donizetti opera. Rousing choruses abound, including a terrific example of Sullivan’s hallmark, the ‘double chorus’, where two contrasting melodies are heard together as the policemen march around attempting to be brave while the girls send them off to “death and glory”. True sentiment is also present, and Sullivan wrote nothing more beautiful than the love duet for Mabel and Frederic in act two. Interestingly, the finale of the opera is an extended one and contains much original music, unlike the finale of their previous work, H.M.S. Pinafore, which simply reprises music heard earlier in the piece.

Last season we tackled Princess Ida, one of the least well known works of the partnership, and you would think that after that experience, Pirates would he a dawdle. Don’t kid yourself! Everyone remembers some wonderful production of Pirates from the past. It may be their old school show when they played one of the policemen, or the superb Broadway-style production and film by Joseph Papp - perhaps the old D’Oyly Carte company with Martyn Green or John Reed as the Major-General. To even attempt to compete with such memories is a daunting task and all we can say is that the company have sweated blood, and shed quite a few pounds, over the past few months, in an attempt to bring our version of the show to this wonderful theatre. We’ve enjoyed ourselves! Now it only remains for us to await your verdict.

Enjoy the show!

Alan Borthwick and David Lyle(Directors)

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405647 EDINBURGH AD 88X130MM_2.indd 1 16/12/2013 10:53

Major-General Stanley Ian LawsonThe Pirate King Scott ThomsonSamuel (his Lieutenant) Gordon ChristieFrederic (the Pirate Apprentice) Michael McFarlaneSergeant of Police Andrew CrawfordMabel

(General Stanley’s Daughters)

Gillian RobertsonEdith Annabel HamidKate Sarah Kim*Isabel Rachel AllanRuth (a Pirate Maid of all Work) Susanne Horsburgh

act I: A rocky seashore on the coast of Cornwallact II: A ruined chapel on the Stanley estate

(There will be one interval after Act I.)

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Judith AndersonKatharine Barbour

Ashley BrownAnne BunyanDawn Cheung

Maggie CormackAntonia CrasterWendy Crawford

Peggy Gibson

Alicia GlasgowDorothy HardingErika IshimaruCaroline Kerr*Rae Lamond

Norma MacdonaldHaley-Ann Mathieson

Lorraine McBain

Emma McFarlaneJudith NeesonAna Perez Poza

Amy ReidSusan ReidSusan RossGillian Tait

Hannah TitlestadKate Whitlock

Gary ArmstrongDavid Bunyan

Hugh CraigAdam Cuerden

Mike HeadTom Inglis

Andrew LaingBob Martin

David McBainRob McGheeBen Morse

Tom PickeringDouglas Reid

Paul ShephardHans Siy-Yap

Keith Starsmeare*John Stewart

Neil TaylorGeorge Todd

Zorbey TurkalpRitchie TurnbullFarlane Whitty

*denotes understudy

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Chorus

OrchestraDramatis PersonaeViolin

Alison Galbraith (Leader)

