GASLIGHT
NEWSLETTER OF THE CAPE TOWN GILBERT AND SULLIVAN SOCIETY
VOLUME 19, ISSUE 1 – JANUARY 2012
Hello everyone
Here’s hoping 2012 will be a good year for you and for our Society. The holidays are well behind us and it’s back to the oh-so-serious business of work and responsibilities, so it’s good to be able to look forward to the prospect of a lot of fun as we get stuck into YEOMEN. Speaking of which …
YEOMEN OF THE GUARD
The Cast has been settled and after a “Getting to know you” English tea party (at the invitation of the Queen, no less!) on 5th February, rehearsals get under way the next day! The Production team includes Teddy Davies as Director, Alastair Cockburn as Musical Director, choreography by Linda Gawronsky, and Bronwyn Scott as Stage Manager. Principal roles have been allocated as follows:
Sir Richard Cholmondeley Wyno Symes
Sgt. Meryll Stephan Le Roux
Jack Point Graham Boxall
Wilfred Shadbolt David Bolton
Col. Fairfax Ferdi Oosthuizen
Leonard Meryll Roderick Jaipal
Elsie Maynard Liesl Hartje
Phoebe Meryll Lara Milne
Dame Carruthers. Adri Louw
Kate Sian Atterbury
YEOMEN : Isak Viljoen, Shaun Holley, Anthony Storr-Lister, Derek Foster, Ken Leverton, Rehan Cloete, Steve
Broekman, Graham Ellis, Richard Whittaker, Gary Collins, Charles Meltzer, Waldo Buckle, Gerald Paris, Fanie Fourie.
CHORUS OF LONDONERS: Anke Ermel, Victoria Harris, Lorna Hansen, Cindy Nixon, Paige Bolton, Veronica
Miller, Ami-Rose Barber, Mariza Dique, Linda Thompson, Jonel Oosthuizen, Helena Comitis, Kirsty du Plessis, Linda Gawronsky, Marjorie Gibson, Andrea Benkenstein, Guilma Stander, Glenda Carmichael, Roche Buckle, Nicola Horak, Audrey Robinson, Philippa van Ryneveld, Justin de Vries, Douglas Middlebrook, Adrian Kettle,Dane Marais, John Lambrou, James Maritz, Alex Middlebrook, Darryl Spijkers, Adam Cousins, Christopher King, Zayne Cassiem, Ted Faulkner.
Congratulations to one and all, and especially to those who have been cast in a G&S production for
the first time.
CATA AWARDS
The nominations for the Cape Amateur Theatre Awards have been made, with a good sprinkling of candidates from FIDDLER. Our G&S nominees are:
ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION – Roxy Levy
CAMEO PERFORMANCE – Darren Telford
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A PLAY OR MUSICAL – Phoebe Snayer, Ami-Rose Barber, Claire Simonis, Kate Olmesdahl
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A PLAY OR MUSICAL – John Carne, Daniel Fisher
BEST ACTRESS IN A PLAY OR MUSICAL – Julie Dickson, Michelle Galloway
BEST ACTOR IN A PLAY OR MUSICAL – David Bolton, Shaun Browne
BEST PLAY/ MUSICAL/ DIRECTOR – Teddy Davies
Warm congratulations to you all, and whether you win or not, we’re proud of you. Congratulations too to a number of our G&S members who have been nominated for work they have done for other Societies. We are delighted for you and wish you well at the awards ceremony, which is to be held on Monday 12 March at 19.00 at the Masque Theatre.
AGM
It’s that time of year again when we need to elect/re-elect members to the Executive Committee. The date is
to be Tuesday 13 March, and the venue is the Pinelands Club in Lonsdale Way, off Forest Drive in Pinelands
(turn off near the High School). This will be a good time to pay subscriptions, as only paid-up members are
eligible to vote.
A formal notice of meeting will be distributed nearer the time. The meeting includes the presentation of
Society awards. Please make an effort to be present. (There is a cash bar if an extra incentive is required!)
OPSKOP!
