Well, hardly ever... (part two)

With the Buxton Gilbert and Sullivan Festival freshly in my mind I have looked my to my own experiences of performing in the choruses of these wonderful operettas. I have also reflected on why these productions are still so popular 100 years after W.S. Gilbert died. The Gilbert and Sullivan operettas are quintessentially  English, although they are performed around the world. The gentle parodying of national institutions and self deprecation seen in the Gilbert and Sullivan works forms the basis of English humour that can still be seen almost in the modern age with Dad's Army and Fawlty Towers. Yet beneath the often silly story lines of the operettas are some very serious messages about the nature of Victorian society, most commonly being the iniquities of the rigid class system (best seen in HMS Pinafore).

Above all these shows are still great fun. I fondly recall my instantly forgettable performances in Pirates of Penzance in the Bangor university production of 1986. I still have the programme signed by all the members of the cast and this rather torn newspaper cutting from the time.