Southampton Operatic Society is the oldest musical society in the City and is very proud of the many years of entertainment and pleasure given to both audiences and its participating members alike, and of its position at the forefront of the theatrical life of Southampton over the past 80 years. Here we look back to 1924 and concentrate on that very first production.

Today, with so much high technology and choice of entertainment, it is hard for us to imagine just how difficult it must have been to produce a musical in 1924. For example, in those days musical scores were not always available. Usually, the main songs were printed as sheet music but the chorus numbers had, quite often, to be copied out by hand from one single score obtained from the publishers. In the world at large, 1924 was the year of the Chariots of Fire Olympic Games in Paris, the deaths of two famous composers, Puccini and Fauré and of the Russian leader Lenin.

Southampton, though not a city at this time was, nevertheless, a premiere port, with liners sailing regularly to America, South Africa and Australia. The Mauretania had just set a new record for the crossing of the Atlantic in just over five days. Eighty years on, of course, we have just celebrated the launch and naming of Queen Mary 2. The town was very prosperous and fine buildings lined the High Street and Above Bar and the area around the docks and railway terminus was very busy. The railway was a popular means of transport, but London was still a good day’s journey by car!

Entertainment in the town was very basic. Radio was just getting going (the BBC started in 1922), gramophone records were few and far between and silent films were showing in the new cinemas – “talkies” started in 1927. The London stage was presenting mainly plays, with occasional musicals such as Chu Chin Chow, The Arcadians, or The Geisha, whilst provincial theatres had plays and touring Music Halls. The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, presenting the works of Gilbert & Sullivan, was in its heyday, having been formed in 1875; it was to this repertoire that most amateur societies turned for their first production. However, in those days most families made their own entertainment and it was a popular pastime to sing around the piano at home, with children being encouraged to learn to play an instrument or to sing, so that the whole family could join in.

From these humble beginnings of a group of friends singing around a piano, the Above Bar Guild Musical and Dramatic Society – later to become the Southampton Operatic Society – was formed when Miss Edith Ashdown, the daughter of a Southampton businessman and a member of the Above Bar Congregational Church, got her friends together, amongst whom was Evelyn Thorne, who ran a local ladies’ choir. Together, they decided to present Merrie England by Edward German, a substantial operetta with a large cast, for their first production.

The Isaac Watts Memorial Hall, which stood pre-war on a site in Above Bar (now occupied by Primark), was chosen as the venue for this first production. The Hall, although quite large, had no permanent stage so that Merrie England was performed on a platform made of trestle table tops placed on beer crates! The show opened 19th – 22nd March 1924 under the direction of Miss Ashdown with Charles Andrews as the Musical Director. Music was provided by Mrs Julius Caesar playing the piano together with the 20-piece Northwood Orchestra. The records of the Society show that a total of 46 members took acting parts, with children from the Girls Guild of Service performing the dancing. Tickets were 3/6 or 2/4 reserved and 1/3 unreserved.

No press reports are available but it must have been a great success as the Society was able to give a £300 donation to charity and was then asked to repeat its performances for three nights in October 1924. Charitable support has continued to be a vital element of the ethos of Southampton Operatic Society. Many of our productions have supported Save the Children – for whom we have raised in excess of £10,000 over the past few years.

Perhaps some of the differences between 1924 and 2004 can best be summed up in these two extracts from the original programme: “The courtesy of ladies in removing their hats will be greatly appreciated by those sitting behind” and “trams to all districts will leave the Above Bar Street entrance, immediately after the performance”!

Jim Chilvers, Society Archivist

As the oldest musical society in the City, Southampton Operatic Society is tremendously proud of its years of providing entertainment and pleasure to both audiences and its participating members alike. Here, we take you on a whirlwind guide of some of the notable firsts that have been achieved by the Southampton Operatic Society over those first 80 years.

1988 was one of the most important years in the Society’s history. Not only did it see our first production at the Mayflower Theatre (The Pirates of Penzance produced by Pam de Grouchy with M.D. Philip Johnson) but it saw the formation of our enormously important Junior Section. With the changes to the National Education Curriculum, time for producing musical shows within local schools disappeared and the Society began to suffer from a lack of youngsters who were leaving school with any experience of or a taste for the musical stage. The Junior Section was formed to reverse this trend and has proved to be not only extremely popular but also very successful ever since. Response from local youngsters has been terrific and the Senior Section has given them its full support, seeing, quite rightly, that these young performers are the stars of tomorrow.

Back in 1927, however, life for the Society was very different. After a string of successful productions of musicals and plays, the first Gilbert & Sullivan operetta was produced in April 1927. The Gondoliers was presented at The Watts Hall and was a resounding success with profits being donated to the Royal South Hants and Southampton Hospital. This first G&S production was the start of a tradition which has led to the Society performing the Savoy Operas for most of the years since - of the 106 productions over our first 80 years, 75 have been the works of Gilbert & Sullivan and we have produced all of their operettas except The Grand Duke, an omission which we aim to correct in January 2006.

The Watts Hall proved to be too small for the larger audiences the Society quickly attracted and productions were moved to The Royal Pier Pavilion in 1931. Unfortunately, the dressing room facilities backstage were very cramped and only the ladies could change there. The men had to change in a room at the Pierhead and run down the Pier just before their entrance. This proved particularly difficult during the production of Iolanthe in 1932. On one performance night it was very windy and pouring with rain. The men’s chorus put off their run down the pier as long as they could, but the rain did not ease up and, wrapping their Peers’ cloaks around themselves, they made a dash for it! By the time they arrived backstage they were pretty wet and as soon as they made their grand entrance the heat of the lights caused clouds of steam to pour off them. By the end of the opening Peers Chorus, the stage was shrouded in fog and nobody could see what was going on!

Over the years, the Society has been privileged to be the first musical society to perform in various venues around the City. Our production of The Yeomen of the Guard in 1934 was the first at the new Avenue Hall and in 1938 our Iolanthe was the first production on the new Guildhall stage. The Society is honoured in having the Mayor of Southampton as its President and it was perhaps fitting that we presented the first musical production in the Guildhall – a venue that was to be our home for the next 50 years. We now produce two shows per year and very much see our home as being the Nuffield Theatre.

Although over the years, many members of the Society have made their living by teaching music and several have performed as semi-professionals, the first member to become fully professional was Barry Clarke in 1971. Since then he has been followed by Valerie Nunns, Anne Osborne, Stephen Hill, Claire Rutter and Rae Baker. Simon Pontin, who has played several lead tenor roles for us over recent years, is the latest to join this line of members to move to the professional stage.

More recently, we have ventured into the world of grand opera (first producing Carmen in 1978) and musicals (the first one being Fiddler on the Roof in 1996) so that we have now broadened our productions to cover all aspects of the musical stage.

Over the last 80 years, the Society has managed to survive and flourish despite problems along the way. At times it has struggled with shortages of new young people coming in, lack of finances, competition from TV and films and lack of an appropriate theatre to play in, to name but a few. However, the 21st Century sees the Society in a very strong position, with many young, enthusiastic members, a good relationship with the Southampton business community and a much valued audience and supporter base. All of this is very much due to the hard work of many people over the years and the support of our audiences. It is good to know that the Society is in very good hands to continue, so that future generations may have the same pleasure and thrill of performing in and watching these shows that the older members have had.

Jim Chilvers, Society Archivist