CityLife

Going for a G&S record

THEY could be in need of a hefty supply of throat lozenges after the Gilbert & Sullivan Festival gets into full throttle in Buxton tonight.

For as a curtain-raiser to the festival, more than a hundred Gilbert & Sullivan fans are aiming to set a new world record by singing all 13 G&S operas in under 29 hours!

The event will feature amateur singers and enthusiasts from all over the UK together with representatives of the Tokyo Theatre Group, who have travelled thousands of miles to perform The Mikado in Japanese in this country for the first time ever.

It's a typically audacious move by the organisers, cementing a reputation which last year led to the festival winning the Horniman prize at the M.E.N. Theatre Awards, an accolade reserved for an individual or institution that has made a unique contribution to the area's theatrical life.

For festival director Ian G Smith, who founded the G&S Festival 13 years ago with his son Ian, it's a case of "we have done it once, so we can do it again," since he masterminded the first world record 15 years ago.

Pelo Institute

"In 1991," he remembers. "We raised masses of money for children being treated by the Pelo Institute in Hungary. This time we wanted to raise the initial finance to help us launch our national youth initiative, which will introduce youngsters to the enjoyment of musical theatre, and G&S in particular."

The attempt starts tonight at the Buxton Opera House at 7.15pm with costumed singers leaving by bus for the Cat And Fiddle pub between Buxton and Macclesfield to sing HMS Pinafore at 8pm.

During the next 24 hours, the singers will then visit and perform complete operas at such well-known Peak District locations as Poole's Cavern (Iolanthe), the Buxton College Grand Dome (Princess Ida), Crich Tramway Village (The Gondoliers), the Heights Of Abraham (The Mikado), and Haddon Hall (Yeomen Of The Guard).

Ruddigore

A fully-costumed performance of Ruddigore will open the Festival at Buxton Opera House tomorrow (July 29) at 7.30pm and, if all goes according to plan, the world-record attempt will be completed with the staging of The Sorcerer in the adjacent Pavilion Lounge, finishing no later than 12.30pm on Sunday.

Although Gilbert & Sullivan are the most performed work in the English language with the exception of Shakespeare, The Mikado, probably their most famous opera, was banned in Japan until 1999 because when it first appeared in 1885 it was thought to poke fun at the Emperor.

Festival performances at Buxton Opera House include:

Ruddigore (The Nomads) 7.30 Saturday; HMS Pinafore (Opera della Luna) 2.30 & 7.30 Sunday; The Pirates of Penzance (Bournemouth G&S Society) 7.30 Monday; The Mikado (performed in Japanese by the Tokyo Theatre Group) 7.30 Tuesday; Iolanthe (Peak Opera) 7.30 Wednesday; The Grand Duke (Southampton Operatic Society) 7.30 Thursday; The Yeomen of the Guard (G&S Opera Company) 7.30 Friday August 4, 2.30 & 7.30 Saturday 5; The Mikado (Nene Opera) 7.30 Sunday 6; The Sorceror (Youth Production) 7.30 Monday 7; Ruddygore (The SavoyNet) 7.30 Tuesday 8; Patience (Trent Opera) 7.30 Wednesday 9; The Gondoliers (South Anglia Savoy Players) 7.30 Thursday 10; The Pirates of Penzance (G&S Opera Company) 7.30 Friday 11; The Pirates of Penzance (G&S Opera Company) 2.30 & 7.30 Saturday 12; Iolanthe (The Young Artistes) 7.30 Sunday 13; Trial by Jury/Cox & Box/The Zoo (Actors Theatre, New York) 7.30 Monday 14; Princess Ida (Fraser Valley, Canada) 7.30 Tuesday 15; The Yeomen of the Guard (Festival Production) 7.30 Wednesday 16; The Pirates of Penzance (Derby G&S Company) 7.30 Thursday 17; HMS Pinafore (G&S Opera Company) 7.30 Friday 18; HMS Pinafore (G&S Opera Company) 2.30 & 7.30 Saturday 19.