The Worshipful Company of Paviors is a supporter of the City of London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Each year, the final-year students of the School put on a Gala Concert to raise money for its activities, and members of the Paviors Company have always attended this event. This year’s Gala Concert was on Wednesday 29 June and was performed in the Silk Street Theatre at the Guildhall School. The Paviors’ Luncheon Club had organized for 20 of its members and their partners to attend the concert at the School’s premises in the Barbican Centre in the City.
The evening started with a drinks reception in the Conservatory Terrace followed by a dinner of Devonshire Beef in the Garden Room. Participants were addressed by the School’s Principal, Professor Barry Ife, who emphasized the fund-raising nature of the event and drew attention to the donation envelopes besides everyone’s place-settings! Everyone then moved into the theatre to be entertained by the students performing the musical ‘On the Twentieth Century’.
The ‘Twentieth Century’ was a famous train that travelled each day between Chicago and New York from 1902 to 1967 and much of the play is set in a railway carriage on the train. The set built by the students for this was superb and provided a clever and flexible setting for the goings-on in the play. The musical focuses on activities surrounding a theatre producer and a famous actress who are travelling on the train accompanied by an entourage of other interesting characters. The acting and production , as usual, was of a very high standard which always leaves those Paviors attending with a sense of awe at the abundance of talent produced by the School.