FOOD & ENTERTAINMENT of a show
Grenoside and Birley Carr Players are performing The Sorcerer at the end of March and are also taking the opportunity to issue a heartfelt appeal for men who can sing to join their company - and the younger the better! Although the group boasts a healthy membership of around 40 regulars and sometimes more, there is currently a shortage of male performers to fill some of the younger operatic roles. And you don’t have to tread the boards to play a part as the group will also welcome anyone who would like to get involved whether on stage, behind the scenes or front of house and urges people just to come along and give it a go.
Newcomers ranging from early teens to seasoned members in their 80s have all been involved in putting together two shows a year to entertain local audiences and support good causes along the way. Some members have been joining in for over 60 years and several families have had two or three generations on stage, though not all at the same time.
The Players’ long history began when they were originally two separate groups; one offering opera and the other favouring plays. The Birley Carr Methodist Musical and Dramatic Society started rehearsing for its first opera in 1939 but the
‘‘I am excited that it is my first show as solo stage director. It is a wonderful show for the chorus who are an integral part of the plot’’
A wizard
A theatrical group that can trace its history back 80 years is set to raise the curtain on its latest production and is bringing comic opera to the stage from Victorian favourites Gilbert and Sullivan.
Garry Leigh as The Sorcerer, John Wellington Wells, in this year’s production
Second World War delayed the production until 1947. Despite this early setback, it has performed an opera every year since and the latest production will be its 72nd. The nearby Grenoside Players was established some 20 years later and has staged more than 90 plays at the village community centre. With Grenoside having its own venue and Birley having more members, the two societies decided to merge in 2010, adopted the new name of Grenoside and Birley Carr Players and reached the happy compromise of staging both a play and an opera each year. The group’s first joint production was one of Gilbert and Sullivan’s lesser known operettas, The Sorcerer, which it is now revisiting, almost a decade later, for new audiences this spring.
Based on the entertaining premise that there should be more love in the air, a besotted groom- to-be invites a sorcerer – John Wellington Wells – to his wedding in an effort to spread the love among his neighbours.
Happy to oblige, the Sorcerer arrives from London armed with a love potion which he mixes in the tea of the unsuspecting guests with predictably comic results and some unexpected developments, both for the passionate villagers and the well-intentioned groom.
Although the plot unfolds in its traditional Victorian setting, the group has moved the action from the West Country village of Ploverleigh to the rather more northern Pluverley to stamp its own little twist on the classic tale.
The story is certainly in safe hands as the Players’ director, Karen Ann Loxley, has performed in 15 previous productions of The Sorcerer and is
The group’s 2010 performance of the comic opera
now looking forward to another new challenge this time round.
“I am excited that it is my first show as solo stage director. It is a wonderful show for the chorus who are an integral part of the plot,” she said.
The group’s productions have also benefitted numerous local good causes over the years including St Luke’s Hospice and Bluebell Wood with bucket collections held during the shows. Members nominate the causes to support, often from personal experience, and the latest production will support the Sheffield Hospitals Charity and research into the blood cancer myeloma.
The Sorcerer runs from Tuesday 26th March until Saturday 30th March starting at 7.30 each night at the Grenoside Community Centre, Main Street, Sheffield. Tickets cost £9 for adults and £5 for children and are available by ringing 01226 754462.
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aroundtownmagazine.co.uk
The show was a firm favourite in 1982 and again in 2001
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