Gill Akhtar

Fiona Coutts

Helen Curtis

Lawrence Dunn

Jonathan Law

Fiona Morison

Kim Sladden

ViolaHilary Turbayne

Susan Donlevy

’CelloGeorge Reid

Natalie Poyser

Double BassFiona Donaldson

FluteDavid MorrowDavid Leslie

OboeMorven Bell

ClarinetCalum Robertson

Ruaridh Bakke

BassoonAlison Bardgett

HornDavid RimerHelen Scott

CornetGraeme WilliamsonAndrew Williamson

TromboneNeil Short

Daniel Richards

PercussionJake Perry

Technical StaffProduction Manager Gordon T. Blackburn

Stage Manager G. Murray Bald

Dep. Stage Manager Alan Thomson

Technical Crew John Allan

Lighting Designer Mike Pendlowski

Set supplied by Paul Lazell Scenery

Wardrobe Jane BorthwickWendy Crawford

Costumes Utopia Costumes

Properties Mary ScottDenise BoultonMickey York

Publicity Artwork Fiona Main

Photographer Ross Main

Programme Susanne HorsburghFiona Main

Marketing and Andrew CrawfordPublicity Susanne Horsburgh

Erika Ishimaru

Ticket Sales Alan Borthwick

Theatre Liaison Andrew Crawford

Front of House Stewart CoghillJon Best

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Gordon is a relatively recent convert to the joys of amateur dramatics, with his first foray as an adult being in the Highland fling chorus of Princess Ida last year. It’s been a long time since Oliver! at eight years old...Gordon has had a busy year. He dealt with matters constabulary as the Sergeant of Police in Cat-Like Tread’s Edinburgh Fringe production of The Pirates of Penzance, and matters medical (among others!) in Prophecy, the tale of the ill-fated Seer of Brahan. He now turns his attention to matters piratical, switching sides to take his first principal role with EDGAS and become the Pirate King’s Lieutenant, who is enthusiastic but perhaps not so competent. Gordon is a software designer by trade and in his spare time (when not singing) he works on an iPhone app called EdinBus.

Having been told at the age of six that she couldn’t have an acting part in the school play because she was the only person in the choir who knew all the words, it was perhaps inevitable that Rachel’s stage career would tend towards musicals and opera. Her first stage appearance was aged 10, in Benjamin Britten’s Noye’s Fludde, in which she played half of an elephant. She’s still not sure if she was the front or back half. Rachel has been an enthusiastic member of EDGAS since 2006, playing the spectacularly tactless Peep-Bo in The Mikado and the nice, but slightly dim, Fleta in Iolanthe. Cast this year as the equally not too bright Isabel she is wondering if the directors are trying to tell her something?In real life Rachel works as a commercial property solicitor with Burness Paull LLP, a job which she thoroughly enjoys but which is somewhat lacking in piratical shenanigans!

Andrew has been with the Society for over 20 years and has performed the roles of Arac in Princess Ida, Mars in Orpheus in the Underworld, Antonio in The Gondoliers, Boatswain in HMS Pinafore, Captain Corcoran in Utopia Limited, 2nd Yeoman in The Yeomen of the Guard and is delighted to be playing the Sergeant of Police this year. He first appeared on the King’s Theatre stage at the age of 12 in the Edinburgh Gang Show, which also saw him tread the boards at the world famous London Palladium, and has performed in the King’s Theatre at least once every year since. Andrew is a Past President of the Society and is now its Business Manager. When time allows, he is a keen golfer, tuba player, train enthusiast & rugby supporter. Andrew is married to Wendy and they have two young children, both of whom are very keen on G&S!

A seasoned G&Ser, Edith is Annabel’s first principal role with EDGAS, having joined the chorus for Princess Ida in 2014. Along with Scotland-wide opera and oratorio engagements, previous G&S roles include the Fairy Queen, Lady Blanche, Little Buttercup, Inez, and Dame Carruthers for University of St Andrews G&S Society and Oxbridge Opera. After a lifetime of playing lovelorn altos, Annabel is pleased finally to be playing a maiden closer to her own age of five-and-twenty!

Along with performing and enjoying newly-wedded bliss, Annabel works in case management at the Court of Session, where she dreams of someday staging a full performance of Trial by Jury in a real-life court room. Isabel

Rachel Allan

Sergeant of Police

AndreW CraWford

Samuel

Gordon Christie

Edith

Annabel Hamid

Sarah was introduced to the music of Gilbert and Sullivan in high school when she first took to the stage as one of Major General Stanley’s daughters. Since then Pirates has held a special place in her heart, and she is delighted to be climbing over rocky mountains once more in this, her fifth EDGAS production. Originally from Northern Ireland, Sarah moved to Edinburgh to study for a degree in Japanese, and has been here ever since. When not on stage, she can usually be found singing with the St. Andrew Camerata under the direction of Vincent Wallace, solving people’s knitting problems at McAree Brothers, teaching Zumba with Fitness Soul, or directing Gilbert and Sullivan Fringe productions with Cat-Like Tread.

You might be forgiven for having a bit of a déjà vue moment tonight if you came to see our Pirates of Penzance in 2007. Back then, Ruth was the first part Susanne played for EDGAS. Eight years later, she’s still about 10 years too young and far too good looking for Gilbert’s 47-year-old piratical maid-of-all-work, though her face is a little more lined and her hair is gradually getting grey.

