Student actors are reprising a production last performed by their school in 1971 by an all-boy cast – with one of the original company returning to the stage 45 years on.
Barnard Castle School was a boys’ school until it went co-educational in 1982 and this week’s performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance by the school Choral Society will see girls in some of the lead singing roles.
Year 7 pupil Anna Robinson and Evie Brenkley from Year 8 will perform, along with Sam Farquhar, Year 12, as the Major-General, Year 11 pupil Nicholas Mackay as Policeman Sargeant and James McGauley as Sam.
The roles of Mabel and Frederic will be sung by assistant headmistress Amy Jackson and head of drama Scott Edwards, while local professional bass Neil Turnball takes the role of the Pirate King.
Other students from the day school choir, the Barney Singers, are also involved in the show, which is being conducted by director of music Simon Dearsley and staged at The Witham, in Barnard Castle, on Friday at 7.30pm.
The show will revive memories for Old Barnardian Peter Hodges, who played Frederic in the original 1971 production, and is returning to the show as both a pirate and a policeman.
Having started at Barnard Castle School in 1964, Mr Hodges went on to send his own three children there, is a past chairman of the Old Barnardians alumni association and is now a governor and chairman of the recently formed Foundation Board, which is to be the focus of fundraising efforts for providing bursaries and ambitious capital projects.
Future developments being planned at the school include a dedicated chemistry and biology building, a sports hub and the redevelopment of art studios.
Mr Hodges, a director at Niven Architects, in Darlington, said: “Returning for the 2016 production of Pirates of Penzance will bring back very happy memories for me from 45 years ago. I won’t be singing any solos this time but am really looking forward to joining the cast and adding some gusto to the chorus.”
At the same time as Pirates, the school is hosting Everest mountaineer Nick Talbot, who recently became the first person with cystic fibrosis to conquer the mountain.
Old Barnardian Mr Talbot will share his story in the Bentley Beetham Endeavour Lecture, named in honour of the school’s previous Everest climber from the 1920s.
Headmaster Alan Stevens added: “Friday promises to be a packed evening for the school when we celebrate the spirit and endeavour of Old Barnardians and also admire courage of a different kind shown by our young actors and singers as they take to the stage.”
- Tickets for Pirates of Penzance, costing £10 for adults and £8 for concessions, are available from The Witham box office.