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Make sure you book a berth on Pinafore
HELLO SAILORS: Society chorus
members, from left, George McHollan,
Alan
Hogg and Stewart Coghill
THE longevity of Gilbert and Sullivan’slight operatic confections is
truly astounding.
This year marks the centenary of composer Arthur Sullivan’s death,
but his musical legacy is still being celebrated by no less a filmmaker
than Mike Leigh, with the Oscar-nominated Topsy Turvy.
As anyone who sees the movie will learn, Sullivan’s association with
his librettist William Gilbert was not a happy one, but certainly
beneficial. Apart from penning Onward Christian Soldiers, Sullivan’s
orchestral music and songs remain long forgotten.
Burlesque
His overture to Pinafore, though faultlessly performed here by a
consistently excellent orchestra, manages to sound both strident and twee.
It was only in tandem with Gilbert that Sullivan’s music reached its
full potential to divert and entertain – and this it still does.
Gilbert’s merciless burlesque of (then) contemporary manners and
social strictures is, in many respects, simply no longer relevant. HMS
Pinafore is based on the long running vogue that the "jolly jack
tar" figure enjoyed in Victorian theatre, very topical – in
1878. However, when satire is done well it can create its own reality and
retain its power to amuse.
This ebulliently colourful production by The Gilbert and Sullivan Society
of Edinburgh does more than amuse; it excels and occasionally,
delights.
Gilbert’s wildly artificial plot shouldn’t detain you much .
Ralph Rackstraw, a sailor on HMS Pinafore, loves Josephine, the daughter
of the ship’s captain. However, Josephine is being courted by Sir
Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty .
To use a nautical term, the story is merely bilge but from the moment a
model ship waddles across the stage you know that the company have found
just the right tone of irreverent mockery for the piece.
Their tongues may be lodged firmly in their cheeks but it doesn’t
seem to have affected their singing voices a jot.
The sailors’ stirringly infectious number, We Sail The Ocean Blue,
would constitute a showstopper if it didn’t open the proceedings.
Their chorus is led superbly by Richard Bourjo, who posses a basso
profondo voice that sounds like the most melodic foghorn on earth.
Heather Boyd as the "plump and pleasant" Little Buttercup soars
in her role. Her songs may well dwell heavily on plot exposition but her
enunciation is crystal clear. Unfortunately this is not true of the
entire cast; Fiona Main’s impressive vocal range pushes her
performance too close to the affected excesses of classical opera.
However, the majority of the show shines in exploiting the full wit and
invention of Gilbert’s outstanding libretto. Pinafore is as much a
satire on operatic conventions as it is on Victorian theatrics or
divisions in rank.
The constant mass repetition of choruses may make for a catchy tune but
its comic potential is never left unexplored, as is the custom of
repeating a brief encore of a rapturously received song.
The interaction between the cast remained effortlessly professional and
graceful even when the ship’s deck was swarming with the male and
female chorus. Special praise must go to the multi-talented director,
Alan Borthwick, who plays Captain Corcoran with an energy that borders on
the inhuman considering he also found time to design the impressive set.
Run ends on Saturday
RORY FORD
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