1988, Ruddigore
The men (ancestors) step out of their picture frames to sing.
Ruddigore - rehearsals
These history notes have been kindly provided by our long-term artistic director and co-founder, Graham Ford.
After toying with the idea of doing Patience, Iolanthe or The Gondoliers for next year's Gilbert and Sullivan, the committee suddenly changed tack and settled for Ruddigore after viewing the ABC's production on video.
It was now time to get Ruddigore up and running. The first step was to hold an introductory evening at which extracts from the show were presented. There was a very friendly atmosphere and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.
Two weeks later auditions were held and the competition was fierce - 25 auditionees for 11 roles. While some familiar faces won roles - Beryl Nichols, John Tacey, Rod Gorfine and Graham Ford - some promising new talent appeared in the form of Jenni Williams, Fiona Wake and Greg Stewart. Chris Livingstone's deep bass voice found an ideal vehicle in Old Adam. Rehearsals then got under way in earnest, especially after Diamond Creek Uniting Church's production of the gospel musical Hosea, in which 15 members of V.M.S. appeared.
By mid-July the publicity committee was up and running, organising tickets, programs, posters, a banner and windcheaters with a specially designed logo by Nancy's future son-in-law, Steven. It was decided that taking the publicity photos at Montsalvat would create the right atmosphere.
Potential disaster struck mid-July when Chris White decided that he was unable to fit directing Ruddigore in with other paying activities, and would regretfully have to drop out. Several options for dealing with this situation were discussed and the chosen solution was that Graham Ford would direct and Peter Heath, a professional actor but inexperienced singer who missed out in the first round of auditions, was asked to take over the role of Despard. Graham was already fired up with some novel ideas, such as dressing Margaret and Despard as Salvos in the second act.
Dianne Richter also dropped out of the chorus to take over as producer. Dianne was one of Graham's longest-serving students. Graham had boarded with Dianne and Gary at Ormond before marrying Mavis, and continued to teach her after moving to Diamond Creek. Dianne was "best man" at their wedding!
At rehearsals Rhonda was making progress with the choreography. Some principals missed a few rehearsals, but understudies saved the day. Dianne and Graham arranged to borrow costumes from the Babirra Players, including a suit of armour for Les Bardwell to wear as a statue. He had the difficult task of remaining still throughout Act 2 until Dame Hannah was about to decapitate Robin with a battle axe - when he had to grab it!
There was a last minute crisis with the sets when Chris White again found himself short of time, so everyone lent a hand to save the day and learned a lot about maypole construction. Chris was able to paint the portraits for the Second Act, but Ray Stewart painted the frames.
Ruddigore - performances
Show Program
The whole cast assembled for the first time for the Charity Performance which was attended by people from local retirement homes, some of whom had to leave early to get home for tea! Keith Billing video-taped the performance and Dianne's father, Alf Lee, was in charge of lighting. Robert Alves took on the job of stage manager.
Opening night went well, although the dry ice machine failed to function, so some of the atmosphere in act 2 was lost. Over the remaining performances audience attendance was pleasing, and the company was pleased to have made a success of a less popular show.