A NICE DILEMMA

Or - What do you do when, two months before a production of Tarantara, you lose both Gilbert and D'Oyly Carte?

By Robin Aldworth, Vice Chairman, Hatton Operatic Society

All operatic societies have their problems and Hatton OS is no different but in the 55 years we have been putting on shows in the Feltham area of West London, nobody can remember a rehearsal period quite like our recent attempt to produce lan Taylor's 'Tarantara! Tarantara!' for February 2000.

Early in December 1999 we had been rehearsing for six months when, within a week of each other, our Gilbert and D'Oyly Carte had to drop out because their work was about to take them out of our area. One was off to the Isle of Wight and the other to the Cayman Islands! After two weeks of frantic telephoning it became clear that due to the short notice and the panto' season, we were not going to find anyone to take over these major roles.

The original Bristol Old Vic production in 1975 involved eight actors playing all the characters that appear in the story of the collaboration between Gilbert and Sullivan. The French's libretto runs to 65 pages of dialogue and fairly brief excerpts from ten of the G & S operas. To keep our chorus members better employed we had already taken advantage of the suggestion in the foreword of the libretto of involving a 'bigger chorus'. As with any story spanning a period of 75 years, there are many changes of location plus the settings for the various operas. From the start, our Director Simon Smithers hit on the idea of staging the whole show in front of three back-projection screens onto which could be thrown slides of contemporary photographs, engravings, posters and Gilbert's 'Bab' drawings. By the time we got to December, most of the picture research was completed - but we didn't have a full cast!

One of our many telephone calls had been to Rod Parsons of the Knaphill & St. John's Opera Group. During the conversation he mentioned that they had a script, 'An Evening with Gilbert and Sullivan' with musical excerpts linked by readings from the correspondence of the librettist and composer. This script was based on an original entertainment, devised and written by John D Roake and presented in 1981, and again in 1989, by Walton & Weybridge Amateur Operatic Society. Rod kindly sent me a copy of his script and I 'volunteered' to adapt it and write the necessary additional material. So we had the basis of a solution to our problem. This was the first time we have had to abandon a production at such a late stage and we were pleasantly surprised by the sympathetic response of French's to our reluctant decision.

Our 'new' version needed to use most of the items we had already prepared plus pieces from 'Thespis' and 'Princess Ida' that were not included either in Tarantara or Rod's script. To give our existing principals a part of the action, the roles of D'Oyly Carte, Queen Victoria, Gladstone, Newspaper Reporters and some extracts of Gilbert's dialogue were introduced. In this way we covered the story of their tempestuous relationship with twelve out of the fourteen operas in the G & S canon. Having cut the dialogue down to around 35 minutes we found that, even with the music we had prepared and the additional items, the running time was still under the two hour show we wanted. This was solved by including a practically full length version of 'Trial by Jury'; quite a challenge for the chorus and principals with a whole new show to learn! By the last rehearsal before the Christmas and Millennium break, the show was re-cast and the new script, reverting to John Roake's original title 'The Gilbert and Sullivan Story', was printed and issued with a new list of musical items. Simon Smithers worked on re-plotting his production over the holiday and we started rehearsals on Wednesday 5th January with the first night looming on Tuesday 15th February.

As 'Tarantara' and our new script cover the same ground, most of the pictures could be used but characters like Grossmith, Robertson, Burnand, Sir Alexander Cockburn, Mary Ronalds etc. etc. had disappeared and their hard researched 'mug shots' were binned. The hunt was on for settings for 'Thespis' and 'Ida'. Finally, nearly 200 35mm slides were produced to provide an entertaining and informative backing to the production. It says a great deal for the hard work and indefatigable spirit of the entire HOS membership that we managed to turn a near disaster into a production that was greatly enjoyed by everyone who came to see it.

And now it is all over! Well, not necessarily. It has occurred to us that we have created a script that could be used by many other societies. The musical excerpts could be changed to suit the soloists and chorus available. The costume plot can be as simple or extravagant as finances allow but some of the dialogue links between the operas are so short that it is logistically impossible to dress completely each of the twelve operas included in the show. In our production, 'Trial by Jury' was fully dressed with a second 'Gondoliers' set for the ladies and hero shirts, boleros, sashes and hats for the men. By mixing and matching and by using extra props, for example fans for the 'Mikado' sequence and Peers' robes and fairies' wings for 'Iolanthe', each show was given a slightly different and appropriate appearance, further enhanced by the projected scenery for each opera. The 17 characters with dialogue and 28 solos and ensembles were performed by five men and four ladies, with a total company of nine men and sixteen ladies. This of course, is capable of infinite variation and ingenuity depending on the talent available. In our production the five available jurymen in Trial carried on seven cardboard cut-outs to make up the numbers!

If any group is interested, HOS would be prepared to supply one copy of the script at a nominal cost, for you to run off as many copies as you require and there are no royalties to pay! If you are also interested in using the slides the complete set, in glass mounts, is available for hire. There is also an illustrated slide cue list, again available at cost, to allow your Director to plan the production. We used three screens but the slide set should be capable of adaptation to two or even a single screen.

For further information please contact Rachel Keegan