Thespis Day One

Okay, Aussie G&S fans, here's the big news for 2010! Gilbert and Sullivan's first collaboration, Thespis or The Gods Grown Old, is finally to be performed on Australian soil. Now I am sure that one or two of you will be saying "What the hell is Thespis?" and to both of you I say - Thespis was a Christmas extravaganza premiered on Boxing Day 1871 at the Gaiety Theatre. It had some pretty good reviews, had a pretty good run, and then everyone forgot about it.

But it refused to lie down and die, and when its creators, Gilbert and Sullivan, hit the big time a few years later they politely acknowledged it, borrowed one of its choruses for The Pirates of Penzance, but never revived it. Sullivan never had the score published and for years it has been lost.

Enter Tony Baker and Tim Henty, who in 2008 unveiled their critically acclaimed reconstruction of Thespis in the UK. Wonderful reviews, full houses - if airfares weren't so bloody expensive I would have flown over to see it for myself, though I'm told tickets could not be had for love nor money.

And now, Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Victoria, Australia's best G&S Company - more on them later - have bitten the bullet and will be performing this edition in 2010 at the Alexander Theatre.

And who am I, pray tell? More on that later as well. For now, just call me Tipseion........