THE Cotswold Playhouse will host a world premiere theatre piece on Saturday, 7.30pm.

Created by Stroud residents Suzanne Barnes and Simon Moss, Savoy Ghosts is a revue of Gilbert and Sullivan favourites and other songs, all of which were staged at the Savoy Theatre in London between 1881 and 1903. A fire in 1990 gutted the theatre, and the show is set in the aftermath of the inferno, as a fireman picks through the wreckage, waking ghosts and reviving memories of the past. But time and fire have warped history and many of the numbers are now given a contemporary twist.

Simon and Suzanne founded Glitter and Twisted Theatre Company in 2011, and have already produced two shows, although this is the first time they will have performed a theatre piece in Stroud. Ruddy George, a parody of the G&S show Ruddigore, was given its first revival since 1887 at the G&S Festival in Buxton, and in 2012 the group produced a rare performance of Sullivan’s The Contrabandista in Cheltenham.

“We’ve always wanted to perform in our home town”, said Suzanne Barnes, the Rodborough based musical director of Savoy Ghosts. “Our company is committed to producing rare Victorian musical theatre pieces and in 2013 we decided to construct a show which would allow us to include songs which might otherwise never be heard. The show even includes a song with lyrics by a pair of writers who would later achieve greater fame – Arthur Conan Doyle and J M Barrie – written before Sherlock Holmes and Peter Pan were even thought of.”

Director, and Top-of-Town resident Simon Moss explains that a major aim of Glitter and Twisted is to make Victorian theatre accessible to a new, younger audience. “In Savoy Ghosts many of the songs are given a new twist – ladies sing songs originally conceived for men, solos become duets and common themes are explored. Victorian audiences might have been shocked by our burlesque number, or the pair of feisty clerics we have created, but Gilbert’s lyrics are still funny and the music of the period can still move an audience. The show can be appreciated by both G&S diehards and newcomers alike.”

A talented company of six actors/singers from Stroud, Cheltenham, Worcester and Tewkesbury feature in the show, which plays one-night-only at Stroud’s Cotswold Playhouse (www.cotswoldplayhouse.co.uk ) on Saturday, 7.30pm, then moves to the Cheltenham Playhouse (www.playhousecheltenham.org) for a 5pm show on Sunday.