1990, Princess Ida

Princess Ida - rehearsals

Princess Ida was 1990's show of the year as Babirra Players were also staging it, fortunately in May, so hire of costumes and sets for us looked a distinct possibility. It also seemed logical that attendance at a performance would replace the traditional introductory evening.

At a special meeting at the end of May, it was decided that profits from the show that year would go to the Diamond Valley and Eltham Housing Service again, and to Community Aid Abroad instead of World Vision.

Meanwhile, auditions for Princess Ida had been held and, surprisingly, the large number of roles were easily filled. Major women's roles were allotted to Mavis Ford (Princess Ida), Jenni Williams (Lady Psyche), Rita Burchill (Melissa) and Judith O'Shea (Lady Blanche). Kay Driver, Merrill Hogan and Catie Thompson filled the minor roles. As far as the men were concerned there were some familiar faces, but also some new ones: John Tacey (Hilarion), Allan Luke (Cyril), Robert Alves (Florian), Rod Gorfine (King Hildebrand) and Michael Knuckey (King Gama). The three sons of Gama were to be played by Chris Livingstone, Chris Wearne and James Douglas. Unfortunately the large number of male roles meant a rather depleted male chorus, and we were back to one tenor - but Victor Jetten more than held his own.

In late July a group of singers continued the tradition of country visits with a P.S.A at the Euroa Schoolhouse, organised by John Bumford, who was also the associate artist. Singers included Graham, Marilyn, Dianne, Judith, Allan Luke and Chris Livingstone.

At Princess Ida rehearsals there was still concern over the small number of men in the chorus (five) - rather an unimpressive army with which to storm Castle Adamant. Then Rhonda came up with the brilliant idea that each man bring on with him a cardboard cut-out soldier. A bold suggestion, but very effective as it turned out! Rhonda even disguised herself as a soldier when one of the men had to drop out of some performances!

Much amusement was caused when John Tacey arrived at rehearsal with a walking stick after a knee operation, especially as Robert and Allan also had "dicky" knees as a result of earlier injuries. No wonder they had trouble scaling the castle wall.

All too often those hardworking people who operate behind the scenes are rather neglected, so it would be remiss not to acknowledge their work here. That year, Beryl Nichols took on the job of Stage Manager, while Les Bardwell was responsible for the sets and the backstage crew. Marilyn Billing and Jeanette Donehue took charge of the costumes and Marilyn's daughter, Donna, did the makeup.

Keith Fraser and Don Douglas were behind the lighting, while Kay Driver handled ticket sales. Jan Lowe, Ian's wife and an artist of high repute, designed the posters and program cover, as well as a badge which members wore to help with publicity. Judith O'Shea and her team of helpers again painted our banner and Gary Richter typed the program and designed the tickets.

Princess Ida - performances

Show Program

The charity performance were reasonably well, although there were some dull patches, and the audience were rather unresponsive, so the task ahead was to bring more sparkle to the performance. Opening night had a lot more life. Subsequent shows were very successful, with larger and more appreciative audiences. The cast were also clearly having a good time, with the antics of the sons of Gama and the three friends, Hilarion, Florian and Cyril, causing much hilarity. John's rescue of Mavis after she had fallen in the water was always good for laughs, especially when on the last night Les (John's father-in-law) used rather more water than usual and doused John thoroughly. Mavis and John were so helpless with laughter that the rescue took longer than usual.

Performing a lesser known Gilbert and Sullivan had been risky, but we had come through with flying colours. As a follow up some members of the cast did a radio broadcast of excerpts at Greensborough Shopping centre for the local FM station. The production committee report claimed that, artistically, Princess Ida had been the best show yet!

These history notes have been kindly provided by our long-term artistic director and co-founder, Graham Ford.