"The Yeoman Of The Guard" by St Peter's G&S Society.
Ravenshead Village Hall.

I've never had the chance to see this operetta performed on stage, so it was with relish that I accepted the invitation to see this production.

Set in the Tower of London, during the 16th century, it's the darkest, and perhaps most emotionally engaging, of the Savoy Operas, ending with a broken-hearted main character and two very reluctant engagements, rather than the usual numerous marriages and happy endings. The music and lyrics though are considered to be the pair's finest works. the trademark comedy is in abundance as well, with many one liners and puns.

The first thing you notice is the wonderful set, designed by Angela Wade, this alone sets the precedent for the quality of the production.

Directed and conducted by Stephen Godward. If anyone knows how to present and produce Gilbert & Sullivan, the Stephen is the man to do it. He has a vast wealth of experience on and off the stage with G&S and has awards to prove the fact. Another guarantee of this production being the best.

This is a large cast, including the ensemble, and they make the words and music skip into life. Twenty two musical pieces, accompanied on the piano by Piotr Wisniewski.

It would be unfair to pinpoint any of these actors for their talents because they were all great.

Stephen Walker (Sir Richard Cholmomdeley), Andrew Halfpenny (Colonel Fairfax), John Carter (Sergeant Meryll), Keith White (Leonard Meryll), Andrew Rushton (Jack Point - the jester), Tony Pinchbeck (Wilfred Shadbolt), Max Taylor (First Yeoman), Richard Tanner (Second Yeoman), Joanne Robinson (Elsie Maynard), Helen Halfpenny (Phoebe Meryll), Georgie Lee (Dame Carruthers), Helen Kirk (Kate) and Trevor Tagg (Headsman) are the main cast members with a further nineteen members as inhabitants of the Tower of London.

Gilbert & Sullivan wrote some pieces which can be real tongue twisters and really pacy, but there were only a couple of times that i noticed slip ups. Minor ones, but ones I noticed that Stephen picked up on as the conductor. This didn't detract from the performance, but instead shows just how difficult G&S is to perform and what a good job this society does.

There were several "WOW" factors with this production and the costumes were just one of them. A lot of hard work obviously went into them and they looked amazing.

"The Yeoman Of The Guard" is a wonderfully comic piece but with a darker edge to it. The music is excellent and the presentation of the characters were equally excellent.

A long Act One but a shorter Act Two and with an overall time of 160 odd minutes, including the interval, you get your money's worth performance wise, music wise and length wise.

"The Yeoman Of The Guard" is at Ravenshead Village Hall until Saturday 22 February with a matinee and evening performance.