page_title: Derby Gilbert & Sullivan Company
section_title: 2002–2008
hierarchical_section_title: Derby Gilbert & Sullivan Company / History / 2002–2008
caption_attribution_description: English: This image is from a D'Oyly Carte Opera Company souvenir programme, dated 23 January 1886, during the original a production of The Mikado at the Savoy Theatre in London. This souvenir includes pages with scenes from the earlier Gilbert and Sullivan operas, including this one from H.M.S. Pinafore featuring Sir Joseph Porter, his "sisters, cousins and aunts", Captain Corcoran and the midshipmite.
context_page_description: Derby Gilbert & Sullivan Company, based in Derby, England, produced the works of Gilbert and Sullivan from 1966 to 2018. The company won the amateur competition at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival an unprecedented six times and have been called "one of the most highly acclaimed nonprofessional theatre companies in the UK". The company also won awards from the Waterford International Festival of Light Opera.
  The company usually mounted one or two productions each year, with orchestra, performing for a week in Derby, and one performance at the G&S Festival in Buxton, England along with various concert performances. They also performed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and Seattle, Washington in the US, in Lanzarote, Spain and in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.
context_section_description: In 2002 the Company appointed a new President, Glyn Hepworth, who initiated the company's popular "Dinner and Operetta Evenings".  The company mounted The Gondoliers in the spring.  In the summer, the company flew to Seattle, Washington, where they were hosted by the Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society in three performances of Iolanthe.  The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's review commented that "the Derby company made clear why it is so well-regarded. It brought its own performers, set, costumes and several staff members, but the company used Seattle G & S' orchestra. ...  Derby's lively production was ... a delight to ... the appreciative audience. ...  Although all this company is amateur, it has fielded some excellent voices that are well-suited to G & S; the choruses of peers and fairies sang richly and so clearly nearly every word was audible. Less than two weeks after their return to the UK, the company performed The Gondoliers on the Awards Night of the International G&S Festival at the Buxton Opera House.
  In 2003, the company's production of Ruddigore was Festival Winner, the company's 4th top win. The following year, the company was forced to end its 23-year relationship with the Derby Playhouse and move its production of H.M.S. Pinafore to the Derby Assembly Rooms Darwin Suite, a much smaller "black box" space with fewer technical capabilities.  Nevertheless, the company placed 2nd Runners-up at the International G&S Festival.  In both 2005 and 2006, the company again was Festival Winner, with Andrew Nicklin's productions of The Sorcerer and Pirates. The company's six wins at the Festival are unprecedented and are still the largest number of first place wins. The company also took The Sorcerer to the Waterford Festival of Light Opera, where it won the awards for Best G&S Opera, Best G&S Director and Best Chorus, and Stephen Godward won Best Male Singer for his performance as Dr. Daly.  In 2005, the company also took its 2004 production of Pinafore to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.  As with all of the company's transatlantic trips, the cast, and in this case also the technical staff, paid their own airfare and accommodation.  Nevertheless, the company enjoyed the experience so much that they went again to Nanaimo in 2007, taking two productions, Andrew Nicklin's Iolanthe and Pirates.
  In 2008, the company were invited to perform in the Victorian Theatre within Chatsworth House, where it gave three performances of 'Pirates.  They were invited to return to Chatsworth in 2009 and expects to do so annually.
caption: The company took its production of H.M.S. Pinafore to Canada; Pinafore was also the company's first full-length show.
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