BOADS was originally a small group of friends under the guise of ‘The Orange Bubbles’ but wanted to expand their horizons and so changed their name to attract a wider membership and audience. Their first production was of ‘Pearl the Fishermaiden’ and Ralph Bartlett was one of the original founding members of the group. The group quickly established itself as an essential part of the community and brought lots of pleasure to Brixham and its inhabitants. The first decade comprised mainly of Gilbert and Sullivan productions but they then branched out to lesser-known works to broaden the horizons of the players and audience members.
The group was well known for their lavish scenery that was designed by Jeffrey Snelson (see the Past Shows section for photos of some of his work). There was one occurrence during the 1951 production of ‘Chu Chin Chow’ when two gentlemen in the audience actually wagered a bet in regards to being able to walk up the pathway on the backdrop or not. Jeffrey was a professional ex-member of the ‘D’oyly Carte Opera Company’ and instilled his professionalism into BOADS. Jeffrey stayed with the society until 1963, ‘The Pyjama Game’ being his final production.
The Society was the first in the South West to produce a number of shows including Oklahoma (1955), Carousel (1958), South Pacific (1961) and Paint Your Wagon (1972).
Over the years we have had a number of outstanding Musical Directors such as George Dolton, Douglas Hutchings, Dennis Iles, Gerry Vaughan Williams, David Warwick and not forgetting our current man Carl Smith.
