The Yeomen of the Guard by Gilbert & Sullivan

A fully staged comic opera in the best D’Oyly Carte tradition on tour with a cast of 32 singers and 23 piece orchestra!

Gilbert and Sullivan's 11th collaboration is the nearest they came to creating a truly 'Grand Opera'. Set in the Tower of London in Tudor times, the plot revolves around an autonomous Yeoman Guard scheming to avert an unjust sentence of death on a love struck prisoner, ingeniously passing of the condemned man’s estate to a villainous relative. The alternately hilarious and terrible consequences of the Guards’ actions unfold in ways that no-one could have foreseen.

Beneath the mantle of heroism and risk-taking for the sake of honour and justice Gilbert’s humour finds its mark in the by-play of exploited romantic longings, misdirected ambition, expediency and connivance to escape punishment for dereliction of duty.

Gilbert & Sullivan’s comic operas were all generally written for popular appeal but The Yeomen of the Guard stands out as the most dramatic of their works. Sullivan was delighted to have a libretto offering a fully operatic scope and characterisation and the score is widely considered to be his finest, with greater orchestral forces and use of double chorus.

The work abounds with Gilbert’s comic touch – but Yeomen has special appeal with its emphasis on human interest and characterisation.

This is a fully staged touring production by the producers of The Mikado (2006), The Tales of Hoffmann (2007) and Iolanthe (2008). The creative team of last year’s very successful production returns with director Gillian Jerome and full complement of cast and orchestra under the baton of musical director Hugh McMillan.

Event listed by Brianne Kerr

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