The Pirates of Penzance is one of the most popular and most-performed of the Gilbert & Sullivan operettas - for the very good reason that it’s packed with amusing characters as well as catchy songs and can be staged without over-straining the finances of amateur operatic societies.

It is the choice of Huddersfield Gilbert & Sullivan Society for its 50th annual production and opens at the Lawrence Batley Theatre next week.

In the half century since the group’s first show it is the sixth time its members have performed ‘Pirates’, the last being in 2006. It’s an operetta that opened to critical and popular acclaim back in 1879 and was the fourth collaboration for the famous composer and librettist duo.

Elaine Merlin, founder of the Huddersfield society and the only original member still treading the boards, says it’s the perfect production because it has just two acts and doesn’t require too much in the way of stage sets. It’s hoped that costs for the show can be kept down to around £12,000, which is far less than many amateur companies have to find for productions at the LBT.

“We don’t have any royalties to pay,” says Elaine, “which makes a huge difference. And that’s why we can keep ticket prices low.”

Elaine, who founded the society back in 1963, has performed many leading roles over the years but is now content to take her place in the chorus. However, her husband Bruce is playing the part of the Pirate King, alongside other society stalwarts and newcomers.

The role of Kate, one of General Stanley’s daughters, is being sung by Sally Mitchell, winner of the 2015 Mrs Sunderland Festival Rose Bowl, who joined the society last year.

As well as the cost of putting on a production, one of the major issues facing groups like the HGSS is the difficulty attracting men to take singing roles. The area’s many male voice choirs, who ‘cream off’ the talent, may be to blame.

“Most of the men in our society are members of other societies as well,” says Elaine. “We have one who has done four shows in a month. We’d like to see more men coming forward.”

It’s also a problem keeping young people in amateur societies, as they often move on to university, and Elaine believes the four-part harmonies of Sullivan are perceived as difficult to sing by youngsters more used to stage musicals. “But G&S songs are a great way for singers to improve their skills,” she says. “We have had one or two members who have gone on to have careers as professional singers after being with us. David Heathcote, for example, started with us and went on to sing with the D’Oyly Carte company.”

Elaine has had a lifelong interest in G&S, which began when she was a youngster, listening to her grandmother playing songs from the operettas on the piano. She explained: “I remember her taking me to see the Mikado as a little girl, and I’d stand by the piano while she was playing until the songs were fixed in my head.”

She brought together members of Moldgreen Gilbert & Sullivan Society and a G&S society from local engineering company Hopkinson’s to launch the Huddersfield group, which held its first meeting in 1963 – and staged its first production (The Mikado) two years later.

Each year the society has fund-raising concerts, both for charity and its own coffers, and the members enjoy a busy social life of events.

Tickets for ‘Pirates’, which is on from Wednesday to Saturday, May 13 to 16, are from £7 to £14 from www.thelbt.org or 01484 430528.

Anyone who is interested in joining the society should contact Elaine or Bruce on 01484 862743 or visit www.huddsgssoc.co.uk

Pirates of Penzance tells the story of Frederic, apprenticed to a pirate by his nursemaid, who mistook the instruction to apprentice him to a pilot. It is thought to have been inspired by Gilbert’s own childhood when he himself was captured by a gang of Italian brigands and subsequently ransomed. The operetta is said to be closer to opera than any of the duo’s other works and contains a number of memorable, now famous, songs, including Poor Wandrin’ One, I am the Very Model of the Modern Major General, and How Beautifully Blue the Sky.