Dear Readers,

The February newsletter finds the company encouragingly on schedule with rehearsals for The Gondoliers.

Act One has now been blocked in its entirety, and we are now making inroads on the dances for Act Two.

Indeed, some of you may have already seen pictures on Facebook of our eager volunteer dancers posed at

the conclusion of the Cachucha. This month we have a Q & A with our Casilda, Stephanie Lomax; and

Leon, our Director, shares some of his thoughts on the opera.

Richard Wheatley

A FEW WORDS FROM OUR DIRECTOR, LEON BERGER

Gilbert sets The Gondoliers in 1750 he intended a historical piece of frills, embroidery and periwigs. But wait a minute, what are those references to Methodist Ministers (not so-called until over a 100 years later

1858) and the Public Liabilities Act (1855)? What would a Catholic Grand Inquisitor be doing in Venice any-

way a staunchly Republican country? In fact the closer one looks at the very elements in the plot that might seem to tie the show down to a specific time frame, the less they do so. Gilbert is actually playing fast and

loose with his dating.

The Plaza-Toros, the central comic characters, are self-confessed, money-grabbing social climbers and are headed by the Duke himself, who is not entirely sure about his title. Their emphasis on manners & decorum,

which they can barely sustain themselves, reveal them as vulgar snobs. Their daughter Casilda (played by

Stephanie and the subject of this editions Q&A) is their Essex-girl type daughter who cant wait to get her hands on the Prince shes been promised.

Gilberts characters are so well-delineated that they have counterparts in any era in order to bring the ele-ments of social snobbery and class consciousness a little closer home I have chosen to update the action to the

1950s, with only the most minimal changes to Gilberts text. Any anachronisms to be found were equally anachronistic in Gilberts 1750 setting too. For the look of the piece I have been more than influenced by some of my favourite Italianate films like Roman Holiday, Three Coins in the Fountain and La Dolce Vita.

Having said that, those of you familiar with more traditional performances will still find many familiar and

congenial elements onstage. Sometimes a traditional approach, or bit of business, is simply the most elegant solution to handling a scene. I like to think of my productions as Traditional with a Twist

The Gondoliers makes fun of some of the most sensitive parts of society;

namely, class, politics and religion - highly controversial subjects for

comedy. Gilberts satire was as hard-hitting in 1889 when it was written as in the early 1950s when this production is set - it is

still pretty unsettling today.

CESP NEWSLETTER

The FEBRUARY issue

Q & A with Stephanie Lomax

What attracted you to join CESP?

Since my first G & S production a few years ago (HMS

Pinafore), I have done a mixture of musicals, operettas

and music hall shows - but I keep coming back to G & S,

and I wanted to find a similarly-minded society. I was

really impressed by last year's auditions for CESP's Yeo-

men of the Guard - CESP is clearly full of talented per-

formers! So I was determined to give it another shot this

year.

Which part are you playing in The Gondoliers?

I'm playing Casilda. Interestingly, in this production the Duke's family hail from Essex. So I'm

looking forward to donning white stilettos and emulating TOWIE. I do think this is an excellent

way of updating the role for those who've seen the show before and new converts.

Do you have a favourite G & S opera / role?

It's difficult to pick a favourite, because I like a few of them for different reasons. I'm currently

learning the role of Phyllis for a concert performance of Iolanthe in March, and I think the music is

particularly well orchestrated. As a soprano, I'd love to sing Josephine in HMS Pinafore and Rose

Maybud in Ruddigore.

How do you like to spend your time when you are not singing/

performing?

I like watching other people sing and perform! I enjoy going to the opera and ballet at the Royal

Opera House. My husband, Rob, also performs opera, so I go along to his shows too. I am also a

huge fan of Studio Ghibli animated movies.

I think CESP members make a lot of effort to welcome new people, which is really nice. I'm also

impressed by how organised everything and everyone is. It's very comforting to know I've pretty

much blocked all of my scenes in the first month of rehearsals.

Stephanie as Aline in The Sorcerer How have you found the experience so far?