A variety of costumed characters were out in force to publicise Stafford and District Operatic Society’s new show, which opens tomorrow.
Ten actors including Andrew Ridal,who plays jealous jailer Wilfred Shadbolt, entertained the crowds in Stafford Market Square on Saturday ahead of the major military parade.
They were out to spread the word about their production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Yeomen of the Guard, which will be performed until Saturday.
Andrew, 26, who played Curly in the society’s 2006 production of Oklahoma, has also appeared in several productions of the ‘meatiest’ of the G&S repertoire.
But it was the role of Wilfred Shadbolt which made Andrew British Youth Opera’s youngest principle in a production of Yeomen at the Royal Opera House in 2001, when he was just 19.
Andrew said Saturday’s exercise had benefited from the huge crowds assembled to watch servicemen from MoD Stafford receiving the Freedom of the Borough. “It’s gone really well,” he said. “There was a really good reaction to it.”
Tickets for Yeomen of the Guard are priced from £8. To book, call the Gatehouse on 01785 254 653 or go to www.staffordgatehousetheatre.co.uk
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