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the 17th and 18th of November, St. George's put on its performance of
"The Pirates of Penzance". Based on the book by W. S.
Gilbert with music by Arthur Sullivan, the comic story, told in two acts
deals with the lives of the famous Pirates living in Penzance,
Cornwall. For those of you unable to attend this splendid
performance, produced by Peter Onslow, Kathryn Beckett and Sonia
Eastham, here is a brief synopsis of the story.
Act One: A rocky cover near Penzance, Cornwall. The Pirates are celebrating as Frederic reaches the end of his pirate apprenticeship. When Frederic was a boy, his nurse, Ruth, was told to apprentice him to a pilot. However, she mistook the world "pilot" for "pirate" and took him to the Pirates of Penzance. Not daring to return to Frederic's father, she stayed with the pirates as a maid. Frederic tells the pirates that he will devote himself to their extermination once he is out of his apprenticeship in thirty minutes' time. Ruth then pledges her love for Frederic and asks him to take her with him. She convinces Frederic that she is beautiful and he agrees to marry her, despite the large difference in their ages. At that moment, a troupe of beautiful young girls is seen and Frederic realises that Ruth has deceived him. The girls are the wards of court of Major General Stanley and one of their number, Mabel, immediately falls for Frederic. The Pirates return to the scene and propose immediate marriage to all the girls. General Stanley arrives and, in order to prevent the pirates marrying the girls, tells them that he is an orphan and would have a lonely old age without his daughters. The Pirates feel sorry for him and make him an honorary member of their band. Act Two: An old chapel in the grounds of General Stanley's house. The girls try to console the General as he struggles with the guilt of having lied to the Pirates to protect himself. Meanwhile, Frederic has gathered a force of policemen who are more full of false bravado than real bravery. They are to march off to carry out Frederic's wish to exterminate the Pirates. However, the Pirate King and Ruth arrive and tell Frederic, that as he was bon on the 29th of February, he has had only five birthdays and has not finished his apprenticeship. Frederick always follows his sense of duty and glumly agrees to rejoin the Pirates, leaving his beloved Mabel until he returns at the age of sixty! Eventually, the police do battle with the Pirates, and inevitably, are hopelessly beater. However, their Sergeant plays his trump card and asks them to surrender in the name of Queen Victoria. The Pirates love their Queen and readily agree to yield. General Stanley wants them to be removed to trial but, Ruth states that, in fact, all the Pirates are simply noblemen who have gone astray. General Stanley's attitude changes at once and he and the Pirate King mutually forgive each other. The Pirates then rejoin the girls and marriage is in the air! |
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Pirate King - Patrick Scully
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Frederic - Brandon Bakus
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Ruth - Megan Stark
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Samuel - Alex Urquhart Ducharme
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Mabel - Eline Pauwels
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Major General Stanley - Robin Cowie
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Sergeant of Police - Brad Stark
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Kate - Stephanie Hitchens
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Edith - Amelia White
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Maidens: Eri, Nina, Laura, Isabel & Janelle
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Beautiful but steer clear if you have no money.
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Danielle, Gaby, Alex & Polina
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Amanda, Anna, Libby & Allison
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Pirates: Tommy, Geoffrey, Dylan & Maarten
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Cameron, Craig, Tim, Andreas & Tyler
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Victoria, Euan, Alex, Tasman & Meriwether
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Ahoy me harties
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Pictured above Kathryn Beckett, Sonia Eastham, Peter Onslow, (Directors), Lyn Baerfuss (Vocal Coach) and Jilli Schibler (Costumes)
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