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1948 - The Yeomen of the Guard

The Story of the Opera

ACT I
The curtain rises on a 16th Century scene before the grim walls of the Tower of London. Phoebe Meryll is interrupted in a song by Wilfred Shadbolt, the brutal and uncouth jailer, but his intentions are rejected and it is evident that Phoebe is more interested in one of Shadbolt's prisoners, Colonel Fairfax, who, by the machinations of a kinsman, has been sentenced to death.
However, Phoebe's father, Sergeant Meryll, with the aid of Phoebe and her brother Leonard, proposes to disguise Fairfax as a Yeoman and pass him off as Leonard.
Meanwhile Fairfax has explained to the Lieutenant of the Tower that if only he can find a wife for himself, though it be for an hour, his evil kinsman will be denied his inheritance. When, therefore, two strolling players, Jack Point and Elsie Maynard enter, the Lieutenant persuades Elsie to marry Fairfax and also gives hope to Point that he may gain employment as a jester in the service of the Lieutenant.
Fairfax then marries Elsie, but to Point's horror - for he is in love with her himself - Fairfax in the guise of a Yeoman remains a free man. The escort sent to bring the prisoner to execution is forced to report that he has escaped, and so the first act ends in a scene of confusion.
ACT II
Two nights later Point and Shadbolt meet by moonlight and Point persuades the jailer to describe to the Lieutenant how he shot Fairfax dead while attempting to escape - a plan much popularised in later years!
Meanwhile Elsie has talked of her marriage in her sleep and has been overheard by Dame Carruthers, housekeeper to the Tower, who later forces Sergeant Meryll to marry her as the price of silence. A single shot is now heard and the guardians of the Tower, seeking its cause, hear Shadbolt's tale.
Fairfax, in his character of Leonard, makes ardent love to Elsie, and Phoebe, overcome by jealousy, unwittingly gives Shadbolt the clue to Fairfax's true identity, only winning the jailor's silence by promising to be his bride.
Almost immediately, the news of the Colonel's reprieve arrives and there is thus no longer any real bar to the open and joyous reunion of Elsie and Fairfax, although there are still complications. For poor Point, however, there is no longer a gleam of hope, Humbly he kisses the hem of Elsie's gown, and, having paid her his last homage, falls dead at her feet.