THE HISTORY OF BAODS

In May 1926, some of the residents of Berkhamsted found that they were getting rather bored in the evenings. They were aware that it would be some years before they could watch Coronation Street on television and, at a meeting in the Kiku No Chaya Tea Rooms in Lower Kings Road, seventeen of the locals decided to form a local Operatic Society for Berkhamsted. It says much for the initial enthusiasm of the venture that, in December of that year, they put on their first production Iolanthe at the Court Theatre (now Tesco).

The first play was performed in 1927 (Lord Richard in the Pantry) and, in the years up to the Second World War, the Society put on one musical (usually Gilbert & Sullivan) and one play annually. In 1930, when The Pirates of Penzance was presented at the Court Theatre, there was a cast of 49, and one advertisement in the programme quoted the price of 1/6d (7 1/2 p) for lunch at the local restaurant.

The programme in November 1938 of lolanthe included one Herbert Todd (Bertie Todd of children's stories fame) as Lord Mountararat and an orchestra of 21 players. An advertisement in the programme was from a shop in the High Street giving television demonstrations! Iolanthe was, in fact, the last musical put on by BAODS for some years as the Second World War curtailed the Society's production until 1946. The Yeoman of the Guard was, in 1947, the first of a series of annual G & S productions - and the society's first musical for 9 years.

In the early 1950s, the Society veered away from Gilbert & Sullivan and went up market with Smetana's The Bartered Bride. Carmen (concert version) followed in 1954 with June Bailey in the title role. In the following year, Vaughan Williams' opera Hugh the Drover was presented and the composer attended the last performance.

In the late fifties, the American musicals arrived and, over the next ten years or so, these tended to dominate the Society's musical output with the Old Time Music Hall making its debut in 1967. Some of the large musical productions during these years were attracting total audiences of over 2000. Top seat prices were the equivalent of 32½ 37½. The Society's membership was 150, and the choruses tended to be split into alternate performances so that as many as possible of the large membership could take part.

Until the arrival of the annual Music Hall in 1967, the Society was putting on several plays each year and, with productions taking place as late as mid July, it would appear that rehearsals for one production or another took place throughout the year. In 1970, the principal play was A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, the title role (a spastic child) being played by nine-year-old Sarah Brightman who stole the honours.

Towards the end of the last century, the annual programme settled down to productions of one play and one musical, plus the well-established Music Hall. On New Year's Eve 1983, the Society was honoured to put on a special gala performance of the Music Hall to celebrate the reopening of the rebuilt and enlarged Civic Centre main hall which we have used as our principal venue for some years.

Although there are considerably fewer members than in the halcyon days of the 1950s and 60s, BAODS has a strong nucleus of performers of various capabilities who have shown that they are not afraid to tackle such daunting works as Die Fledermaus or Carmen, not to mention the Balloon Dance!

In order to indicate the scope of the Society's activities, its name was changed in 2008 to Berkhamsted Theatre Company (although we are still known locally simply as 'BAODS') and though the regular Music Hall is now a thing of the past, we still perform high-quality plays and musicals every year to appreciative audiences, and we are in fine shape as we approach our eightieth birthday.

To show you just how diverse these productions have been, and will continue to be, click here for a list of our past productions.