Officially the Frome Amateur Operatic Society was founded in 1905 and it performed Gilbert & Sullivan's "Trial by Jury" on 26th April 1906 at the Market Hall Frome. But a group of people don't just suddenly take it into their minds to form an association. There is a period beforehand when the need for a society becomes evident because of some activity. The first mention of anything destined to develop into FAOS was a Pierrot Concert given in aid of the Frome Nurses' Home in the Mechanics' Hall on 19th April 1900. The concert was given by a group calling themselves The Magpies and they described themselves as "An amateur pierrot banjo and mandolin troupe".
Reflect that the early 1900s were days before radio, let alone television. In the home, people entertained themselves and gatherings would always feature amateurs' best efforts with voice and instrument. Outside the home, films were known but not yet widespread. Instead a strong tradition of light entertainment theatre had built during the nineteenth century, culminating in a widespread passion for music hall and operetta, particularly Gilbert and Sullivan. The Magpies were part of that movement and seemed to have been fairly good. The Somerset Standard commented about that first show "There was a large and fashionable audience. When the curtains were drawn and the troupe was shown in its very picturesque costumes, there was a hearty outburst of applause." It continued "It testifies, especially when the exceptional demands made on the public purse owing to the present war, to the devotion of the inhabitants to local objects". The war in question was the Boer War.
It's interesting to picture their world and imagine what a show would have been like then. Oddly in many ways things wouldn't seem to us so much different from what FAOS does in the twenty first century. Direction, acting, instrumentation, costumes, scenery, makeup, hairdressing, all these we would recognise. But just a couple of things were enough to have made a huge difference - lighting was limelight and sound was unamplified, which would make a strange experience for us. We would find their mannerisms alien. Until they knew each other extremely well, they would have been Mr. Smith, Mrs. Brown and Miss Jones to each other. The women wore skirts to the ground, except of course until dress rehearsal when costume may have obliged them to show an ankle or even a thigh, which is another reason why musical theatre was popular (and that's not changed).
The Magpies performed again over the next few years in Frome and the surrounding towns, built themselves a good local reputation and by 1905 were sufficiently well organised and confident to call a meeting of its band of performers & supporters to form the Frome Amateur Operatic Society. One man was the soul at the centre - Colonel F. Arthur Shaw the musical director. FAOS successfully performed once a year over the next few years and indeed produced two shows in 1912. Clearly things were going well. Then the madness of the First World War swamped them all. But even then it's not an unreasonable leap of imagination to wonder whether some of the men didn't occasionally relieve the burdens of the trenches with a remembered verse of G&S. Did the Somme ever know a Fromee softly singing "I've information vegetable, animal and mineral; I am the very model of a modern Major-General"?
The Society started performing again in summer 1924, producing "Sorcerer in the Park" played in the open air and marred by poor weather. They tried again with the same show in Spring the following year, this time inside in the yet to be completed War Memorial Hall, now the Memorial Theatre, and to critical acclaim. At one point they were known as the Frome Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society, but later "Dramatic" was dropped. FAOS settled into an annual routine, performed G&S each year throughout the 1920s and as they entered the 1930s they broadened their repertoire, came away from operetta and started to do musicals, the first one being "Merrie England" in 1930. In 1939 they were again stopped in their tracks by war.
FAOS re-started in 1947 with "Belle of New York". During the mid twentieth century, untroubled by changes in fashion, FAOS settled down to a popular musicals format. Many, many people joined, twinkled and eventually moved on, but a number of stars shone brightly. Eva Callebaut was a stalwart director. Disinclined to accept second best she was a fierce task master, but her results spoke for themselves. Gwen Udell was a long term dance captain and became the Society's first life member. A few families have played outstandingly across several generations, the White family, Herbert, Harold, Florrie, and Kathleen, being one. Noel Carpenter was a legendary comic, actor and enthusiast supreme. The same is now said of his son Andrew the current 2009 Chairman, legendary comic, actor and enthusiast supreme. Two unflagging figures formed the heart of FAOS from 1930 until 1976 - Bert Scott, actor, Chairman & President and Dick Edwards, prize winning actor, Treasurer, Chairman & President. Unbelievably there have only been three musical directors from 1947 to 2009 - Robert Stannard, Tom Williamson and Kerry Bishop. In 1948 Bob Stannard, son of Robert, joined the Society and has become FAOS's longest serving member with over sixty years service. He is now the current 2009 President of FAOS.
FAOS continued with a musical annually until 1966. But not everybody wants to perform in costume on stage after learning scripts. People love to sing and were you to somehow look back one hundred thousand years you might make the same observation. Singing is part of humanity. Responding to that, in 1967 FAOS formed a concert section called "The Opera Group" and concerts by them became part of the Society's annual calendar. Their first concert was "Carmen". In the early years of the Opera Group high opera like "Aida" was indeed performed in Frome. Because the demands of such pieces require singing skills beyond that of amateurs, sometimes professionals were hired to lead the performances. Perhaps that could have been sustained had the audience for it continued, but fashions change and the Opera Group has evolved into singing selections from popular operetta and musicals. In September 2009 it changed its name and is now called "Showstoppers".
Two shows a year continued until 1979 when a pantomime was introduced into the Society's annual calendar, the first one being "'Jack and the Beanstalk". From that date FAOS has performed a traditional pantomime with a female principal boy and a male dame. There are lavish costumes, big effects, slapstick, a children's sing-along and glamour & glitter. The pantos have always been suitable for children. Not surprisingly they have become hugely popular in Frome and the environs, attract sell-out audiences and are admired throughout the region. From the beginning a stalwart of the pantomime has been Humphrey Barnes, whose outrageous, blousy, animated and much loved Dame has become widely recognised. Humphrey was also the FAOS Chairman for some years. The annual pantomime is now the financial bedrock upon which rests all of the other Society's events and ambitions.
Three shows a year continued until 1989 when a youth group was formed. Called "Spellbound", it was conceived to show children the experience of the theatre. Their first show was "Godspell" and was performed in Frome's Merlin Theatre. But apart from that first year Spellbound performs in the Memorial Theatre. The children perform with the full support of the adult teams with costumes, scenery, theatre lighting and sound, makeup etc. The age range in Spellbound has settled down to 8 to 16. It was hoped at the beginning that some of the children would feed the main society on becoming adults and so it has been. There's quite an age gap between children coming out of Spellbound and the adult performers, so in 2008 the Society decided to create a further group to perform more contemporary musicals and hopefully attract people in their twenties and thirties. Its first performance in 2008 was "Little Shop of Horrors".
In 2006 the Frome Amateur Operatic Society celebrated its centenary. By any standards it was a remarkable milestone, there aren't too many organisations of any sort that can boast one hundred years of existence. FAOS is not unique in its age among British theatre societies but it is nevertheless rare enough. There were celebratory events during that year and the Society published a book "Something to Make a Song and Dance About", authored by Bob Stannard who collated material about FAOS over its hundred years of existence. It lists most of the players and support teams, and presents dozens of photos of the shows and the artistes.
So, one hundred years on, what would its founder Colonel F. Arthur Shaw think of his creation today if by some alchemy he could somehow see us? Some of our culture and practices would certainly cause him to bridle, he was after all a Victorian and a senior army officer. What would he have said if a ten year old had greeting him in a dressing room with "Hello Arthur"?! But hopefully he would ultimately have been proud of all those who strived so hard in the intervening years. He would surely have been amazed and envious of what we can do with lights and sound and maybe he might silently think "I quite like the feeling in my teeth when they play the bass notes"."
This was written by John Hedges (updated July 2009), FAOS Production Director
