Malmesbury Singers

A Malmesbury townsman from 1703 looking suspiciously familiar

The piemaker and drover - dancing to appreciative applause

Christmas 2006 saw the production of Hannah & The Tyger being performed for the very first time in history. A piece composed by the ever-talented, perfectly pitched John Hughes, together with his colleague Mike Scanlon who brought forth the libretto.

Complete details as follows:

Characters
(in order of appearance)
The Tyger - Adrian Jones
A Priest - Michael Harris
Hannah - Rosie Archer
The Ringmaster - Richard Oxley
A Fortune Teller - Jane Henderson
Malmesbury Characters - Margaret Greenwood;
Kate James; Brian Cook; Neil Archer
Eilmer (yes really!) - Dick Jowitt

Piano - John Hughes
Violin - Harry Smith
Flute - Julia Poynton
Narrator - Colin Woodfield

The Crowd (Chorus) - The Malmesbury Singers and members of the Malmesbury Abbey Choir

Interspersed with a narrator who kept the story flowing, the tale told of a circus coming to town complete with resident tiger. The circus made camp in the gardens of the White Lion Inn, where Hannah Twynnoy worked as a barmaid. Unable to resist the temptation of stroking the tiger in between inn keeping, this ultimately led to her downfall. See Hannah Twynnoy for more details. Also see local news.

Mike Scanlon & John Hughes

From left to right: John Hughes, Adrian Johnson (the tyger), Rosie Archer (Hannah) & Iain Duffin (musical director and conductor)

Pictures reproduced by kind permission of The Jackdaw

an errant milkmaid...