THE GONDOLIERS - our first production in 1923

Shrewsbury Amateur Operatic Society, as we were known originally, was founded by a local singing teacher called Madame Rina Robinson. Some of her pupils made up the cast of the first production, Gilbert & Sullivan’s 'The Gondoliers', in April-May 1923, and the rapturous applause that filled the auditorium of the small County Theatre in Shoplatch was a sign that this was the birth of something good!

A young performer by the name of Lilian Brookes, who played Casilda in that production, is quoted as saying "There had never been anything like that in Shrewsbury so it was accepted and hailed with great enthusiasm!"

A report in the Shrewsbury Chronicle labelled the auditorium as “packed almost to suffocation” and described the closing applause “vociferous and sustained.”

Click below to flick through the pages of the souvenir programme from that very first production!

Coming soon...

Keep an eye on this website for more of our past programmes and memorabilia dating back over the past century!