2 – 7 December
Sasha Regan’s swash-buckling, all-male production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance is bound for the Theatre Royal Bath, appearing from Monday 2nd to Saturday 7th December, direct from a four-week run at Wilton’s Music Hall in London.
Sasha Regan’s original all-male Gilbert and Sullivan production has now been winning awards around the world for 15 years. Fast, funny and packed with wit and musical excellence, this is the tale of Frederic, apprenticed in error to a band of tender-hearted, orphaned pirates exploring the coastline in search of treasure and romance. His plans to marry are thrown into disarray when it is discovered that he was born on the 29th February, and won’t come of age until he is 84!
A classic musical comedy about mistaken identity, pirates, policemen, romance and the demands of duty, The Pirates of Penzance first opened in 1879 in New York and was an immediate triumph for Gilbert and Sullivan. It remains their most successful collaboration and a favourite with audiences to this day. The topsy-turviest of Gilbert’s plots is complemented wonderfully by Sullivan’s ever-popular, sparkling score, including the favourite songs I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major General and Poor Wand’ring One.
Sasha Regan’s extraordinary production adds another delicious twist with her idea to transform these much-loved classics into all-male productions, stemming from her own experience performing Gilbert and Sullivan at a single-sex school. Her shows are renowned for playing on the unique humour it creates.
The cast features David McKechnie (Standing at the Sky’s Edge, Sheffield Crucible, National Theatre, West End) as Major General; Cameron McAllister (Back to the Future, West End) as Frederic; Lewis Kennedy (Sasha Regan’s All-Male The Mikado) as Sergeant of Police; Robert Wilkes (Cats and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, UK tours) as Ruth, and recent graduates Luke Garner-Greene as Mabel and Tom Newland as Pirate King. Thomas Griffiths plays Samuel, with Joe Henry, Kirwan Kaanan, Thomas Alsop and Aaron Dean as Sisters, and an ensemble featuring Joshua Molyneux, Patrick Cook, Samuel John Taylor, Alfie French, Boaz Chad and Davo Storey.
The creative team includes director Sasha Regan, designer Robyn Wilson Owen, choreographer Lizzi Gee, lighting designer Ben Bull, musical director Ioannis Giannopoulos, musical supervisor Richard Baker and associate choreographer Lee Greenaway.
The Pirates of Penzance appears at the Theatre Royal Bath from Monday 2nd to Saturday 7th December. To book tickets call the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 or visit theatreroyal.org.uk
Photo credit: Mark Senior
