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Princess Ida, 1980
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Chris Boot on Princess Ida
As a new member of the society in this year, I was a little disappointed to discover we were performing a work that I didn't even know! However, all the new members threw themselves into the production wholeheartedly and (eventually) enjoyed themselves.
Several difficulties soon presented themselves: three acts to costume, blank verse to learn and only thirty-odd pounds in the Societies accounts. Corners were cut everywhere - the largest parts of the scenery were made from the insides of carpet rolls with sponge trim - successful even though they did have a tendency to look like elongated pineapples. The statue of Minerva also had a uncanny resemblance to the new Prime Minister - remember Margaret Thatcher had only just been elected and Ida's invocation in Act II to the goddess of wisdom had a different meaning in our show!
One area where we were lucky was to have two very dedicated producers - Andy Headford and Janet Starkie - as well as some wonderful principals - especially Alison Wary in the title part and Joe Cornwall as Hilarion.
We hired the costumes from "Homburgs" in Leeds - but could only pay after the run! They were excellent about this and even let us descend on their showroom to choose the costumes. We didn't like to tell them that this was a way of saving money. If we fetched the costumes in the CAP minibus, we saved thirty pounds in the hire fees!
The costumes meant that we had to change the words of the "This helmet I suppose" song. If it had been performed as written, the costume would have fallen to pieces, if the breastplate had been removed before the other pieces of costume. This might not have achieved the effect that Sullivan anted as instead of having two key changes during the song, we had to have four.
On a lighter note, the "dreadful snickersnee" from Mikado the year before made the first of many appearances, being wielded by Lady Blanche in Act III.
