2 – 7 December
The Pirates of Penzance is in that select group of musicals whose familiarity goes far beyond the requirement of ever having seen a production. The songs and tunes pop up in all sorts of contexts, often unrelated to the actual show. Not content with being glowing examples of operetta – a genre Gilbert and Sullivan were in no small way responsible to establish – they have somehow managed to seep into the wider culture along with songs from their other shows.
As opposed to burlesque or a drag show where conscious parody is never far away, Sasha Regan’s take on the ‘much loved’ operetta offers a new perspective on an old favourite. What we get with an all-male cast is a stripping away of our preconceptions around behaviour associated with sex in a way that shifts focus entirely to gender. This opens up the way to a slightly different, less ‘knowing’ satire and parody, which of course are never far from the burlesque objectives and tendencies of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. The simpering daughters of the Major-General (David McKechnie) are curious prey for the Pirate King (Tom Newland) and his band.
The bunch of milky pirates and soppy policemen brought together in the absurd and highly sentimental plot, offer the materials of a delightfully farcical and satirical take not only on a certain vogue in Victorian theatre, but present day gender attitudes ripe for exploring.
The staging of some of the choral numbers is joyfully comic, making the most of the possibilities of silly walks and other nonsense as in When The Foeman Bares His Steel, for example.
However I felt some of the whizz we might expect of farce sometimes managed little beyond mere plodding. Nonetheless the structure of the show gallops on apace regardless. Notable in this respect is Mr McKechnie’s rendering of the famously tongue-twisting, I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major-General.
A few slatted crates and a single piano, played with gusto and sensitivity by the musical director, Giannis Giannopulous, gives focus to the voices and acting. I have to confess at being no expert, but it seemed to me that the female parts were more falsetto than countertenor. Whatever the case, the lightness of the voices with predominantly head tones lacked some of the balance in the ensemble numbers.
The general feel of the production is joyful and in the spirit of the writers’ intentions.
★★★☆☆ Graham Wyles, 3 December 2024
Photo credit: Mark Senior
