Creative Team

Assistant Musical Director/Repetiteur: Rebecca Temple
Hi, I’m Rebecca and I’m a second year music student. I am very pleased to be the returning Assistant Musical Director for this year’s production of HMS Pinafore. As Assistant MD, I will be working closely with the Musical Director to ensure that both the cast and chorus are confident with the music. With my principal study being voice, I hope to work on vocal technique with the full cast, as well as helping to shape the final performance. My role will also involve some repetiteur work, including accompanying rehearsals on Thursday evenings. I look forward to working with the rest of the G&S Creative Team to ensure that the society puts on a fantastic production of HMS Pinafore.

Assistant Designer: James Taylor
James is an architecture undergraduate, his role is assistant designer on the Creative Team, which involves helping design/create promotional graphics and the set design for Pinafore.

Orchestra Manager: Shannon Berridge
Shannon is a 2nd Year English Student and Orchestra Manager for this year’s production of H.M.S. Pinafore. It’s her job to acquire and coordinate the orchestral players and ensure the pit is a safe and fun environment to work in.

Assistant Repetiteur: Claudia Zeng
Claudia is a Music and Philosophy student. She is on the Musical Team in the Creative Team for H.M.S Pinafore as Assistant Repetiteur. It is her job to accompany rehearsals and assist the Musical Director with the teaching of the music

 

 

 

Creative Committee

Director:
Ruby Hawley
As a second year English student Ruby studies theatrical performance as part of her degree, and she caught a taste for directing during a drama assignment (although academically she tends to focus on 20^th century plays rather than GnS!). Ruby is looking forward to HMS Pinafore which will be her full length directorial debut; she hopes to emphasise the social satire of the show, using Gilbert’s originally intended method of contrasting absurd humour with intense mimesis.

Ruby joined the society last year for ‘Pirates of Penzance’, in which she played Kate. She has regularly enjoyed performing on stage from a young age (she considers herself to be more of an actress than a singer!), more recently playing roles such as the Narrator in ‘Joseph’, The Queen of Hearts, and a human punk rocker interpretation of Shere Khan in ‘The Jungle Book’ in East Warwickshire MS musicals, although her favourite ever role was playing an eccentric Cornish Fairy God Mother in a local pantomime of ‘Robin Hood’.

Alongside directing, in her other role as Vice President Ruby hopes to ensure the future success of the society she found to be so uniquely fun and welcoming during her first year.

Musical Director:
Timothy Cowell Selman
Timothy is this year’s Musical Director, returning from Musically Directing our highly successful production of Pirates of Penzance last year. Timothy is a Music Undergraduate in his final year and also President of the society.

As a Conductor and Musical Director, Timothy was last year’s MD, and has also conducted various choirs. As a percussionist, he has worked with various university ensembles and external orchestras, in various concerts which have included Vaughan Williams’ The Sea Symphony (University Philharmonia), as well as recently being appointed one of two Assistant Repetiteurs to the University Choir. Alongside his piano work inside the university, he semi-professionally has been Assistant Repetiteur for two years running for Winterbourne Opera as well as singing in the Extra-Chorus; productions have included Donizetti’s Elixir of Love (2014) and Gounod’s Faust (2015). Raised as a chorister and singer within the church, Tim also plays the organ, and is the newly appointed Junior Organ Scholar at St Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham. Aside from his musical life, Timothy is an avid blogger, loves roast potatoes with a passion, and likes taking long walks in the countryside.

Last year, he got an email from the then President of the society as a general email asking for a Musical Director, and he thought he was just going along for maybe a “quiet” concert at the end of the year. However eventually he fell in love with the music and the general silliness of it all, and so decided to go for President and MD (for the second year running!), and from the moment he had finished running Pirates Auditions, threw himself in to the society and its activities. Pirates of Penzance last year was amazing, but this year, he really wants to make this more successful than ever as it is his final show as a student at the university!

Designer:
Barney Miles
As an architecture graduate, Barney was very excited by the opportunity to be the designer for HMS Pinafore. The show will be Barney’s first opportunity to organise and create something he has designed, in terms of the set and the costumes, as well as producing the show’s stationery. HMS Pinafore will be Barney’s first involvement with the GnS Society and he is greatly looking forward to it. Theatre design has always been an interest of Barney’s including designing a theatre as part of his final year of architecture (Part 1/Undergraduate). Barney is looking forward to working with all members of the team to produce the best set, costume and advertisement for the society and his theatre design debut. Barney has been in productions before and is looking forward to having a more behind the scenes role to allow the society to create a show to remember.

