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Services at St Chad’sPatience – The Comic OperaThe Gilbert and Sullivanopera Patience is notabout the virtue butabout the dairymaidof that name who iswooed by two rival poets:Reginald Bunthorne andArchibald Grosvenor.Both poets are, at differenttimes, pursued by a trainof love-sick maidens. Thefact that these maidens arealready engaged to officers inthe Dragoon Guards seemsto make no difference.Patience howeverdeclares she knows nothingof love and doesn’t wantto as it seems to makepeople unhappy. The plot iscomplicated and, as usualwith Gilbert and Sullivan,involves people changingplaces in one way oranother and the swappingof roles and uniforms etc.Eventually, by the endof Act Two, everyoneexcept Bunthorneends up with a partner,including Patience, whofinds out that Grosvenor isher childhood sweetheart and shecan’t marry Bunthorne becausehe has become perfect and itwouldn’t be unselfish to marryhim. Lady Jane, the older, uglyone (contralto), vows to stick byBunthorne but, in the end, acceptsa better offer from Lt Dunstable(tenor) who is also a Duke.Confused? So was I. But then,Gilbert’s life was anything butstraightforward.Patience presented Gilbert withdifficulties in the planning stage.His first idea had been to write aplay about aesthetics but he wasconcerned that the chorus wouldnot be able toact, dress, or even make upeffectively, so he planned andwrote much of the play abouttwo curates who attracted ladyparishioners. Although the planto satirise the Church of EnglandAnglo-Catholic Movement with itsritual and vestment seemed wellenough at the planning stage, hebegan to get cold feet as the detailbegan to emerge and he revertedto the story about aestheticism.He had got away with poking funat politicians, judges, dukes andeven kings and princes but facingSt Chad’s Church, Linden Avenue, WoodseatsChurch Office: Linden Avenue, Sheffield S8 0GATel: (0114) 274 5086Page 14email: office@stchads.orgwebsite: www.stchads.org
the probable wrath of the Churchof England was another matter.Thus the curates became poetsand the lady parishoners highborn love-sick maidens. It maybe that he had the writer OscarWilde and the poet Swinburnein mind as general models forBunthorne and Grosvenor.No expense was spared onthe production, the fabrics for thecostumes were bought at Liberty’sand Gilbert himself designedthem.The fi rst performance tookplace at the Opera Comique onApril 23, 1881 and the productionwas moved to the new SavoyTheatre on October 10, 1881.The Prince of Wales attended theperformance and the theatre waspacked, all 1,292 seats being taken.The new theatre had all the latesttechnology and was illuminated byelectricity. The original run was 578performances.But was has the opera Patiencegot to do with the virtue? Very little,if anything. Gilbert and Sullivan hadno patience with each other, theirrelationship was often openly hostile.Sullivan always wanted to be aclassical composer but his symphoniesand oratorios never made money.His cooperation with Gilbert did. BothGilbert and Sullivan each made morethan Gladstone, the Prime Minister andboth lived in luxury mansions. Sullivanwould seek his Lost Chord in vain, butthis quote from Yeoman of the Guardillustrates Gilbert’s creed and perhapsshows how compromise, if not patience,changed the musical theatre for ever.BeauchiefHandymanServices57 Dalewood AveBeauchiefSheffieldS8 0EGPhone: 0114 236 1050Mobile: 07906 146307Email: philipcrowtherbhs@gmail.com0114 453 4716• Painting and decorating• Tiling - floors & walls• Fencing, decking, walls& patios• Joinery, includingconservatories, UPVCwindows, fascias & guttering• General maintenanceEvery Wednesdayfrom 9.30-11.30am“For, look you, there is humour in allthings, and the truest philosophy is thatwhich teaches us to fi nd it and make themost of it”Sylvia BennettSt Chad’s Church, Linden Avenue, WoodseatsChurch Office: Linden Avenue, Sheffi eld S8 0GATel: (0114) 274 5086Page 15email: office@stchads.orgwebsite: www.stchads.org
Page 1 and 2: WOODSEATS • SHEFFIELDFebruary/Mar
Page 3 and 4: You probably are familiar with the
Page 5 and 6: ‘Dear God, give me patience - I n
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Page 9 and 10: St Chad’s Church, Linden Avenue,
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Page 31 and 32: St Chad’s Church, Linden Avenue,

Impact0220

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