The Victorians loved a sense of duty, and this musical is subtitled " A Slave to Duty".Our hero is Frederic a young man just finishing his apprenticeship as a pirate.(It should have been a pilot but Ruth his nursemaid was hard of hearing.) Frederic cannot abide the thought of piracy but following his conscience he has been a loyal and dutiful apprentice. Today he is 21 and finished his apprenticeship. He is to leave the pirates and then he can return to bring them to justice! He has never seen a young lady, just his nursemaid Ruth, so he falls in love with the first pretty face he meets, Mabel, the daughter, (amongst many) of Major – General Stanley. The Pirates seize the daughters and plan to marry them,but they relent because the Major General pleads he is an orphan and pirates always release orphans. Frederic and Mabel leave the pirate band hoping to wed. Just as Frederic is to lead a force of reluctant police to capture the pirates he learns that he was born on the 29th February and is only five years old!
A paradox! He has to rejoin the pirates to finish his apprenticeship. Being a slave of duty he confesses that a punitive task force is on its way, worse, the Major-General is not an orphan. The ever-faithful Mabel decides to lead the police (with lots of "Tarantula’s") but they are all captured by the pirates because they have cat-like tread. The police implore the pirates to yield in the name of Queen Victoria. Pirates too, are slaves of duty so naturally they relent.

Much relieved the Major-General gives up his daughters to the pirates (the daughters are delighted!). This is doubly fortunate for the girls because the pirates are all nobles of the realm who have ‘gone wrong’. So it all works out rather well and they all take each others hearts at the end.

Jonathan Heard - Frederic, our hero, noble to the end. A true Englishman.

Catherine Rendle - Mabel, the heroine who loves Frederic for his high ideals (and his other attributes).

Michael Rice - The Pirate King. Athletic charismatic leader of the pirates.

Samuel. His right-hand man, a loyal seadog.

Major-General Stanley, a man with many daughters, very learned, but inclined to be lenient with the truth.

Ruth, the slightly deaf nursemaid who tries to kid Frederic she is reasonably young but gradually got older.

Sergeant of Police. A solid, upright guardian of the law, who knows when to use his truncheon.This could be played by a woman!!

Edith, Kate and Isabel three more daughters.

Chorus of more pretty daughters of the Major-General.

Chorus of deadly, dastardly pirates

Chorus of upright policeman

Cast

Major-General Stanley  Clive Berry
Mabel Catherine Rendle
Pirate King Michael Rice
Sergeant of Police Ian Head
Samuel Steve Corless
Ruth Julie Huntington
Frederic Jonathan Heard
Edith (singing) Laura Pye
Twins Peta Bowyer & Jill Hughes
Isabel
Angharad Jones
Kate (singing)
Anna Yeates
Kate (speaking)
Jenny Jackson
Queen Victoria
Leah Corlett

Wards
Kathy Stein
Madeline Dowden
Cherry Tyer
Beryl Vaux
Jacquie Haigh
Lynn Clarkson
Melba Pitt MBE
Avril Rangoni-Machiavelli
Christine Price

Pirates
Robert Jones
Andrew Finlay
Geof Horsnell
Philip Stieber
Bill Port
Gordon Richins
Neil Ings

Policemen
Terry Rymer
Peter Dayton
Norman Pope
Rob Fernall
James Deveroux-Quille
Neil Allen
Alan Phillips
Alice Bowen
John Reeves 
David Parsonson

Director
Michael Huntington

Musical Director
Angela Pengilley

Choreographer
Jennifer Scott

Production Assistant
Rowena McMenamin

Stage Manager
Wendy Bowsher

Asst. Stage Manager
Jackie Snellgrove

Lighting
Derek Gilbert

Sound
Hugh Legh

Properties
Jane Shaw
Props Assistant
Rachael Barnett

Wardrobe
Julie Huntington

Crew
Penny Lindley
Hannah Snellgrove
Laura Snellgrove
Andrew Lewis

Dressers/Helpers
Sarah Lloyd, Kay Macara, Jenny Haywood
Caroline Hopkins,Victoria Cooper, Issi Norgrove

Make-up
Kate Carter-Windel

Hair
Hazel West-Manning

Set Design
Michael Huntington

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed