Merrie England / Trial By Jury |
Autumn 2009 |
Due to an unfortunate turn of events, we were unable to perform Merrie England as a full production in autumn 2009, as originally planned. However, we instead put on a concert version of the operetta, and took advantage of the situation by staging the well-loved Trial By Jury as well!
Merrie England
Act I
During the May Day festival, the May Queen is crowned with "roses white and roses red ... the flowers of Merrie England". Her two guards are introduced - Long Tom and Big Ben - who are brothers identical in all but one thing. The "little difference between them" is that Big Ben (like the other men in Windsor) loves the May Queen, while Long Tom loves Jill (known as Jill-All-Alone). Jill is accused of being a witch by the jealous May Queen and is shunned by the townsfolk.
Bessie Throckmorton, one of Queen Elizabeth's Ladies in Waiting, and Sir Walter Raleigh are in love, but they must keep their love a secret as the Queen is also in love with Raleigh. Bessie tells of how she carelessly lost a love letter from Raleigh ("She lost the letter from her love"). She worries that the letter may have fallen into Queen Elizabeth's hands and thus reveal their secret love. The Earl of Essex (Raleigh's rival for the affection of the Queen) is handed the love letter (an acrostic on the name Bessie) by Jill-All-Alone and plans to use it to dispose of Raleigh. Walter Wilkins, a travelling actor, appears and argues that any play can be vastly improved by the addition of song ("if it's played on a big brass band") and claims that "that's where [he] and Shakespeare disagree."
Queen Elizabeth then enters with much ceremony. Long Tom pleads for the Queen's protection of Jill-All-Alone from the townsfolk's persecution. Asking her whether she believes she is a witch, she replies with the paradox that if she were a witch she must know more than the townfolk, therefore she can't be a witch as she would know (as the townsfolk seem to) that she is a witch if she were. She declares that love will pass the queen by. This insult angers the Queen, and she joins with the villagers in condemning Jill as a witch, locking her away in the Tower of London for witchcraft. Essex hands the Queen Raleigh's love letter, which she initially mistakes to be meant for her. Raleigh gallantly admits that the letter is in fact meant for Bessie Throckmorton. The Queen is so incensed that she banishes Raleigh from Court and imprisons Bessie in Windsor Castle.
Act II
Jill has managed to escape with Bessie using a secret passage out of the tower. The Queen asks an apothecary (her jester in disguise) to concoct a poison which she will administer to Bessie. Wilkins works at length on a stage version of the story of St. George and the Dragon, and the play is performed for the Queen and Essex. Unfortunately, they dislike the play. Eventually the Queen is convinced to allow Raleigh and Bessie to love each other, choosing Essex instead for herself after seeing an apparition of Herne the Hunter, who, according to legend, appears only when a sovereign contemplates a crime. Everyone takes part in a reenactment of Robin Hood's wedding to Maid Marian. Everyone takes roles closely related to their part in the opera; for example, Raleigh becomes Robin to Bessie's Marian.
During the May Day festival, the May Queen is crowned with "roses white and roses red ... the flowers of Merrie England". Her two guards are introduced - Long Tom and Big Ben - who are brothers identical in all but one thing. The "little difference between them" is that Big Ben (like the other men in Windsor) loves the May Queen, while Long Tom loves Jill (known as Jill-All-Alone). Jill is accused of being a witch by the jealous May Queen and is shunned by the townsfolk.
Bessie Throckmorton, one of Queen Elizabeth's Ladies in Waiting, and Sir Walter Raleigh are in love, but they must keep their love a secret as the Queen is also in love with Raleigh. Bessie tells of how she carelessly lost a love letter from Raleigh ("She lost the letter from her love"). She worries that the letter may have fallen into Queen Elizabeth's hands and thus reveal their secret love. The Earl of Essex (Raleigh's rival for the affection of the Queen) is handed the love letter (an acrostic on the name Bessie) by Jill-All-Alone and plans to use it to dispose of Raleigh. Walter Wilkins, a travelling actor, appears and argues that any play can be vastly improved by the addition of song ("if it's played on a big brass band") and claims that "that's where [he] and Shakespeare disagree."
Queen Elizabeth then enters with much ceremony. Long Tom pleads for the Queen's protection of Jill-All-Alone from the townsfolk's persecution. Asking her whether she believes she is a witch, she replies with the paradox that if she were a witch she must know more than the townfolk, therefore she can't be a witch as she would know (as the townsfolk seem to) that she is a witch if she were. She declares that love will pass the queen by. This insult angers the Queen, and she joins with the villagers in condemning Jill as a witch, locking her away in the Tower of London for witchcraft. Essex hands the Queen Raleigh's love letter, which she initially mistakes to be meant for her. Raleigh gallantly admits that the letter is in fact meant for Bessie Throckmorton. The Queen is so incensed that she banishes Raleigh from Court and imprisons Bessie in Windsor Castle.
