If the forthcoming winter fills you with dread, and you fancy a bit of interest and creativity in your life, then why not join the House of Lords? The only qualifications required are that you must be capable of looking like a peer, (but ermine and coronet will be supplied), and you must be able to hold a tune, although guidance and support will be provided.
This will not suit the really ambitious, since the House of Lords in question is not at Westminster, but at Milborne Port, where the Milborn Port Opera is beginning rehearsals for Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe.
As usual, new singers and performers are welcome. In Iolanthe, G&S lampoon the House of Lords as a bastion of the ineffective, privileged and dim-witted, and take a few pot shots at lawyers and bankers on the way, so it will ring a bell with modern audiences.
It floats the notion that entry to the House might be through competitive examination, which may appeal to the current reformers, who seem to be getting nowhere.
The show runs straight after Easter. Rehearsals start on 6 September, and are weekly, every Thursday. There are breaks for half term and Christmas. So come along to the Methodist hall, Cold Harbour, Milborne Port on Thursday 6 September ready for an 8pm start.
PS If you don’t want to be a peer, you can always be a fairy!