Ruddigore will be performed in the Jubilee Theatre.
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Wednesday 29th April to Friday 1st May at 7.30pm
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Saturday 2nd May at 5.30pm
Tickets are £14 full, £10 under 18 available from any
society member, the Theatre, or direct from our website.
Ruddigore
Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, as with many other theatre, music and cultural events, our 2020 production of Ruddigore could not go ahead as planned. After postponing the show until November 2020, it was eventually cancelled. 2020 and 2021 are the first years since World War II that the society has not been able to put on a show.
We have contacted everyone who booked tickets to offer refunds.
By W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan
Ruddigore, or The Witch's Curse" was the 10th collaboration between Gilbert and Sullivan. The "supernatural opera" opened on January 21, 1887 at the Savoy Theatre and ran for 288 performances.
The Opera was designed as a parody of a Victorian Melodrama, the highlight of which is the Ghost scene in Act 2, where the portraits of the Murgatroyd family come to life, to hold Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd to account, for not carrying out the conditions of the Murgatroyd curse. The music that Sullivan wrote for this scene, is genuinely thrilling, and some of the best that is to be found in all the Savoy Operas.
At the time of writing this piece, Sullivan was at the peak of his creative powers, and the whole score is consistently tuneful. Gilberts lyrics are equally clever, and he created some of the most complex characters in all the Operas, and plenty of his trademark topsy-turvy situations.
During the initial run Gilbert and Sullivan made several alterations to the piece, including changing the title from ‘Ruddygore’ to ‘Ruddigore’, to protect Victorian sensibilities, and the ending which had originally seen the Ghosts brought back to life!
It was not revived by the until 1920 by the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company when, further cuts were made, including the duet ‘The Battles Roar is Over’ and a patter song for Sir Ruthven in Act 2. In addition the original Overture and the Act 2 Finale were substituted with new versions. In the intervening years many of these alterations have been reversed, and our 2020 production will reinstate several of the original elements.