Hinge and Bracket

Dr. Evadne Hinge and Dame Hilda Bracket were the stage personae of the musical performance and female impersonation artists George Logan and Patrick Fyffe. Active in theatre, radio and television between 1972 and Fyffe's death in 2002, this comedic partnership entertained the public in the guise of two elderly eccentric spinsters, living genteel lives in the village of Stackton Tressel and seemingly celebrating their former "careers" on the provincial operatic stage. The two ladies generally performed together, but on rare occasions did appear separately, although George Logan declined to continue the characterisation of Dr. Hinge after Fyffe died.

Both George Logan and Patrick Fyffe were born into musically talented families with a strong stage background. Logan went on to study music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and attended Glasgow University. Fyffe had appeared in amateur theatre before turning professional. In a 2007 television interview, Logan explains that both he and Fyffe had been boy sopranos, and found themselves able to produce a falsetto voice after puberty. Fyffe's falsetto voice was additionally gifted with the full rounded tones of a mezzo soprano, and capable of producing some rousing high notes in performance.

Patrick Fyffe and George Logan were already well acquainted from their separate appearances in London cabaret when Fyffe approached Logan to stand in briefly in June 1972 as the piano accompanist for his drag act; and Logan found himself sitting at the keyboard in one of Fyffe's spare dresses (George Logan was preceded as accompanist by Jim Hardwick, also a hairdresser from Stafford). The stage names of "Hinge" and "Bracket" were chosen after careful deliberation, and in preference to bawdier alternatives. At one stage consideration had allegedly been given to "Dr P. Nissen" and "Dame Ava Fanny".

Hinge and Bracket then spent two years performing around London pubs and clubs. This included the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, a popular gay venue, and the Kensington restaurant, AD8, owned by transsexual April Ashley.

It was from this circuit that Hinge and Bracket were recruited to appear at the 1974 Edinburgh Festival. The show was a one-hour scripted vignette, which presented them in a Victorian church hall setting, along with a visiting baritone. In this intimate atmosphere, Evadne and Hilda handed around glasses of sherry to the audience. News of the show (or perhaps the sherry) spread quickly around the festival; and after the first couple of nights, they were playing to packed houses.

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