{"id":29,"date":"2015-01-11T14:26:04","date_gmt":"2015-01-11T14:26:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaunty.blog2.idnet.com\/?p=29"},"modified":"2023-07-05T12:29:31","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T12:29:31","slug":"richard-gaunt-a-brief-stage-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gaunty.blog2.idnet.com\/?p=29","title":{"rendered":"Richard Gaunt – a brief stage history"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pattie<\/a>

Photo: Pattie Boyd<\/p><\/div>\n

I trained at the Questors Theatre, Ealing under the wonderful Alfred Emmet. After graduating, I played a number of leading and character roles, which\u00a0diminished as my\u00a0 business career took off. You can’t have everything. But I will never forget, the fun, the professional work ethic and the deep and enduring friendships.<\/p>\n

During this period I also appeared at Richmond Theatre, the Salisbury Playhouse, The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (3 times) and the Shaftesbury Theatre, London.<\/p>\n

In 2009 I moved to Somerset and joined\u00a0the excellent, small, highly talented and friendly Milborne Port Opera company<\/a>. I have performed in 13 shows. MPO has (almost) taught me to sing.<\/p>\n

In 2014 I played King Paramount in Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Utopia Limited”, a comic parody about British management consultants trying to modernise a paradise kingdom in the South Pacific. Linewise, It’s the biggest part in the G&S repertoire. We won Somerset’s “Showstopper” award for the best musical number.<\/p>\n

2015’s show was a world premiere -“Spring Fate”, <\/a>a comedy musical written and composed by maestro Neil Edwards – his third show at Milborne Port. It played to full houses and attracted considerable critical acclaim<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2016 I played the crumbling lawyer in Gilbert & Sullivan’s “The Sorcerer”. Again full houses and critical acclaim<\/a> -“The remarkable Milborne Port Opera” -Fine Times Recorder. ”\u00a0Your memorable performance was a joy to witness. I am smiling now remembering how much I enjoyed it.” -Somerset Fellowship of Drama adjudicator. We won three awards, including the “Showstopper” again.<\/p>\n

In 2017 I directed MPO’s entry in the World Coarse Acting Championships<\/strong> at the Questors Theatre, Ealing. We won the trophy for the best production, a credit to everyone involved. For me a personal triumph. 45 years earlier I was in the team which won the first -ever championship with “Streuth”. I am the only actor to have won this fun competition 3 times. See\u00a0 “A brief History of Coarse Acting<\/a> ”<\/p>\n

In 2019 MPO went adventurous and staged Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes” in an experimental “in the round” production. Again, a sell-out and much critical acclaim. Nominated for 5 awards. I played the gregarious and frequently inebriated billionaire, Elisha J Whitney.
\nThe critic wrote” Very appropriately cast in this role and your ability to turn on a sixpence gave your character a very interesting aspect”.<\/p>\n

2020 was the year of Covid. I was cast as the Horse racing owner and bully Sir George Paddock in ‘The Arcadians’, a long forgotten but successful Edwardian musical. Sadly the lockdown killed this show and we were unable to perform it.<\/p>\n

In 2022 I played the ambasssador’s assistant Njegus in Lehar’s ‘The Merry Widow.’, reckoned to be one of MPO’s finest shows.<\/p>\n

2023 saw me playing Stan The Man in a new show, “Everything Goes” (No relation), devised and written by Karen Pankhurst. Stan is a cultural philistine who gets conveerted to the cause through the performance of numerous musical hits by the MPO cast. The show was a sell out.<\/p>\n

In 2024 I will be playing Felzig (think Zeigfeld) in the Tony Award-winning show “The Drowsy Chaperone, by Lisa lambert and Greg Morrison. Felzig is a theatrical entrpreneur who faces ruin because his leading lady is leaving the show to gert married.<\/p>\n

For most of my MPO years I have been running publicity, making videos and,latterly, running the box office. I have now semi-retired from these roles.<\/p>\n

For pictures, see Gallery<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I trained at the Questors Theatre, Ealing under the wonderful Alfred Emmet. After graduating, I played a number of leading and character roles, which\u00a0diminished as my\u00a0 business career took off. You can’t have everything. But I will never forget, the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gaunty.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gaunty.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gaunty.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gaunty.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gaunty.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"http:\/\/gaunty.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194,"href":"http:\/\/gaunty.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions\/194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gaunty.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gaunty.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gaunty.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}