ORCHESTRAS

Food and drink make frequent appearances on stage in operas – we’ve used plaster-of-Paris Dundee cake and wedding cake; plastic Seville oranges, bounceable cup-cakes, plastic ice-creams, and disappointingly fake gin and tonic. Onstage ‘red wine’ (actually, grape juice) can be a liability and cause upsetting stains on costumes. Occasionally food must be edible – especially sandwiches, carefully prepared at the last moment and kept out of the sun.

Cake, and catering more generally, are a constant at Bampton: from the very beginning Gilly resolved that musicians would rehearse and perform better if well fed. We have the happiest memories of cast and orchestra catering, generally hosted in our small garden at Holcot House, with meals provided regularly during the last few hectic days of Bampton rehearsals. Mass catering, often for around 40 musicians, is a vital part of our behind-the-scenes activity. Aspects of meals are sometimes ‘contracted out’ to our local friends – Anne Hichens produces massive fruit salads and rich chocolate fridge-cake, for example, which are eagerly anticipated by the musicians. Wherever possible cast birthdays during rehearsals are celebrated (when the cake isn’t made from plaster-of-Paris!), and strawberries and cream accompany the Wimbledon finals which tend to distract inconveniently from vital final rehearsals. London rehearsals always need coffee and biscuits, and during the Bampton rehearsals Margaret Josephs regularly provides the necessary refreshment. At Westonbirt, the school sixth-form domestic science kitchen has functioned as a capacious canteen and happy common room for our weekends there, as we endeavour to provide our usual fattening-up service away from home.

At the performances we offer a delightful picnic service for the audience, if booked a few days in advance, and there is always our excellent and very reasonable bar, sometimes with wine themed to the specific opera. There are lively post-performance parties for musicians and Friends, generously hosted by one of the nearby houses, and the Bampton pubs always do well during rehearsal week. We usually hold summer parties for the Friends, and a ‘thank-you’ party for our wonderful volunteer helpers.