Characters and Interaction
Full Names: Dr. Evadne Mona Montpelier Hinge (George Logan); Dame Hilda Nemone Bracket (Patrick Fyffe).
Dame 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.
Dr 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.
Together, they 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. Between numbers, Hilda's wisecracking antics and Evadne's acid reactions to her companion's attention-seeking are a rich source of comedy in the act.
Early on, Dame Hilda establishes the pecking order by explaining their titles: her own damehood was awarded for "services to music and opera", whereas Evadne's "Dr." was bestowed "for hard work".
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.
Throughout 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.
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