In celebration of the Anniversary of The Battle of Trafalgar, The Royal St George’s Society of Halifax presented an evening of dinner, theatre and merriment at The Royal Artillery Park on the 21st of October.
Members and guest met for cocktails followed by a traditional English Fish and Chip dinner. Our Treasurer, Vera Schwartz, topped off a fine meal with her now famous Trafalgar Trifle. Our President, Mr. Alan Williams, presented a toast in memory of the valiant sailors who fought the Battle of Trafalgar and to those serving in naval forces today.
Members and guests then retired to the Parlor where we were treated to a performance of the Victorian farce “Cox and Box” performed by The Rataplan Players from Halifax.
COX AND BOX
BY ARTHUR SULLIVAN & F.C. BURNAND
adapted from J. Maddison Morton's farce, Box and Cox
first presented in a London parlour in 1866
J.J. COX, a hatter who works by day MR. DUNCAN MILLER
J.J. BOX, a printer who works by night MR. TONY MARSHALL
MRS. BOUNCER, the landlady & director MISS JACQUI GOOD
PIANIST, MUSIC DIRECTOR MR. LEON COLE
PRODUCER /PENLOPE ANN MRS ANN MILLER
STAGE MANAGER MISS ROZ MARSHALL
Cox and Box: Victorian movers and shakers loved to put on parlour entertainments. In 1866, the 23 year old Arthur Sullivan was a rising star in the world of ‘serious’ music. One of his friends convinced him to write the very frivolous music for a mini-musical called Cox and Box. Sullivan whipped up his confection in two weeks and played the piano for the première at a large London home. The show was so popular that it moved to a regular theatre. Sullivan continued to write ‘serious’ music, but Cox and Box had shown his real genius lay with ‘light’ music. A few years later he met William Gilbert and the rest is musical history. Mikado, Pirates and the rest eclipsed little Cox and Box. Until now.
The Rataplan Players is made up of six theatrical friends who have fallen in love with this Victorian gem. Since 2003, they have performed the show as a fund-raiser for good causes in Ontario, PEI and Nova Scotia. They have no intention of stopping.
Our Causes: The Gilbert & Sullivan Society of NS for which we have all worked many, many times and, without which, we would never have mounted Cox & Box in the first place. We have romped through many of the G&S shows, large and small. But this past year we were especially proud to be involved in the world premiere of a new Nova Scotia musical, Out of Lunenburg.
