TRIAL BY JURY
Like many of Gilbert and Sullivan's operettas, "Trial By Jury" is a satire; the object of their ridicule this time being the British Judicial system. When a breach of promise case is brought by the plaintiff, Angelina, against the defendant, Edwin, the jury - and the Judge - swayed by her beauty, immediately decide on her innocence and his guilt, despite the Usher's formal declaration that "From bias free of ev'ry kind this trial must be tried". The jurymen go so far as to offer to marry the maid themselves, but are beaten to the post by none other than the wily old Judge!

H.M.S. PINAFORE
Another satire, but this time the object of ridicule is the Royal Navy, and specifically the Admiralty. Its First Lord, Sir Joseph Porter, admits that the route to eminence is anything but nautical and is best achieved via the office stool. As the opera begins, Sir Joseph is about to visit "H.M.S. Pinafore", in order to claim as his bride, Josephine, Captain Corcoran's daughter. Little does he know that she is secretly in love with a foremast hand, Ralph Rackstraw, far beneath her station. At last she openly accepts the seaman's profession of love and plans an elopement, aided by the crew.
However, in Act II, the dastardly Dick Deadeye, as twisted in mind as in body, informs on them to the Captain, and Ralph is flung into a dungeon, at Sir Joseph's command. All is not lost, for Mrs. Cripps (better known as Buttercup) reveals that while officiating at a baby farm 'So many years ago', she switched the babies known to us now as Ralph Rackstraw and Captain Corcoran. It would now appear that Ralph was nobly born, so Josephine and he can marry with her father's blessing, especially as her humble origin makes her unfit for Sir Joseph. With Ralph as the new Captain, Corcoran becomes a common sailor; but bliss awaits him, as you will see, as, indeed, it does for Sir Joseph -in a fashion!