Swindon Gilbert and Sullivan Society - news

50th Anniversary Celebration Dinner

5/19/2018

As part of our half-century celebration we'd like to invite current and former members of the society to our 50th Anniversary Celebration dinner. It will take place on the evening of Friday 8th June, at the Wiltshire Hotel and Spa, Wootton Bassett. If you are a current member or a former member who was part of the society over the last 50-years you are more than welcome to attend. The evening will consist of a meal, and a celebration of the society and it's achievements.

To attend please get in touch using the Contact Us section of this website, and our Secretary, Christine Hill, will be in touch with more details and a menu.

We hope that you can join us.

The Pirates of Penzance & The Prospect Hospice

1/20/2018

Join us in April 2018 for the Swindon Gilbert and Sullivan Societies 50th anniversary production - THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE.

Help us celebrate in 2018 by joining us on our opening night, Tuesday 17th April which will be in aid of The Prospect Hospice, it would be really great to be able to fill The Art's Centre on this occasion. Tickets can be purchased from the Wyvern Theatre and Arts Centre box office or website.

Our anniversary production cast are:

Matthew McMurray as Frederick
Natalie Chequer as Mabel
Robert Felstead as The Pirate King
Stephanie Tye as Ruth
David Stephenson as Major General Stanley
Bill Sheppard as Sergeant of Police
Jo Courage as Edith
Claudia Philps as Kate
Julia Fryer as Isobel
and
Stuart Benjamin as Samuel

Yeomen of the Guard: Production Week

4/4/2017

It's production week!

We open tonight, Tuesday 4th April and run until Saturday with our sparkling version of The Yeomen of the Guard. If you haven't already, get yourself along to The Arts Centre, Old Town, Swindon, and buy a ticket or two to see us.

We hope you have as much enjoyment watching Yeomen as we did in putting it all together.

Toi, toi, toi!

Yeomen in rehearsal

3/17/2017

Rehearsals are progressing for our next production, The Yeomen of the Guard, which we'll be performing at the beginning of April. for more information on dates and times and tickets click HERE.

All the photos here were taken by Matthew Mcurray, who plays the role of Colonel Fairfax, and are used with his permission.

RUDDIGORE nominated in NODA South West awards

1/20/2017

We're very proud to announce that our 2016 production of Ruddigore has been nominated for the Allan Brooking Cup for Best Gilbert and Sullivan show in the NODA South West awards! This is a great testament to all the performers, musicians, technical staff and stage crew, make up team, production team, committee, etc, etc, etc, up to and including you, our audience, for making the show so memorable.

The winners will be announced at the Annual Awards Dinner on Saturday 4th March 2017 at the City Centre Marriott, Bristol. So fingers crossed.

YEOMEN cast update

11/14/2016

We're pleased to announce returning society member Dan Donachy as Leonard Meryll. We last saw Dan on stage with the society as Alexis Pointdexter in our 2009 production of The Sorcerer. Welcome back Dan!

Full cast is now as follows:

Sir Richard Cholmondley (Lieutenant of the Tower): Lance Trodd
Sergeant Meryll (of the Yeomen of the Guard): David Stephenson
Colonel Fairfax (under sentence of death): Matthew McMurray
Jack Point (a strolling Jester): Rob Felstead
Wilfred Shadbolt (Head Jailor and Assistant Tormentor):Stuart Benjamin
Leonard Meryll (Sergeant Meryll’s son): Dan Donachy
1st Yeoman: John Williams
2nd Yeoman: Alan Fryer
Elsie Maynard (a Strolling Singer): Natalie Chequer
Phoebe Meryll (Sergeant Meryll’s Daughter): Stephanie Walsh
Dame Carruthers (Housekeeper to the Tower): Jo Courage
Kate (Dame Carruthers Niece): Anna Hull

October 28th, 2016

10/28/2016

Deacon Laurence Moss

St. Joseph’s Church, Wroughton.

Passed away peacefully at the Great Western Hospital
on 22nd October 2016 Aged 79 years. Very loving
husband to Anne, father, brother and grandfather.
Deacon Laurence will be received into St. Joseph’s Church
on Thursday 3rd November at 4pm.
The funeral mass will take place on
Friday 4th November at 10.00am
Followed by interment at Wroughton Parish Churchyard.
Family flowers or donations If desired for Prospect Hospice
c/o Hillier Funeral Service, 170 Victoria Road, Swindon SN1 3DF
or online:- www.hillierfuneralservice.co.uk/donations
Enquiries: Tel 01793 522797

YEOMEN cast announced!

10/10/2016

We are very pleased to announce our cast for The Yeomen of the Guard, which will take place at The Arts Centre, Old Town, Swindon, between 4th - 8th April 2017.

The audition panel would like to thank all those who auditioned for their enthusiasm, efforts and patience. The decisions as usual have been much debated and some have been very difficult to resolve. However we now have a strong cast with one character still to be filled, which hopefully will be decided on very soon. The cast list is as shown below:-

Sir Richard Cholmondley (Lieutenant of the Tower): Lance Trodd
Sergeant Meryll (of the Yeomen of the Guard): David Stephenson
Colonel Fairfax (under sentence of death): Matthew McMurray
Jack Point (a strolling Jester): Rob Felstead
Wilfred Shadbolt (Head Jailor and Assistant Tormentor):Stuart Benjamin
1st Yeoman: John Williams
2nd Yeoman: Alan Fryer

Elsie Maynard (a Strolling Singer): Natalie Chequer
Phoebe Meryll (Sergeant Meryll’s Daughter): Stephanie Walsh
Dame Carruthers (Housekeeper to the Tower): Jo Courage
Kate (Dame Carruthers Niece): Anna Hull

Leonard Meryll (Sergeant Meryll’s son: TBA

Swindon Gilbert & Sullivan Society in Concert - Sat 8th October, 7:30pm

9/26/2016

NEW SEASON 2017: The Yeomen of the Guard

8/23/2016

We hope you've had a marvellous summer!

We're gearing up for our 2017 season, and our main show this year is The Yeomen of the Guard. Yeomen is a very popular G&S show, and the nearest the pairing got to grand opera. Set in Tudor times it features all kinds of skullduggery and schemes at The Tower of London, quite dark in tone for G&S and is all the more interesting for Gilbert drawing on Shakespearian type themes.

We'd very much like to hear from you if you want to audition for a role in the show, details of the characters and audition pieces are attached (below). Audtions themselves take place on Sunday 9th October, at Wroughton Workingmen's Club (times to be confirmed). Please contact us if you're interested. We'd also love to hear from you if you'd like to join the chorus.

MORE DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:

Tuesday 30th August - Swindon Gibert & Sullivan Society AGM, 7:30, Wroughton.
Saturday 8th October - Swindon G&S Concert at St Andrew's Church, Chippenham.

Concert rehearsals on Tuesday 6th, 13th & 20th September organised by John Williams supported by Richard Abrams.

Rehearsals for Yeoman commence on 27th September when producer Derek Hill returns from Holiday.