Doctor Who?

If you were lucky enough to be in the audience of The Scarlet Pimpernel, The King and I, or See how they run, in Cheltenham last year, you may be surprised to know that you have a member of the medical profession to thank for your evening of quality entertainment,

In 1890 the Hussars, who were in camp at Badgeworth, were among those who received an invitation to attend Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera, Trial by Jury.  The venue was to be The Assembly Rooms, High Street, Cheltenham.  Some of the soldiers planned to travel by carriage on the evening, while younger members had arranged to ride in, leaving their horses in livery at The Plough Hotel.

Doctor George Bagot Ferguson, a former Cheltenham College boy, was the doctor at the helm of this maiden voyage.  Messrs Cavendish House on The Promenade supplied the dresses for what was to be the debut performance of Doctor Ferguson’s music class.  Before the group had set foot on the stage of the Assembly Rooms Dr Ferguson was already busy planning their second public production.  This was to be ‘Iolanthe’ at The Winter Gardens - Cheltenham’s answer to London’s Crystal Palace.

The Assembly Rooms were demolished in 1901 to make way for a bank and The Winter Gardens during the Second World War, as they were thought to be a possible target for the German air force.  However, Doctor Ferguson’s music class, one hundred and nineteen years later, is still with us, alive and kicking in the shape of Cheltenham Operatic & Dramatic Society, fondly known as CODS.    

It is hard to imagine Cheltenham without its premier theatre, The Everyman.  Yet, shortly after their debut, the founder members of CODS witnessed the famous Frank Matcham theatre being built.  The theatre is believed to be the oldest surviving complete Frank Matcham theatre in the country.  Doors opened on 1st October 1891.  The theatre was known as The Opera House being renamed The Everyman in 1960.  Within five months, in February 1892, the music group was receiving excellent reviews for their production of ‘Pirates of Penzance’. 

A fascinating publication has been written by Peter Arnold to cover the first 100 years of CODS.  It is filled with rich detail and anecdotes of the evolution of Gloucestershire’s premier Operatic & Dramatic society.  It shows as early as the 1930’s, that CODS members were taking full advantage of the direct rail link between London Paddington and Cheltenham St James’ station.  Scenery used in professional London productions was transported in a special forty-five foot wagon, adapted to fit the scenery.  Horses and carts would transport the scenery from the theatre after the last Saturday night show back to St James’ station, often after the street lights had been extinguished at midnight.  A similar operation continues today, but the scenery now arrives in an articulated lorry with a price tag of thousands of pounds. 

The relationship between The Everyman and CODS continues to this day with their annual summer production being performed there.  The winter and autumn shows take place at The Playhouse, which opened as a theatre in April 1945, having been an indoor swimming pool, attached to the Bath Road Medical Baths.

These photographs featuring cast members in costume for our latest production ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’, were shot at The Daffodil, another gem of architecture in Cheltenham.  When the Charleston was in full swing The Daffodil was a 1920s Art Deco cinema and is now a thriving restaurant.  If this is your favourite era and you dream of wearing long pearls, a fringed beaded dress, a feather in your hair and dancing the Charleston, then Thoroughly Modern Millie was the show for you.  Join us on the journey of the next one hundred years of Cheltenham Operatic and Dramatic Society.

Acknowledgements

Footlights and Greasepaint by Peter Arnold – The first 100 years of Cheltenham Operatic & Dramatic Society

Karen Frank

June 2009