Bernard has been a life-long fan of the works of G&S. As an author, two of his books are about G&S and since 2005 he has been a Trustee of the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival – www.gsfestivals.org– and is also involved with the Festival’s National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company – www.ngsoc.org. He has broadcast about G&S on BBC Radios 2, 3 & 4 and also on several local BBC Radio Stations.
At our July 6th meeting Bernard plans to look at the background and history concerning the vast amount of social and political comment within the G&S works and to see how W.S Gilbert (the writer) was a man of strong social conscience and a friend of Charles Dickens. He will consider the similarity to Dicken’s writing style and show how W.S. Gilbert had the added benefit of Sir Arthur Sullivan’s music to add strength, support and impetus to the social commentary. Finally, he will take a wry look at how many of the sentiments hold as much relevance to the present day as to when they were first written – “Dull MP’s” and a “House of Lords that does nothing in particular, yet does it rather well” for example!