Act II
Jill has managed to escape with Bessie using a secret passage out of the tower. The Queen asks an apothecary (her jester in disguise) to concoct a poison which she will administer to Bessie. Wilkins works at length on a stage version of the story of St. George and the Dragon, and the play is performed for the Queen and Essex. Unfortunately, they dislike the play. Eventually the Queen is convinced to allow Raleigh and Bessie to love each other, choosing Essex instead for herself after seeing an apparition of Herne the Hunter, who, according to legend, appears only when a sovereign contemplates a crime. Everyone takes part in a reenactment of Robin Hood's wedding to Maid Marian. Everyone takes roles closely related to their part in the opera; for example, Raleigh becomes Robin to Bessie's Marian.
Trial By Jury
The curtain rises on the Court of the Exchequer, where a jury and the public assemble to hear a case of breach of promise of marriage. The Usher exhorts the jury to listen to the broken-hearted Plaintiff's case and tells them that they "needn't mind" what the "ruffianly defendant" has to say. The Defendant (Edwin) arrives and is greeted with hostility, even though, as he points out, no-one has any idea of the merits of his case. He tells them, with surprising candour, that he jilted the Plaintiff because she became a "bore intense" to him, and he then quickly took up with another woman. The jury recall their own wayward youth, but as they are now respectable, they no longer have any sympathy for the Defendant.
The Judge enters with great pomp and describes how he rose to his position - by courting a rich attorney's "elderly, ugly daughter". The rich attorney then aided his prospective son-in-law's legal career until the judge became rich and "threw over" the daughter. The jury and public are delighted with the judge, and ignore that he has just admitted to the same wrong of which the Defendant is accused.
After the jury is sworn in, the Plaintiff (Angelina) is summoned and on arrival captures the heart of both Judge and jurymen. The Counsel for the Plaintiff makes a moving speech detailing Edwin's betrayal. Angelina feigns distress and staggers, first into the arms of the Foreman of the Jury, and then of the Judge. Edwin counters, explaining that his change of heart is only natural and offers to marry both the Plaintiff and his new love, if that would satisfy everyone. The Judge at first finds this "a reasonable proposition", until Counsel points out this would, in fact, be bigamy. Perplexed, everyone in court ponders the "nice dilemma" in a parody of Italian opera ensembles.
Angelina desperately embraces Edwin, demonstrating the depth of her love, and bemoans her loss - all in evidence of the large amount of damages that the jury should force Edwin to pay. Edwin, in turn, says he is a smoker, a drunkard, and a bully (when tipsy), and that the Plaintiff could not have endured him even for a day; thus the damages should be small. The Judge suggests making Edwin tipsy to see if he would really "thrash and kick" Angelina, but everyone else (except Edwin) objects to this experiment. Impatient at the lack of progress, the Judge resolves the case by offering to marry Angelina himself. This is found quite satisfactory, and the opera is concluded with "joy unbounded".
The Judge enters with great pomp and describes how he rose to his position - by courting a rich attorney's "elderly, ugly daughter". The rich attorney then aided his prospective son-in-law's legal career until the judge became rich and "threw over" the daughter. The jury and public are delighted with the judge, and ignore that he has just admitted to the same wrong of which the Defendant is accused.
After the jury is sworn in, the Plaintiff (Angelina) is summoned and on arrival captures the heart of both Judge and jurymen. The Counsel for the Plaintiff makes a moving speech detailing Edwin's betrayal. Angelina feigns distress and staggers, first into the arms of the Foreman of the Jury, and then of the Judge. Edwin counters, explaining that his change of heart is only natural and offers to marry both the Plaintiff and his new love, if that would satisfy everyone. The Judge at first finds this "a reasonable proposition", until Counsel points out this would, in fact, be bigamy. Perplexed, everyone in court ponders the "nice dilemma" in a parody of Italian opera ensembles.
Angelina desperately embraces Edwin, demonstrating the depth of her love, and bemoans her loss - all in evidence of the large amount of damages that the jury should force Edwin to pay. Edwin, in turn, says he is a smoker, a drunkard, and a bully (when tipsy), and that the Plaintiff could not have endured him even for a day; thus the damages should be small. The Judge suggests making Edwin tipsy to see if he would really "thrash and kick" Angelina, but everyone else (except Edwin) objects to this experiment. Impatient at the lack of progress, the Judge resolves the case by offering to marry Angelina himself. This is found quite satisfactory, and the opera is concluded with "joy unbounded".
CAST
|
The Learned Judge
The Plaintiff The Defendant Counsel for the Plaintiff |
Grant Graves
Sharon Brandelli Gary Jervis Christine (Becky) Gutowski |
Usher
Foreman of the Jury Bridesmaids |
Roger Dowlen
Angus Henney Solfa Karen Harvey Farhat Dar |