No 13 — July 1979 Edited by Michael Walters
CORRESPONDENCE
15 Feb. 1979.
Dear Michael, Over the past weeks we may have been without The Times, oil, food, rubbish collections, water and other essentials ? but at least G&S has continued unabated. John Reed and John Ayldon performed ? among other items ? their duet from Act 1 of UTOPIA in the concert given by Utopia Music Theatre in aid of the Cleveland Scanner Cancer Campaign on November 12th. Peter Murray was the M.D. for a pantomime company at Bellingham forum over Christmas. There were two (G&S) numbers ? "we hate school" (Three little maids) and the Judges' song: with words not written by Gilbert. Abby Hadfield played the principal boy for "two very well-shaped reasons" in Jack and the Beanstalk at the Tameside Theatre, Ashton? under?Lyne. Finally Thomas Lawlor headed a company in a concert liven by the Northern Sinfonia of G&S in January at Middlesborough Town Hall. He carried the show along; I particularly enjoyed his John Wellington Wells. It was a shame no encore was given. Best wishes, DAVID SKELLY.
Walthamstow. March 1979.
Dear Michael, I would like L. John Cannon to know that I disagree with him on his first point concerning flowers. I have never come across the superstition of using real flowers on stage as being unlucky. When I was at the Opera House in Death in Venice, we used real flowers. At one point Peter Pears had a real flower in his buttonhole. I have also been in many other productions where real flowers have been used. If it is such an obvious superstition it must be in very bad taste to present artists with bouquets. … As Iolanthe is a favourite opera among amateur companies one cannot expect beautiful damsels in every production … what I do not like is a production where aged fairies try to seriously play youngsters. Fairies are supposed to be immortal. It would be a more sensible idea to produce with tongue in cheek than have laugh and scoff at a "serious" production where it is anything but "serious". See you, JAMES SKEGGS.
Beaurepaire, Canada, 17 March 1979.
Dear Michael, I see no problems in getting fresh roses (thornless) for a run of a production in Feb. If anyone were to ask me for such a thing it's as simple as this. I phone my local flower wholesaler a few days in advance of the production, tell him details and specify them to be run through his dethorning machine & delivered to the auditorium an hour or so before the show. He does the work, and I get nice fresh roses ? probably flown in from Israel or Columbia that morning. Or I can go direct to a rose?grower in a town named St. Bruno and buy them fresh off the stalk. Price? Fairly good, if you tell them it's for a worthy cause ? here ? excess money from the shows goes to hospitals. Flowers, though, are extremely cheap at wholesale end. It's the retailers who mark up the prices…. Sincerely, ADRIAN WILLISON [Sounds so easy, doesn't it? What a pity things don't work like that in England. Ed.]
LETTERS FROM UP NORTH
[David Skelly who has been flitting about the north of England with his job as librarian, has sent a number of letters commenting on DOC performances that he has seen, and I quote some of these below. Ed.] ...Vivian Tierney is playing Josephine. I like her, but I do wish her elocution teacher had taken her in hand and taught her how to pronounce Ds and Ts properly She slurs over them. Also, she is inclined to pronounce "little" as if it were written "littul" and to pronounce the T in often. Gareth Jones is staying in the Company, but plays Bo'sun and other John Ellison parts. … I think Peter Lyon is superb singer and actor. He puts expression into both. I thought both Iolanthes on Wednesday (7 March) were extremely good. On Thursday last Alison West played Rose Maybud (15 March). She was excellent, especially when one considers that she rehearsed the part from scratch in two weeks flat. Suzanne O'Keefe was a charming Yum?Yum on Friday, with Lorraine Daniels as Pitti?Sing. Gareth Jones sang and played Giuseppe well on Wednesday. Patricia Rea played Casilda last night. It is a shame that so much dialogue gets cut, and that one gets the impression they are trying to get the thing finished as quickly as possible. Miss Denham played the Duchess. Quite good she was....." 14th March.
[David has sent a number of other documents, two amateur reviews, which, alas, will have to be held over until the next edition, and two write?ups of the last two DOC Sadlers' Wells "last" nights. These are too long to print in full.]
POOR OLD ELSIE MAYNARD.
Gervase Lambton's remarks on how that last scene of Yeomen should be played, where Elsie recognizes "Leonard" as Fairfax, are delightful. Most sensible solution to the problem I've ever seen. It's telling that Davis is seems only to reply that Lambton is too young to know what he is talking about, without taking any tangible & to the point replies to the arguments themselves. The Palace Peeper's notes on Yeomen I found mainly good, though not as fresh and pungent as Lambton's. I do, however, think it unfair to blame Fairfax for "not showing the true courage to admit that he is afraid" of the Headsman's axe, when what he shows has been recognized as the brave and noble attitude by more cultures than his, Gilbert's and ours. I don't much like Fairfax, but let's be just. He's caddish enough without looking for faults in his few virtues. PHYLLIS KARR
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