Opera Scotland

Trial by Jury 1990D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

Read more about the opera Trial by Jury

The resurrected (briefly termed 'New') D'Oyly Carte company began operations in 1988 with two works, Iolanthe and Yeomen of the Guard. This was quickly followed by a second pair of excellent stagings - Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado. By the time of this week-long visit to Edinburgh, they had already held a successful London season at the Savoy, and those productions had been joined by a double-bill of Pinafore and Trial By Jury. It was the last four that were brought on the company's first visit to Edinburgh (they had previously travelled to Aberdeen with Mikado and Pirates).

The schedule for the week, commencing  Monday 14 May, was: Mon Pirates; Tue Pirates; Wed Mikado; Thu Mikado; Fri Pinafore & Trial; Sat m & e Pinafore & Trial.

This production had only opened the previous month when the tour was launched in Bournemouth and received an effortlessly crisp performance. Trial was given as an after-piece following H M S Pinafore, the reverse of the old D'Oyly Carte procedure. The two works used a unit set - a Union Jack filling the floor of the stage (for Pinafore the split level had been useful for representing the ship's decks).