Cricketing Buxton

It was my pleasure a couple of weeks ago to attend a performance of 'Ruddigore' at Buxton Opera House during the G&S festival there. This proved to be an enlightening experience. Firstly 'our' ladies facilities are palatial by comparison. There was only one ladies comfort station to serve the entire stalls. This is about on a par with Verona where there are several more facilities, but they tend to be holes in the ground in the bowels of the amphitheatre, great when you have dressed for the occasion. Secondly my daughter in law and I accidentally chose to eat in the pub frequented by all the operatic luvvies attending the season. The bitchiness was a pleasure to witness.
The group performing that evening were from Southampton and staged a modern dress performance with a cricketing theme, sort of 'Outside Edge' with violins. We did not stay for the adjudication, the G&S purists sitting behind us were not impressed, but then listening in to their conversation in the interval, they had been less than enthusiastic with the Bride of Chukkie in Verona's 'La Traviata' last year. I had another surprise when the contralto arrived, I had to restrain myself from calling out, she was our Lattedrinker's lovely wife's double!
It got me thinking about the Spring, lots of ideas but definitely no 'communal box', the running gag of the whole show. On with my deliberations!