Having recently played the very flirtatious girly parts of Melissa in Princess Ida and Juliette in The Count of Luxembourg (with Opera Camerata) she has nevertheless come to realise that she probably is Ruth, when she got cast in the same part twice within a year and had a great time performing Pirates in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with new company Cat-Like Tread – as actually the oldest female in the cast. But which single lass wouldn’t enjoy hanging out with a band of braw buccaneers!

Ruth

Susanne Horsburgh

Kate

Sarah Kim

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Ian has been singing G&S for nearly 50 years. Since his debut as the Judge in a school production of Trial by Jury, he has notched up 28 roles in G&S operas, and another half dozen in works by G without S or vice versa. Even so, this is only Ian’s second Major-General. The first was in a single 24-hour performance for Waverley Care in the Assembly Rooms, wearing his own Edwardian stripy bathing costume (“like an underfed wasp” – the Scotsman).

Ian retired last year after a working lifetime in accountancy. Like the Major-General, he now devotes his days to getting his daughters settled – swapping houses with one and giv-ing the other in marriage, all in the space of 2 months. Like the MG, he is orphan in Cornwall looking after a holiday let and occasionally indulging in extreme sand-castling.

If 2013 and 2014 were Gillian’s Princess Years, (having sung Princess Pamina in The Magic Flute and the title role in Princess Ida), then 2015 is definitely her year of soprano diva-ness! Not only has the role of Mabel helped Gillian dust off her top range, not to mention the daily diaphragm workouts, but it has also allowed her to become the Soprano that she has always wanted to be – an over the top diva!

Gillian has sung with many societies and choirs throughout Scotland, and is already engaged to sing her first Mozart ‘Exultate Jubilate’ in the summer! In her real life, Gillian keeps herself busy by teaching singing and working for Standard Life and isn’t a diva at all (honest!).

Pirates marks Michael’s debut with EDGAS, although he is no stranger to Gilbert & Sullivan having performed with companies in Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy. He has been fortunate to play most of the tenor roles and his favourites include Marco in The Gondoliers, Fairfax in The Yeomen of the Guard and of course Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance. His love of singing extends to musical theatre and he has played a variety of roles for companies in Fife, including Anatoly and Molokov in Chess and the Beast in Beauty and the Beast. Last month he was delighted to play the part of Jud Fry in Oklahoma which allowed him to release his inner dark side! He is looking forward to performing in the King’s, another first for him. Away from the stage he enjoys cooking, walking and the odd glass of wine.

Major-General Stanley

Ian LaWson

Mabel

Gillian Robertson

Frederic

Michael McFarlane

Scott started treading the boards at an early age, taking the title role in a primary one performance of The Ugly Duckling that was well received by his Mum. Since then, he has been involved in various Gilbert and Sullivan productions for over twenty years. Starting back stage he moved on to playing in the Orchestra (Second Violin, Pirates of Penzance, 1995), Chorus (Pirates of Penzance, 1999 and 2014) graduating to principal roles (Major-General Stanley, Pirates of Penzance, 2007). Scott likes Pirates. He is delighted to be taking on the role of the Pirate King this year. When not plundering and pillaging he spends his time working in IT for Sky and playing football with his two mini pirate sons. Pirate King

Scott Thomson

We are an island nation, and so we depend on the sea, and therefore we owe a debt to our seafarers. Seafarers UK, formerly known as King George’s Fund for Sailors, is a national charity that provides funding to support seafarers and their families in times of need. We do this by giving grants worth a total of £2.5m each

year to around 80 specialist maritime charities across the UK.All money raised by the charity in Scotland

does get spent in Scotland.

Our 2015 Charity of the Year

Our piratical 2015 Company

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A lan Borthwick has sung leading tenor roles in operas ranging from Poulenc to Puccini as guest

artiste for companies throughout Scotland. He is the only singer ever to have performed all the tenor roles in Sullivan operas - including those written without Gilbert - and he has recorded many of these roles for leading record companies.

For some years now Alan has been in demand as a professional director and has directed shows annually in the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh. Last summer he was invited to collaborate with the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Harrogate to celebrate the life of W.S.Gilbert. He also performed the young, romantic tenor role of Richard Dauntless in an over-

60s performance of, Ruddigore – nearly 50 years after he had first performed the role for the Edinburgh University Savoy Group. Last autumn he directed a new musical, Prophecy, which premiered in the St Bride’s Centre to critical acclaim. He is presently looking forward to taking this production of Pirates to Harrogate in August, along with another of W. S. Gilbert’s musical plays and a performance of Dr Daly in The Sorcerer. This autumn sees him directing South Pacific in the Church Hill Theatre.

