Bicester Choral and Operatic Society
BCOS performs a wide range of choral music in Bicester, Oxfordshire, UK, covering oratorio, musical shows, concerts and operetta.
BCOS performs a wide range of choral music in Bicester, Oxfordshire, UK, covering oratorio, musical shows, concerts and operetta.
An amateur production by BCOS on 7-10 November 2007
in Bicester Community College
“The thing about the Pirates of Penzance” said my friend Justin, “Is that no-one ever questions why a band of 16th century pirates suddenly appear on a late Victorian beach!” That’s the answer I thought. I had been pondering on how to create a twenty-first century version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s political satire. However I approached the problem I couldn’t sensibly update the pirates – as sensibly as anything in a G&S plot can be that is.
So… the pirates would stay as pirates and their incongruity would remain faithful to the G&S original. Why though, would members of the House of Lords suddenly decide they should become 16th century pirates? I had already decided that the reason for their fall into crime would be as a result of redundancy from the reformed House of Lords – as hot a bit of political shenanigans as Gilbert ever had to comment upon. The final piece fell into place when I realised why they still had to be pirates – because I couldn’t face the men who all wanted to do their Johnny Depp impressions. Why shouldn’t my redundant Lords feel the same way and take to the high seas on their very own version of the Black Pearl?
Of course apart from problems of updating the Pirates there were all the other characters to transform. The General’s daughters would naturally have to become Sloanies – and I extend grateful thanks to the Stowe Schoolgirls who regularly entertain the people of Buckingham with their exotic presence for this idea. As with all amateur productions, we would have far more women chorus members than pirates to marry them so the army of beauticians, hairdressers, personal trainers and general assistants was born. Some of these also become part of the very up to date police force. Although extremely tempted to dress the police in armed response fatigues, I realised that the resulting confrontation between pirates and police would be very short lived and so another moment of political comment, on the shortages, in this case of good men – was born. And, finally, the Major General. Well, although very wary of making the change, his song had to reflect the role of a twenty-first century Major General and having achieved that it was easy to make the man himself a twenty-first century member of the armed forces.
I hope that an updated Pirates of Penzance isn’t too much of a change for the audience, many of whom will have seen it several times and have fond memories of the original period piece. I just felt that with some new and younger members of the Society to be encouraged, we might all find new inspiration and enthusiasm for Gilbert and Sullivan while hopefully remaining true to their ideals of wit and wisdom, all wrapped up in the original, cracking good, tunes.
I had seen the cleverly adapted, no chorus, version by Chris Monks at The Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, which, along with Jeff Clarke’s wonderfully witty, also “potted” version, Parson’s Pirates, for Opera della Luna. They both proved inspirational up to a point but obviously, unlike either of them, I would have a large enthusiastic chorus. Also I just couldn’t see Monks’ dark suited and shade bespectacled gangsters working en masse for the Bicester chorus. I also knew that it would be a sad day for the BCOS men when they were informed they would not be swashing their buckles as full-bodied pirates.
