From the Wylye Valley Life magazine, issue no.41, Friday 13th December 1985:
Billed as one of the biggest shows ever staged at the Warminster Arts Centre, Barry Mole and Kerry Bishop’s latest offering is Gilbert and Sullivan’s best loved comic operetta, The Mikado, which is celebrating 100 years of performance since its opening night in 1885; now the 1985 version is all set to be the Centre’s big box office draw just before Christmas, complimented by a special Japanese exhibition courtesy of Director Kate Stuart, who spent a considerable amount of time in Japan.
The cast of the Warminster Savoyards production of The Mikado.
Little more than seven weeks were available to put the fully staged show together, so Messrs. Mole and Bishop have formed a company – the Warminster Savoyards – consisting of many experienced local performers from in and around the town who will give encouragement to those few treading the boards for the first time. Scenery, costumes and orchestra have all been sponsored by four local businessmen so that the show will be excellent value and still raise money for the Arts Centre.
The production features Bob Gale as Ko-Ko, Geoff Myall as Mikado, Judy Duffus as Katisha, Iain McKenzie as Pooh-Bah, Bob Page as Nanki-Poo, Richard Owen as Pish-Tush, Liz Clark as Yum-Yum, with Joanne Plenty and Heather Singer as her sisters Petti-Sing and Peep-Bo. Nobles are: Steve Reynolds, Dudley Ford, George Bradbury, Archie Redman, Paul Short, Bernard Epps, and James Lang-Brown. Schoolgirls are: Carol Owen, Sheila Toomey, Wendy Jones, Jane Cross, Derryn Copley, Chris Bishop, Elizabeth Lang-Brown, and Rose Ford. Matthew Reynolds is Ko-Ko’s bearer who has a Samurai sword bigger than himself to carry. The orchestra chorus will have its fair share of well known voices: Jean Jones, Emlyn Rees and David Mitchell, to name but a few.
It will be the first time ever that a fully staged operetta is produced exclusively for the Arts Centre; there will be four performances of the show just before Christmas.