Bury St Edmunds Operatic and Dramatic Society marks historic 120 year milestone
When the cast steps on stage for the last night of Shakespeare in Love later this month they will also be marking an historic milestone for Bury St Edmunds Operatic and Dramatic Society.
Exactly 120 years ago – to the day, maybe even the hour – the founder members of the society took to the same stage for their first ever show.
Possibly the singers and actors facing the audience at Bury’s Theatre Royal in 1903 felt a twinge of nerves about how people would react.
They need not have worried judging by a review in the Bury Post of their rendition of Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore.
“What must be described as a brilliant performance was brought to a close amidst great excitement and enthusiasm with the singing of Rule Britannia and God Save the King, and the crowded audience dispersed thoroughly satisfied with the evening’s entertainment,” the critic wrote.
What’s more, they managed to balance the books. The balance sheet showed: Receipts £102.7s.2d; Expenditure £102.7s.2d.
Since then the society has brought music, drama, and razzle-dazzle entertainment to countless people with hundreds of shows . . . but the cost of staging a major musical has risen to £30,000.
The group was founded as Bury St Edmunds Amateur Operatic Society following a meeting in 1902 attended, according to their records, by ‘11 gentlemen and nine ladies’.
Joan Abbs, who joined in 1978 and is now a life member, has been the guardian of the society’s history for 13 years. compiling and storing its archives.
More than a century’s worth of memories are packed into 19 weighty ring binders.
“Unfortunately no programme of the first performance has been handed down in the records,” said Joan. “The only photograph of the cast available is a cutting from the Bury Free Press, from a feature article for the society’s Diamond Jubilee.
“The first secretary of the society, Mr George Carter, was interviewed – he was 87 at the time – and identified himself in the front row of the photograph.”
The faces that look out from the programmes and photographs – many now fragile and faded but speaking volumes about a bygone age – include well-known names from Bury’s past.
A early leading light was Owen A Clark who was mayor several times, and was also active in seeing the Theatre Royal restored in 1906.
“There is a splendid photo of him as the Pirate King with curly wig from the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta in 1907,” said Joan.
The works of the popular writers of comic opera accounted for most of the society’s earliest productions including The Mikado, Patience, and the Pirates of Penzance.
No performances took place during the First World War, but in 1919 they were back with Merrie England, a patriotic story of love and rivalry at the court of Queen Elizabeth I.
Pictures were taken in the 1920s and 30s by H I Jarman the well-known Bury photographer, who was a regular performer along with members of his family.
“There is also a programme showing the first female mayor of Bury, Eva Wollaston Greene JP, in 1928,” Joan added.
Another performer in the 1920s was Reg Hall, a stationmaster and father of Sir Peter Hall, one of Britain’s most renowned directors of theatre, film and opera.
Reg played Guiseppe in The Gondoliers in 1924, the society’s last production at the Theatre Royal before it closed down and became a barrel store for its owners, the Greene King Brewery.
But the shows went on with the society moving to The Playhouse, a cinema with a stage in Bury’s Buttermarket.
When it closed in 1959 the group was left homeless but carried on performing, mainly in schools, until the Theatre Royal reopened.
Members of the society joined the campaign to save the historic Regency theatre. Its chairman, Air Vice-Marshal Stanley Vincent, led the fund-raising.
Their production of Blithe Spirit was the first in the restored building in 1964 and all proceeds went to the theatre restoration fund. The society continued to contribute with donations of several thousand pounds, as well as to the restoration of 2005-07.
Through the years it has staged a huge variety of operas, musicals, plays, and concerts.
Singers and dancers have delighted audiences in musicals ranging from the upbeat 1950s vibe of Grease and the emotional drama of Carousel, to the perennial favourite The Sound of Music.
Me and My Girl in 1997, Crazy for You in 2003, and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast in 2011, won best musical in the East awards from NODA, the National Operatic and Dramatic Association. The society has been a member since October 1903.
