G&S is Alive and Kicking

This year sees the 50th anniversary of the West Yorkshire Savoyards whose aim is to keep the names of Gilbert and Sullivan alive. Phil Penfold met the enterprising group

W.S. Gilbert first met Arthur Sullivan in 1870 and from the moment the curtain fell on their first performance of Thespis, on the Boxing Day of 1871 it was clear it was going to be a runaway success.

It was specifically designed as a production for the holiday season, and it was pretty risqué, a burlesque with two of the male characters being played by women.

There are 14 comic operas in all, HMS Pinafore, The Mikado and The Pirates of Penzance among them. Gilbert wrote the libretti, Sullivan composed the music.

Together, they created situations of humour and pathos, swathed in memorable melodies. Gilbert’s preferred humour was what he called “Topsyturveydom” – standing the world on its head, making workers into noblemen, noblemen into pirates.

It’s a great achievement from these oddly-matched men that only three of what have come to be known as “the Savoy Operas” (because the shrewd businessman and impresario Richard D’Oyly Carte made so much money from the early ones that he was able to build The Savoy Theatre with the profits) are rarely produced these days, either because they aren’t great box office draws, or because they are somewhat cumbersome to stage.

The Grand Duke and Utopia Limited are in the first category, Princess Ida in the second.

By the time that World War I broke out, there were well over 200 British G & S groups dedicated to performing Sullivan’s music and Gilbert’s lyrics, and they had given well over 1,000 performances.

That’s quite apart from the professional D’Oyly Carte company, which toured indefatigably from town to town just about every week of the year, and which played to packed houses. That original company was wound up in 1982.

But this musical phenomenon wasn’t just confined to Britain – G&S were performed across the globe, everywhere from New Zealand to Australia and the US.

In 1948 alone, one US magazine did a little research and revealed that there had been 5,000 G&S performances, and that number far exceeded any revivals of Shakespeare’s output.

When the touring company of D’Oyly Carte finally folded, the mantle was taken up by some independent productions, leading professionals, organisations such as Opera North, and scores of amateur groups.

Opera North pull in huge and enthusiastic audiences for all of their G&S productions, and this year will see English National Opera offering their HMS Pinafore at the Coliseum in London for a long Christmas and New Year season.

G&S is alive and well, on so many levels. Admittedly, while some G&S-specific societies may have gone to the wall, there are still dozens in communities large and small across Britain who deliver their regular dose of silliness, gentle satire and charm to their loyal audiences.

One company has – very cleverly – taken it all a step further, and this year The West Yorkshire Savoyards are not only celebrating their half-century, but are also presenting a new production of Iolanthe, with Graham Weston as the director, and Oliver Longstaff in charge of the infectiously tuneful music.

The constantly innovative Savoyards were formed at 10, Central Street, Halifax in 1975 , and for the autumn of every year they always take a Savoy opera “on the road”.

That means the singers, a professional 11-strong orchestra (all on Musician’s Union rates), the sets, the lighting, the costumes, and bags full of inexhaustible enthusiasm.

Graham Woods is a past chairman of the group and the longest serving member.

“Before we’ve even thought about what we’ll be doing this year, we are already planning the next,” says the spritely 82-year-old.

Are the ‘Savs’ todays’ wandering minstrels I ask him? “No,” says Graham, “we are tourists.”

There are generally about five or six venues across Yorkshire, all of them established performance spaces, and the company are also long-time supporters of the annual Buxton G&S festival, and for many years they also took their productions to the States.

This autumn they’ll be back at The Penistone Paramount, Settle’s historic Victoria Hall, Richmond’s unique Georgian Theatre, the Bingley Arts Centre and Scarborough’s YMCA Theatre.

The top price for a ticket is £18, and those who are 16 or under can see a show for £6. The production is Iolanthe, the satire on the powers (or lack of them) of the Houses of Parliament.

West Yorkshire Savs are celebrated for their commitment to presenting the productions without gimmicks.

They adjust to fresh ideas and fashions, but Graham remembers hearing about a Star Trek version of HMS Pinafore, and shudders at the thought.

“I also believe there was a Princess Ida set in a Butlins holiday camp” he says, “but I managed to avoid that. Some concepts do work. Most don’t – but you cannot preserve Gilbert and Sullivan in aspic, if you do, it will die, and that will be the end of it.”

The current Chairman of The Savoyards is Harrogate-based John Carter, 70, who admits – with a smile – that: “some of the theatres that we go to do have their own challenges, but there’s nothing at all that cannot be solved. We, and they, are pretty enterprising folk.

"We start with auditions early every year, and we are always keen to hear from enthusiastic and talented young singers and actors. What they get is not only the opportunity to perform, but to be part of a touring company, an experience.

"Our sets, scenery and costumes are all from a huge stock that we have created and accumulated over the years, and they are stored and maintained in Bradford.

"It’s important to let other societies know about that store, because we are constantly loaning out all sorts of items across the region, and further afield. We were delighted recently give costumes to a young community theatre project in Leeds, it’s always great to see new talents and ideas emerging

“I think that one of the main things for us all is that we become part of a family, and when we get to venues that are, perhaps a little far from home, there’s a great camaraderie, and we stop over somewhere to make a weekend of it – Settle and Scarborough spring to mind.

"On the day itself, the crew get to the theatre at around midday, and they set everything up. The performers will be arriving in the late afternoon, and we do a full ‘walk-through,’ so that we know what the stage area offers, and where the dressing rooms are. Then it’s curtain up, and the show begins.”

What’s the appeal of G&S today?

"Well, it’s full of great tunes and lyrics, for a start,” says John. “It’s fun – and perhaps it isn’t played on the radio or on other streaming sources as much as it should be.

"But to have survived at all is something of a miracle – just think of all the other shows that were once box office triumphs which are now long forgotten, and consigned to history.

"You’d be amazed at how many young people there are who show an interest, and that’s probably because the shows are always re-inventing themselves, which the audiences tell us they love.

"We want to give them the best of nights out, and, judging by the response we get, we seem to be doing it right.

"The great thing is that no-one should get complacent. G&S is indeed a brand, but a brand that needs to stay just ahead of the game. That’s how you survive, and we intend to, for as long as we can!”

www.thewestyorkshiresavoyards.com