Alan holds a first-class honours degree in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy and is an Associate Lecturer for the Open University where he lectures in the subject to degree level. He has recorded a series of mathematical videos with the BBC.

D avid Lyle was born and educated in Edinburgh and is prominent in the musical life of the city,

being well known as a conductor, accompanist, arranger and orchestral timpanist. His services are constantly in demand and this year will be his 38th as Musical Director of EDGAS. He has led them in concerts in and outwith Scotland, including gala evenings with The Band of H.M. Royal Marines in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall and invitation concerts at the Buxton, Stranraer and Dunkeld festivals. His specialist field is the music of Sullivan and he has now conducted commercial recordings of all the composer’s non-Gilbert works, including the first ever of Sullivan’s only grand opera, Ivanhoe. His performance, in Edinburgh, of Sullivan’s cantata, The Golden Legend, won first prize in the Choral Music for the Millennium Competition, organized by the British Music Association. He recently conducted a concert including Sullivan’s Symphony in E (the “Irish”) and a rare performance of his comic opera, The Zoo, in Edinburgh’s Greyfriars Kirk. In August, he will be appearing as one of the principal conductors at the Harrogate International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival.

Alan BorthWick

Artistic Director

David Lyle

Musical Director

The Concert PartyAs you can see tonight, we simply love singing Gilbert and Sullivan! Not just

on the King’s Theatre stage but throughout Edinburgh and the Lothians. In fact, we’ll go anywhere within a reasonable distance of Edinburgh. The EDGAS Concert Party, which can consist of anything from a small group of soloists right up to a full chorus, is available to sing at all sorts of functions for churches, community groups, retirement homes and even private parties. How about inviting us to perform at your next fund-raising event?

Your audience will be treated to an enjoyable romp through Gilbert and Sullivan’s Savoy Operas featuring many favourite songs as well as some lesser-known gems, all presented by our entertaining compères and accompanied by our Musical Director, David Lyle. We can even bring our own piano.

For booking enquiries and further information please contact: David Lyle Tel.: 07766 057 112 Email: musical.director@edgas.org

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AcknoWledgementsThe Society would like to offer its sincere thanks to the Kirk Sessions of

Murrayfield Parish Church and Pilrig St. Paul’s Church of Scotland, Bill Hume, Chris Allan, Neil Taylor, Pat McKerrow, Edinburgh People’s Theatre and to the many others who have helped in some way to make this production possible. Finally, we are also very grateful to Duncan Hendry, his management team and the staff of the King’s Theatre who do so much to make a visit to their theatre so enjoyable for both audience and performers alike.

EDGAS DirectorsPresident Michael Head Company Secretary Ritchie Turnbull

Vice President David McBain Membership Secretary Maggie Cormack

Treasurer Hugh Craig Director Kath Barbour

Business Manager Andrew Crawford

EDGAS is affiliated to the National Operatic and Dramatic Association, which aims:• to give a shared voice to amateur theatre;• to help societies and individuals achieve the highest standards of

best practice and performance;• to provide leadership and advice to enable amateur theatre to

tackle the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

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Join us!We’d love to have you on board for our next shows!

W e are always keen to welcome new members to the Society, and if you are interested in joining us, please contact our secretary,

Maggie Cormack: secretary@edgas.org – phone: 07811 505 953

Find out more at our Open Evening Tuesday 7 April , 7.30pm at Murrayfield Parish Church

Our show directors will introduce & You will get the chance to sing some of the music in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere together with everyone else at the event.

Principal Auditions

for &

Sunday 19 April , St Andrew’s and St George’s West, George Street

Find out more onlineO ur website www.edgas.org has lots of information about past shows and

current projects. If you would like to take part in one of our shows, you’ll find dates and all you need to prepare in plenty of time for principal auditions. New chorus members can join at any time during the beginning of the rehearsal process.

And finally, keep in touch with our latest news by finding and liking us on Facebook www.facebook.com/EdinburghGilbertSullivan

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He’s got ‘em on the listand they’ll none of ‘em be missed