As well as almost 150 musical shows and concerts, dozens of plays such as Charley’s Aunt, Calendar Girls, An Inspector Calls and The Hound of the Baskervilles have been performed.
In 1953 the society staged a concert to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and in 1977 a concert version of Merrie England for her Silver Jubilee.
In 1996 members’ knowledge of musicals won a BBC radio quiz, beating off competition from amateur societies from all over the country.
Centenary celebrations in 2002 and in 2003 included a reprise of the first production, HMS Pinafore. It opened with a gala night, with several of the audience in 1900s evening dress, on the same April date and in the same venue as the original.
A reunion for members past and present took place in July 2003 with people coming from all parts of the country to reunite and reminisce.
Over the years the society has taken part in in community events including Bury carnival, and presents an annual prize of £150 to a student embarking on a performing arts course.
For many years they staged two big musicals a year, but due to costs they now do one, and back it up with a play to raise money.
Some shows are so expensive to stage the theatre would need to be 99 per cent full just to break even, said president Phil Amtower.
“We don’t want to raise our ticket prices so high that people can’t afford them,” he said.
This year they are also putting on a fund-raising concert on June 16 with songs from musicals and past shows. Their next musical is Oliver! which will be staged in October, and Made in Dagenham is one the programme for 2024.
Phil and his wife Joyce – a life member – are long-time stalwarts of the society.
He got a taste for singing in his school choir back home in America, and joined BSEODS after being ‘talent spotted’ in a production at Mildenhall airbase, where he was stationed with the USAAF as a radio operator.
“The playgroup at the base was putting on Oliver! and I was playing Mr Bumble,” he said.
He met Joyce during a production of Brigadoon in 1984, and jokes he often got typecast – playing American characters like Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody.
Joyce was a drama teacher in schools until she was 70, and still does some private teaching. She joined the society in 1977, having loved singing since she was a child, and her first show was a concert version of Merrie England.
One of her favourite roles was Katisha in The Mikado, one of several of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas that was staged multiple times. “Playing the nasty one is much more fun,” she said.
Cath Harvey has been chair of BSEODS for the past four years and has just handed over to Nic Metcalfe.
She had been dancing since she was three, and doing musical theatre from the age of 11, and joined the society in 2000 soon after moving to Bury.
“Hello Dolly was the first show I was in and I’ve been in almost every one since,” she said. Favourite roles include Alice in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Mavis in Stepping Out.
As any performer will testify, not everything goes right all the time. Cath remembers being poised to start a dance when the wrong music came on. “When something like that happens it seems like an eternity,” she said.
The society currently has around 40 members, plus life members and friends.
“The most people we’ve ever had in a cast is around 35. Then there is our very loyal backstage crew, looking after things like lights, wardrobe and sound,” Cath added.
Claire Greener, who is the group’s secretary, has been a member for 33 years.
“My first show was Oklahoma. I was 17 and a student at Angela Morgan’s dance school. I was asked to be the lead dancer and got hooked and joined the society.
Among her memorable moments was playing the lead, Peggy Sawyer, in 42nd Street.
“It’s like a kind of family, although things have changed especially since Covid – now people sometimes join to be in one particular show. We are keen to recruit more members.”
Costumes for productions are often hired, although the society does have a large collection currently stored in an old Nissen hut.
“We would love to have somewhere to keep them that would allow us to hire them out to people,” said Claire.
Celebrated actor Nigel Havers, who grew up in the Bury area and is patron of Theatre Royal, is now also the society’s patron and visited last year to see their production of Neighbourhood Watch.
He succeeded the late comedian and actor Roy Hudd, who died in 2020.
Anyone interested in joining BSEODS, or companies who would consider sponsoring a production, can contact Claire by emailing secretary@bseods.org
Shakespeare in Love can be seen at Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds, from Tuesday, April 25 to Saturday, April 29.
