STAVELEY Amateur Operatic Society brings a touch of 16th Century London to the local village hall next week.

The popular players take on the 'dramatis personae' of Gilbert and Sullivan's Yeomen of the Guard for a four-night run from next Wednesday-Saturday, September 16-19 (7.30pm).

The show is set at the Tower of London, where Colonel Fairfax, a gentleman, soldier and scientist, has been sentenced to death on a false charge of sorcery. To avoid leaving his estate to his accuser (a cousin), and with the help of the Lieutenant of the tower, Fairfax secretly marries Elsie Maynard, a strolling singer. The bride agrees to be blindfolded during the ceremony and expects to be a well-paid widow within the hour. However, with the help of the Meryll family, Colonel Fairfax escapes, throwing the tower into confusion and the astonished Elsie (and her companion, Jack Point, who is in love with her) into despair.

Although not as topsy-turvy and drenched in satire as many other Gilbert and Sullivan collaborations, Yeomen has umpteen plot complications and mistaken identities; a crop of engagements; patter songs; and plenty of one-liners.

With one of Sullivan's finest scores, the show - produced by David Towers with David Tattersall as musical director - provides an ever-changing, switching balance of emotions, from joy and despair to love and sacrifice and was first performed in 1888 at the Savoy Theatre in London; it ran for more than 400 performances.

The talented 'towering' cast - clad in some of the finest costumes acquired by SAOS to date - includes Matthew Armstrong as Colonel Fairfax; Rachel Mercer plays the vibrant, Elsie Maynard; Graham Beevers takes the role of Sergeant Meryll (of Yeomen of the Guard); Angela Dixon is his daughter Phoebe; Tom Beck plays Sir Richard Cholmondeley, Lieutenant of the Tower; John Reid is Wilfred Shadbolt, and the man of many theatrical hats, Simon Yaxley, rises to the occasion once again as strolling jester, Jack Point.

Tickets are available from Staveley Pharmacy or by telephone on 01539-722820.