Well done to Pinelands Players (including many known to us in G&S) for a rollicking performance of HONK on
16 December. Those of our number who attended the pre-show social were well looked after – eventually. A
little glitch in the arrangements nearly meant we all went hungry, but Guilma and her team, through a
combination of no-nonsense aggro (!) and supreme creativity, persuaded the defaulting suppliers to make
good. And so, eventually, a good time was had by all.
Teardown report back
On the stifling evening of Tuesday 17 January, our Treasurer Lance Kotze presented the Production accounts
for FIDDLER. Apart from a gratifying surplus, we also heard that a total of some 20 000 people had seen
FIDDLER – a record for any G&S show. And at the final matinee, well over 1200 people were present in the
Opera House – again a record for any single G&S performance. Once more, well done and thank you to all
concerned!
Frederic’s birthday. All G&S diehards know what this is about, but there are a number of newcomers who have joined us for Annie, Fiddler and now Yeomen, who may not know what’s going on. A word of explanation is therefore in order:
The “Pirates of Penzance” opens with a band of pirates celebrating the coming of age of Frederic, who has now completed his apprenticeship and becomes a fullyfledged member of the pirate crew. However, Frederic, a ‘slave of duty’, puts a damper on proceedings by announcing that now that he is out of his indentures, he must, if he is to do the right thing, actively seek to exterminate the pirates, especially since he was
not actually intended to be a pirate in the first place. His father wanted him to be apprenticed to a pilot, but his nursemaid, being hard of hearing, mistook her instructions and instead apprenticed him to a pirate until his 21st birthday. Now that Frederic is 21, he plans to leave the pirates and pursue some more honourable occupation. In his quest to exterminate the pirates, he enlists the help of a bunch of policemen and Major-General Stanley (and his bevy of beautiful daughters).
While waiting for the policemen’s arrival, the Pirate King and Frederic’s former nursemaid (she of the hearing deficiency) inform Frederic that he has been freed from his indentures in error, and that he is still legally and morally bound to the pirates. For though it is true that Frederic has lived 21 years, the terms of his apprenticeship are that he be indentured until his 21st birthday. And the problem is that Frederic was born in leap year on the 29th February, and therefore, counting by birthdays, Frederic is only five and a little bit over. Frederic’s sense of duty forces him to accept this paradoxical situation and so he finds himself back in the pirate fold. However, he has by this stage also set in motion the forces of law and order against the pirates, and it takes a typical Gilbertian contrivance to sort out the confusion and bring things to a happy ending.
Marking Frederic’s birthday is one of the somewhat quirky things that Gilbert and Sullivan Societies the world over tend to do. And why should we be any different? So please note that you are invited to celebrate Frederic’s birthday on Wednesday, 29th February, at the home of Lorna Hansen, 15 Burnside Road, Tamboerskloof, from 19.30. The evening will include a birthday cake (of course), singing some excerpts from Pirates, and of course a rousing rendition of the Society’s anthem. A light supper will be provided, but bring your own drinks. If you want supper, it is essential that you RSVP to Lorna by Friday 17 February.
FROM SISTER SOCIETIES
From 10-18 February, MADS presents The Breakfast Club, at the Masque. Directed by Raymond Rudolph.
23-25 February, Pinelands Players are taking HONK! to the Masque.
9-17 March, also at the Masque, Claremont Dramatic Society presents Marvin’s Room. Directed by Brenda Gray.
All Masque bookings: 021 788 1898
And finally – rumour has it that one Ferdi Oosthuizen sang on stage with Josh Grobin during the latter’s concert in Cape Town recently – and that rumour has definitely not been ‘prodigiously exaggerated’ either. What say you, Col. Fairfax? Can you top that?
That’s it for now. Till next time, may life be indeed a boon.
Ken
EXCO:
Steve Broekmann – chair Niel Roux – Hon. Secretary
Lance Kotze – Hon. Treasurer Ken Leverton – Vice chair, Gaslight
Audrey Robinson – Social Guilma Stander – Membership and Social
David Bolton – Marketing Lynn Moss – Productions
Ian Kirkwood – Membership
Website: www.gilbertandsullivan.co.za
