The Yeomen of the Guard (or The Merryman and his Maid)

Bristol Gilbert & Sullivan Operatic Society [winner of the National Dramatic & Operatic Associations Allan Brooking Cup for the best G&S production in 2009] is staging Yeomen of the Guard, regarded as perhaps the finest of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas. Producer John Telfer and Musical Director Eric Wetherell.

The setting of the drama is laid in the Tower of London in Shakespearean times. Colonel Fairfax (played by Michael Ladomery), a gentleman, soldier and scientist has been sentenced to be beheaded on a false charge of sorcery. To avoid leaving his estate to his accuser and with the help of the Lieutenant of the Tower, Fairfax secretly marries Elsie Maynard (played by Marjory Huckle) a strolling singer. The bride agrees to be blindfolded during the ceremony and expects to be a well-paid widow within the hour! However, Fairfax escapes, throwing the Tower into confusion and the astonished Elsie and her mentor - the jester Jack Point (played by Adrian Cooper) who loves her - into despair. But Fairfax, disguised as a Yeoman, woos Elsie, and after a number of plot complications are worked out, she marries Fairfax leaving Jack Point heart-broken.

Many believe that the score is Sullivan's finest. Indeed, some enjoy Yeomen particularly because of its ever-changing emotional balance of joy and despair, love and sacrifice.

5th to 9th April including a matinee performance at 2.30pm on Saturday 9th April