HISTORY OF THE SOCIETY
Bristol Amateur Operatic Society (BAOS) was founded in 1894 by Bruce Bedells and
a few friends from the choir of the Holy Nativity Church , Knowle, Bristol . The
first show chosen was the Gilbert and Sullivan opera, "The Sorcerer", which was performed
at the Alexandra Hall in Clifton on the 23rd May 1894. The major reason for wishing
to do this was to collect money for a local charity and this they continued to do
in later years. The Society possesses the first poster of this production. Bruce
Bedells devoted 32 years of his life to BAOS as Musical Director, Producer and Chairman.
He inspired others to follow him, such as Allan Farquhar who was Business Manager
for 53 years and Eileen Morley-
Within two years, in 1896, the Society had firmly established itself in the City and were invited to play at a professional theatre, the Prince's Theatre, for a special medical charity show. With such success it was necessary to find a larger venue for their annual production, therefore they moved to the Victoria Rooms in 1899.
Whilst Bruce was inspiring the Society, his daughter Phyllis was being trained by the Society's choreographer, Edna Mary Stacy, a leading Dancing Mistress in the City at that time. She became so good that she turned professional at the age of 14 and secured the position of prima ballerina at the Empire, London by 1913 at the age of 20. Later she was associated with the founding of the Royal Academy of Dancing.
Due to the Victoria Rooms being turned into a cinema in 1921, BAOS moved their annual production to the Colston Hall. During this time the Society continued with shows by Gilbert & Sullivan and Edward German. However greater success was achieved when they staged more modern shows like the "Rebel Maid" in 1925, especially when choreographed by Phyllis Bedells. At that time she established a dancing school in Clifton , now known as the Bristol School of Dance. In the 1930's the father of the leading lady, Nancy Tricks, was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Prince's Theatre; a very convenient arrangement, since the Society were invited to play there from 1933. Phenomenal success was achieved at this time with queues forming at the ridiculous hour of 9.00pm the night before the box office opened for "Goodnight Vienna" in 1937. The local press reported "30 Wait Up All Night".
During the Second World War the Prince's Theatre was lost in the blitz never to be
rebuilt. The Society tried other venues immediately after the War but then returned
to the Victoria Rooms and has continued there ever since. One of the highlights of
the post-
However in 1969 the club nearly folded up, but was rescued by half a dozen members accepting the posts of the senior officers. Seven years later the Society had recovered sufficiently for the members to build their own theatre inside Brunel's old station building at Temple Meads . It was called the Brunel Theatre. This motivated the Society to produce more than one show a year and even after we were ejected from the premises 11 years later, we have continued with this policy. We have now set up a small revue theatre in our latest premises called the Roof Top Studios at Feeder Road .
Our thriving junior group, BAOS Juniors was established in 1990 and can show the
seniors a thing or two! Throughout the 100 years many of our leading singers have
turned professional. This was particularly relevant in the first fifty years, when
a large proportion went into the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. This has continued in
modern times with Louise Plowright and Lucy Harris turning professional, both of
whom have recently played the lead in “Mama Mia” on the West End stage. In 1994
the Society celebrated its Centenary by performing their Centenary Show "100 Musical
Years" at the Theatre Royal, Bristol (appropriately the oldest working theatre in
the UK ). Nearly a 100 players were involved including both the junior and senior
members. Since then the Society has continued to entertain the Bristol public with
productions at the Victoria Rooms and the Redgrave Theatre and small in-
Peter Lamb -
Registered Charity number 1069065