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Opera singers are court in the act
As court reporter for the Advertiser for a number of years I saw hundreds of cases tried, the majority at Croydon Magistrates' Court.
I saw virtually the whole gamut of offences dealt with and all manner of offenders feel the weight of British justice.
Everything from non-payment of fines and the shoplifting of chocolate bars to the most brutal of murders. perpetrated by felons from every strata of society from little old ladies to everybody's idea of a hardened thug.
I thought I'd seen just about every per mutation of crime and criminal. But I was wrong.
Nothing had prepared me for the case I attended on Saturday, in which a young bride-to-be, referred to in court only as Angelina, was suing her wastrel fiancee Edwin for breach of promise.
In case the penny has not yet dropped, the case was Trial by Jury, the comic operetta written by Gilbert and Sullivan in 1875, and staged by Kentish Opera.
This was ground-breaking stuff for Croydon for, although the piece has often been staged at I,ondon's Bow Street Court, it was the first time a theatrical event of any description had been staged at the Barclay Road building. And it was a huge success. Originally set for two shows on Friday and Saturday evenings, a third was hastily scheduled for early on Saturday evening because the demand for tickets was so great. And more performances could have sold out as people tried to get tickets.
Directed by Sally Langford, Kentish Opera made full and admirable use of what is, after all, a perfect setting for the work.
It was almost impossible to tell the genuine members of the public from the cast members playing members of the public until, that is, the latter group burst into song, to the astonishment of the unsuspecting souls beside them.
Every member of the cast took the opportunity to wring every ounce of comedy from their character and, in truth, that ne'er-do-well Edwin, played by John Bailey, deserved all he got.
And a warm round of applause greeted the decision of the learned judge, played with imperious glory by Gary Coward, to marry the spurned, and lovely, Angelina, known at home as Carol Daniel.
Magistrate Stanley Lowy gave up his normal seat behind the bench to join the public gallery and enjoy the performance.
He said it was quite unlikely that the uproarious scenes just played out in Court No 1 would be repeated during the normal working day but applauded the opera company for its presentation.
"It's been very successful and we'd like to thank Kentish Opera for this opportunity to host this event," said Mr I,owy. "It's been a splendid evening and it's good to see so many members of the public coming in to the court to enjoy themselves."
Clerk to the Magistrates, John Mannings, said that he was glad his court had been able to welcome the company and the public.
"Once again we've been able to allow members of the public to come to the court to see that it's not remote and divorced from them," said Mr Mannings.
"The piece was written as a lampoon of the judicial system of the time and, as such, worked beautifully."
He said it had been so successful It was possible that the piece could be staged again at the court at some point in the future.
And, to quote from William Gilbert's libretto, John Mannings is "a good judge, too".

By Fred Hall - Croydon Advertiser - November 1996