Click on the picture to see this years complete set of pictures.
to Patrick Fyffe's Cancer Research Page
In Memory of Mr Patrick Fyffe (Dame Hilda Bracket)
1942 - 2002
To celebrate the life of Patrick Fyffe, we had
another great evening get together in Taunton to
remember a great man.
Sue Lavender has put a lot of work into this great page.
CLICK HERE to download a FREE Word Document of
this page.
THANKYOU FOR THE HARD WORK SUE
Read moreDame Hilda Bracket is portrayed as a lively, fun-loving, flamboyant doyenne of opera. She takes charge of the stage and inhabits the limelight sporting a coquettish lop-sided grin and a chiffon hanky dangling at the wrist. Projecting enthusiasm and flirting shamelessly with the audience, she leads the performance with gusto, exerting a comical degree of bossiness, and occasional wilfulness, over the long-suffering Dr. Hinge.
Read moreDr Evadne Hinge is played in sharp contrast as a reserved, austere intellectual whose role is to provide piano accompaniment, direction and, where necessary, vocal support for Dame Hilda Bracket's singing performances. Cutting a modest, almost apologetic figure on stage, Evadne slides demurely onto the piano stool and peers sideways at the audience over half-moon spectacles on a decorative chain.
Read morethey play and sing songs from a traditional light-operatic repertoire, taken mainly from Gilbert & Sullivan, Noël Coward and Ivor Novello ("Dear Ivor"), but occasionally "coming bang up to date" with "modern" shows such as South Pacific. Their musical turns are interspersed with comic anecdotes and frequent discursions into repartee, punctuated by flashes of cattiness and bickering.
Read moreEarly on, Dame Hilda establishes the pecking order by explaining their titles: her own Dame hood was awarded for "services to music and opera", whereas Evadne's "Dr." was bestowed "for hard work".
Read more
Disapproving, but never daunted by the frivolous and overbearing Hilda, Evadne raises her eyebrows and takes controlled revenge through terse and well-timed put-downs that deflate Hilda's ego. Evadne also reminds the audience at every opportunity that she is in fact younger than Hilda.
Read moreThroughout their exchanges, and notwithstanding their petty squabbles over such details as the date they first met, or which opera was in rehearsal at the time, Hilda and Evadne never fail to address each other as "Dear", and occasionally stop mid-concert for sherry, or to examine the fascinating contents of their handbags. In spite of their petty disagreements, the ladies are portrayed as indivisible companions and an unassailable partnership.
Read moreAccording to their background, the ladies won their musical spurs touring with the "Rosa Charles Opera Company", where Hilda sang lead roles and Evadne joined in the capacity of assistant to the assistant musical director, quickly rising to the full directorship. Audiences in the 1970s at least, would have recognised in this invented name a respectful nod to Carl Rosa, founder of a real-life opera troupe in England in the late 19th Century
Read moreWhen Patrick Fyffe died in 2002, George Logan decided that without a Hilda there would be no more Dr. Evadne Hinge. In a television interview he spoke of working himself, but made it clear that he did not miss the Hinge persona. Feeling that the appeal of Hinge and Bracket lay more in the interaction between the two characters than with either of the separate personalities, Logan determined that the body of work he and Patrick Fyffe had created together should stand as a finished item.
Read more
Since 2005
Paul Dunford has raised money towards flowers
for
Patrick's Grave In Taunton and has also raised
money from the Fans towards the cost of the
memorial bench.
In 2012 we celebrated
Patrick's Life with a huge get together as a
tribute to a wonderful man.
