Gilbert and Sullivan

The Gilbert and Sullivan Society is a St. Andrews performing arts society dedicated to performing the works of composer Arthur Sullivan and lyricist W.S. Gilbert. If you’re unfamiliar with their work, you’re certainly not alone: just imagine the halfway point between musical theatre and opera and you’ve got the idea! And don’t worry, a huge number of our members come to the Society never having heard of G&S before.

Under normal circumstances, we perform two fully staged productions in the Byre Theatre in St Andrews every year, with beautiful costumes, a professionally-built set, and a talented orchestra. We also bring a full production to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe; last year’s production sold out a seven-night run and earned us the St. Andrews Students’ Association Best Event award for 2020.

This year, we have planned events which will be both artistically fulfilling for our members and safe for our community. We’re going to run a series of masterclasses for members in a wide range of theatrical disciplines, both online and in person wherever possible. We’ll also be recruiting a new Committee in September; you can hit the ground running by getting involved with our team early. And, even more exciting, we’re going to be working on something a little different to bring some theatre back to St Andrews... follow us on social media to find out more very soon.

In addition to our usual three productions each year, there are plenty of other opportunities to get involved. We team up with a fantastic organisation called Dementia Friendly to sing Christmas carols for local care homes, we host a Christmas Dinner at the gorgeous Forgan’s restaurant, and we hold a formal end-of-year dinner in the British Golf Museum.

We also host cabaret nights, pot-lucks, bonfires, and we perform a charitable concert in January at the magnificent Burn House. We wish you all the very best for starting University, and we hope you’ll find the community welcoming and ready to support you in any way we can. We can’t wait to meet you!