Producer:
Rhiannon Tidder
Originally from London, Rhiannon moved up to the countryside when she was little. A part of her still yearned for the hustle and bustle of a town, which she has found in Nottingham. She’s a middle child with two brothers including one who’s a chef.  Her culinary skills may not be as sophisticated as his but she can bake some delicious sweet treats including muffins, apple cake and of course snickerdoodles.

Food aside, she has always loved the theatre: she feels there’s just something magic about the way acting, singing and dancing can come together to create a unique experience which you can’t quite get in the cinema. She enjoys acting and singing with more experience in the latter belonging to a professional community choir for the past few years. As for the challenge of producing this year’s Gilbert and Sullivan piece HMS Pinafore, Rhiannon says bring it on!

 

Synopsis

H.M.S. Pinafore Synopsis

(contains spoilers!)

ACT I

1890, noon on board the ship H.M.S. Pinafore, anchored in Portsmouth harbour. The crew are scrubbing the decks in preparation for the arrival of their Captain when local wandering saleswoman Mrs Cripps (Little Buttercup) comes aboard. After meeting the misunderstood Dick Deadeye, she catches sight of another sailor: the fine topman Ralph Rackstraw, who appears unhappy and whose name for some mysterious reason seems all too familiar to her…

Ralph is pining over the Captain’s beautiful daughter, Josephine but he knows that she is too far above him in social class. Captain Corcoran comes to greet his crew, and Buttercup, who is always attentive to him, notices that he too seems sad. The Captain admits that Josephine has not taken kindly to her arranged engagement with the First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Joseph Porter. Josephine, alone, bemoans the pain of loving someone whom she cannot hope to marry, then the Captain comes to tell her that Sir Joseph will arrive that very afternoon to claim her hand in marriage. Distressed, Josephine admits that she is in love with a common sailor although she knows she cannot marry him, and the Captain is appalled.

Sir Joseph’s female relatives precede him and are greeted enthusiastically by the sailors, before the he comes on board himself to examine the crew and speak to the Captain. Sir Joseph explains how he reached his high rank respite having no naval knowledge or experience, and particularly points out his hatred of bad language. The sailors argue with Dick, who takes issue with Sir Joseph’s hypocritical declaration that a British sailor is any man’s equal, excepting his own.

Josephine comes across Ralph, alone, on deck. She haughtily rejects his advances despite her inner feelings of love for him, because of her belief in distinctions of rank. This leaves Ralph alone to explain to his messmates that he intends to commit suicide because he cannot live with her rejection, but Josephine admits her love for him at the last possible moment. The crew celebrate, although Dick rebels against them, and the couple plan to elope together that night.

ACT II

That night, the Captain sings of his troubles alone: Sir Joseph has threatened to court martial the Captain if Josephine will not marry him. Buttercup overhears the Captain, and tells him that she knows a change is coming and things are seldom what they seem… The Captain doesn’t understand her but feels she means well. Sir Joseph and his cousin Hebe come to tell the Captain that Josephine is refusing to marry him, to which the Captain suggests that Sir Joseph needs to reassure her that she is worthy of him because she is of a lower rank.

Alone, Josephine contemplates her dilemma: she has said she will marry Ralph but doesn’t feel ready to give up her middle class lifestyle, so she questions whether to follow her head or her heart. Sir Joseph arrives to tell her that he believes that ‘love is a platform upon which all ranks meet’ which secretly delights Josephine as it suggests she could marry Ralph, while her father and Sir Joseph are obvious to her intentions.

Dick Deadeye comes to inform the Captain that Josephine intends to elope with Ralph, and when the Captain understands, he is furious and intends to punish Ralph.

Josephine and Ralph, with the sailors, are creeping across the deck trying to get away when the Captain reveals he has been watching them, concealed. He challenges Ralph, but the Boatswain defends him, saying that Ralph, although working class, is still an Englishman (so should be considered good enough to marry Josephine). The Captain is still raging and swears ‘damme’ which is overheard by Sir Joseph and his entourage, who are outraged by the bad language. Sir Joseph sends the Captain to his cabin in disgrace, and asks Ralph why the Captain was so angry. On hearing that Ralph intended to marry Josephine, Sir Joseph is also horrified and has Ralph chained up and taken away.

Buttercup comes forward and says she wishes to confess a long concealed crime: many years ago she practised ‘baby farming’ (wet nursing) and cared for two babies, one of low class and one of high, which she mixed up. The high born child was Ralph and the low born one the Captain, meaning that their social positions are the opposite of what they had always thought! Sir Joseph tells the former Captain that he no longer wishes to marry Josephine because he, her father, has turned out to be low born. Josephine and Ralph are delighted, the former Captain is now of a low rank in society so decides to marry Buttercup, and Sir Joseph is claimed by Hebe who wanted to marry him all along. Everyone celebrates this fortunate turn of events.

– Ruby Hawley –