Yeomen of the Guard

[ex ENO. I have failed to find out from when. Also to find any kind of programme for this Autumn. Not as if they will have moved up north by then]

Gilbert & Sullivan had come around again to the Leatherhead Theatre (aka Thorndike Theatre), so off we went. Two heritage items for the price of one.

Commenced proceedings with what turned out to be slightly too hearty lunch, a confection of left over rice, fresh vegetables and a preserved kabanos. It tasted well enough at the time, but too hearty in the sense that it encouraged snoozing later.

Parked on the roof of the Swan Centre, from where we spotted a couple of small clumps of mistletoe. A harbinger rather than an invasion.

Also a trolley from the Sainsbury's downstairs. But it was in a designated place, so not scorable, even had BH not been with me.

A substantial orchestra, with substantial wind and brass sections. Some interesting scoring for them, but I found being sat so near a bit distracting. I might have got on better hearing but not seeing them. While the conductor worked from a very large score, with hard covers. Presumably some sort of loose leaf arrangement so that the pages could be easily turned and so that they laid flat. Presumably one can hire such things from somewhere.

I associated to the naval aunt who used to write versions of G&S operas for her opera group, the idea being that they were different enough from the original not to infringe copyright. But I think she got visited by the copyright police all the same. She liked doing it, but I expect also that the fees payable for using the real operas were a bit much for local, amateur groups.

I did not really connect with this opera - although BH got on fine - and I'm afraid I did snooze for a bit. I thought to wake myself a bit at the interval with some pink ice cream, ice cream which turned out to be quite heavy when compared with the sorbets that I have been taking of late. Furthermore, despite being called strawberry ice cream it was cream in colour, not pink.

Wetherspoons, just up the hill, was in full swing when we arrived at around 17:30, and we took the same cosy table as we had taken the year before. This time I ordered an extra small portion of chips to go with my steak & kidney pudding and chips, which taken together was about right. I am convinced their pies have got smaller over the years - but at their prices one can't really complain. However, I would say that their red wine, while cheap, was a bit thin compared with the offering at the 'Half Way House' at Earlsfield. Branded & bottled beer more reliable in that way.

The place being named for an Elizabethan courtier - Sir Edmund Tilney - who once had a house up the road, there were plenty of fakes paintings on the wall to match - paintings which reminded me of those at the 'Duchess of Cornwall' at Poundbury. But they had been printed by computer on some kind of canvas - while I was not clear how these had been done at all.

Quite a few young ladies just warming up for a Saturday night on the town. BH advises that Leatherhead is more a night town than a day town, certainly for the purposes of eating and drinking.

A fine moon with what I think was Jupiter above when we got back to the roof of the Swan Centre. Sadly, I had more trouble with reference 5 when we got home than I remember. Maybe it was the wrong website, maybe they have changed the layout - but probably it was just me.

Back home, the Racines wine was still good, but despite fine new stopper, not as good as the night before. I imagine that this was partly the wine, partly me. Taste and so forth very sensitive to mood and context. See reference 6.

PS: there was also the problem of the hot knights in armour, also in G&S, possibly from the film 'Topsy Turvey', which I thought sounded like Yeomen. A problem which was solved fast enough by Google on the search key 'hot knights in armour gilbert and sullivan', without reference to Gemini, with the answer being 'Princess Ida'.

References

Reference 1: Yeomen of the Guard - Gilbert & Sullivan - 1888.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yeomen_of_the_Guard.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorndike_Theatre.

Reference 4: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2024/03/patience.html.

Reference 5: https://www.timeanddate.com/.

Reference 6: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/03/trolley-782.html.