SavoyNet Productions at Buxton

Encouraged by this first dip into the choppy waters of performing at Buxton, the next step was an adjudicated performance of Trial by Jury at The Opera House the following year. Mike Nash again Produced and David Cound was Musical Director with various SavoyNetters giving technical support. Rehearsals for Trial by Jury started only four days before the performance at the Palace Hotel whilst torrential rain failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the international cast.

Thus on Thursday 6th August Trial by Jury was the third production in a splendid night's entertainment following The Zoo (Pennine Players) and Cox & Box (Lincoln G&S). In her post performance comments Festival Adjudicator Beryl Dixon praised the production and cast, and at the Awards Ceremony awarded Best Male Voice to SavoyNetter Nick Sales, who played The Defendant.

With the success and camaraderie enjoyed by all who took part in Trial by Jury a full production was proposed on the SavoyNet. Bob and Jackie Richards suggested and instigated cyberspace elections, and under the watchful computer screen of Don Smith, Stephen Hill was elected as Producer, David Duffey as Director, and Larry Garvin as Musical Director. The Opera suggested by Festival Organisers was Ruddigore, a choice readily accepted by the SavoyNet.

Audition tapes were flown back and forth across the Atlantic and translated into the appropriate format (PAL or NTSC) by Peter Parker. A cast was chosen by the Production Team, strengthened for the auditions by the experience of Don Smith.

See the Savoynet Productions home page for more information and pictures on Trial by Jury and Cox and Box.