Events

My last involvement with Opera at Taunton School was in 1982, my penultimate year as a pupil. The production was The Gondoliers and I was in the chorus. Wars occasionally feature in Opera plots and being in a very minor role similarly involves 90% ennui waiting in the wings and 10% sheer terror when on stage. I relieved the boredom part by picking roses along the front of the school and using them as buttonholes for my next stage appearance, hoping to steal the attention of the contadine from Marco and Giuseppe.

 

The following year, we moved to the Brewhouse Theatre for Carmen. It was not possible to sneak out of the stage door in search of municipal shrubbery, yet it did allow the flowers along the front of the school to flourish for Speech Day.

 

My return for Garden Opera’s Don Pasquale by Donizetti was accompanied by much uncertainty – would we get wet, how was the staging going to work, could we drink our champagne during the performance and would any of the performers adopt my pruning methods?

 

The staging was cleverly unfolded from a wheeled trailer and this was parked with the school as backdrop. Simple and effective, it also added to the informal ambience associated with alfresco theatre. The scene was a comfortable house in an up-market part of town, somewhere in late 1970s England.

 

Despite the deteriorating weather, the acoustics worked surprisingly well with the small orchestra setting the scene for the arrival of the cast.

 

Well of course it all involves relationships, deception, manipulation, money……all the things we had come away from work to forget, as we delved Billy Bunter-style into our hampers.

 

Don Pasquale was expertly portrayed as an uptight fussy bachelor by Deryck Hamon who rails at his nephew Ernesto (Robert Millner) for refusing to marry the woman Pasquale has chosen for him. Ernesto has become engaged to Norina (Sally-Ann Shepherdson) a beautiful but poor widow who has been secretly living with him downstairs in Pasquale’s house for months! An early shock is the sight of Ernesto in his underpants, a domestic illustration I could have done without, probably too much association with practical jokes in school locker rooms.

 

Luckily Ernesto’s sartorial ability improves whilst Pasquale engages his friend Dr Malatesta (Freddie Tong) to help him find a more suitable match for his nephew.

 

Well it all moved on, the rain started and we decamped into the marquee, conveniently there for Speech Day. The struts of outdoor atmosphere were removed and this is where the acting and music had to hold the whole thing up. It did, in particular the nomadic orchestra supporting the exquisite serenading of Norina by Ernesto. The interior lining of the marquee did not favour operatic acoustics and would have seen off less accomplished singers. Robert Millner’s voice in particular was sublime.

 

The cast was augmented in this part by pupils from Taunton Preparatory School, a cameo role where they sang a chorus commenting on the farcical behaviour of the adults. It was clear a lot of preparation had been done for this as they rubbed shoulders with the professionals.

 

So it all ended up happy. Keep an eye out for The Garden Opera Company. You can catch this production somewhere in the country up until 12^th September. www.gardenopera.co.uk