The interest in last year’s Bus Pass Opera production was tremendous and the combined ages of those on stage exceeded 2500 years and what a fantastic performance they gave us. This year they will present Patience in the Buxton Opera House, on Tuesday 6th August at 7:30. Bus Pass Opera is a firm favourite at the Festival and great fun too. Alan Borthwick will direct and David Lyle is the musical director once again.

HOW TO APPLY

The concept of Bus Pass Opera was to give “retired” thespians the opportunity to come out of retirement and demonstrate their year’s of experience. We don’t want to start auditioning, but our audience expect that standards will continue to rise. 

Demand for places in Bus Pass Opera has grown year on year since 2015. We are now at the point of having too many applicants for the spaces available and therefore we need to put a cap on the number of choristers we can accept for safety reasons. We’ve also been advised by our insurers that we cannot accept anyone aged 85 or above.

If you would like to be considered please use the form below to apply.

REHEARSALS

Rehearsals will start at 2pm on Tuesday 30 July, through to the performance itself on Tuesday 6th August at 7:30pm. Rehearsals will be take place from 9:30 – 5:30 daily, leaving you free to see the evening performances.

TICKETS FOR FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Tickets for family and friends are available in our priority booking if you are a Friend of the Festival or from the Buxton Opera House Box Office on 01298 72190 after Thursday 1^st February 2024. This performance always sells very well so we would urge you to book your tickets as soon as possible.

 COST OF PARTICIPATING

Although Bus Pass Opera is partly sponsored by the family of the late Andy Criddle and our own charity, costs continue to rise and so there is a nominal performance fee of £40 per person. This will go towards the production costs. We would also encourage you to consider joining the Friends of the G&S Festival to help further support the cause.

Some specific accessories, for example, black shoes, ballet shoes, white pumps, tights etc will need to be provided by participants and information will be distributed well in advance.

We also expect participants to provide their own copy of the score. We would recommend the Chappell’s Vocal Score edition (available on Amazon).

PLEASE KNOW YOUR WORDS!

It is a pre-requirement that all principals and chorus know the words and music before arriving at the first rehearsal due to the short time we have available.