1 – 2 August
The Alma Theatre’s stage has been transformed into a leafy glade, strung with fairy lights, inhabited by fantastical beings with pointy ears, some with furry tails. Where are we? Certainly not Japan, for this production of The Mikado by Forbear! Theatre sidesteps all the issues relating to the cultural insensitivity associated with ‘yellow-face’ stagings of this comic opera that has led to much anguished debate and, in the USA, at least one major production’s cancellation. Gone is the town of Titipu, and gone too are all those quasi-Japanese names, such as Nanki-Poo and Pooh-Bah. G&S traditionalists might be enraged, but the good news is that this change of setting is triumphantly successful. The discarding of all those restrictive kimonos and stiff Oriental-style formalities has given Director and Choreographer Rachel Middle the freedom to create a highly energised version of this hoary old Victorian favourite that is as welcome and fresh as the flowers that bloom in the spring.
The setting, costumes and characters’ names may have changed, but all else remains largely unaltered. A major feature of Forbear!’s house style is the great respect shown to Gilbert and Sullivan’s original intentions. There are no pantomimic winks to the audience, and each character, however nonsensical, is performed with straight-faced conviction. This approach works well, for when daft creatures appear oblivious to their own silliness the comedy is heightened, and the satire has more bite.
There are highlights aplenty. On-stage pianist George Ireland delivers Sullivan’s music with considerable brio and the talented cast of ten sing superbly throughout. There is much energetic dancing, making the most of the Alma’s limited space.The ‘three little girls from school’ are no longer rather twee, but are transformed here into elfin beings with a raunchy style that owes more to St Trinian’s than to any Japanese seminary. John Faal is pure both in voice and heart as the earnestly romantic ‘wand’ring minstrel’ Æthel-Rún, son of the Mikado and in love with the equally pure-voiced Mna-y’um, played with coquettish charm by Rachel Middle. David Jones is a wonderfully self-important P’fugl-fa, gleefully accumulating bribes and titles as Lord High Everything Else, and obsessed with an ancestry that can be traced back to the most primordial of swamps. As Klók-Cow, the Lord High Executioner, William Remmers skilfully conveys that devious rascal’s determined self-preservation and quick wit.
There are two stand-out performances in the second act. As Köttilska, the elderly lady hopelessly in love with the Mikado’s son, Kathleen Brenner is fabulously feline, and brings operatic weight and power to her singing of ‘Alone, And Yet Alive.’ Equally effective, though for very different reasons, is Dan Cavendish’s wild-eyed depiction of a cheerfully psychopathic Mikado, smiling contentedly at the recounting of every gruesome detail of a beheading.
Forbear!’s magical Mikado is a reminder of the paradox that we can often best be faithful to the spirit of works from the past not by preserving them in aspic but by re-thinking them in ways that recognise that times have changed. In this version the Lord High Executioner’s updated little list of those who ‘never would be missed’ provocatively includes Gilbert and Sullivan purists. Fair comment!
At the time of writing there are still tickets available for today’s performances; go if you can.
★★★★☆ Mike Whitton, 2 August 2025
Photography credit: Jon Lo Photography/Dan Cavendish
