PEERLESS, COMPLETE WITH PEERESSES
Melodious romantic yearning and extreme nonsense, Victoriana sending itself up in rap-speed pattering rhyme and lovesick fairies invading the House of Lords: all curated by Charles Court Opera and directed by John Savournin, whose works both vocal and directorial have rarely failed to spark joy . There’s even a full chamber ensemble this time alongside piano:, flute, oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and horn (the latter vital for”ta-ran-ta-ra, Bow down, ye lower middle classes’). This group were wonderful enough with just a piano, but this takes us up and beyond.
Savournin opts to drag the House of peers into the new century, so Matthew Kellett’s twinklingly vivid Lord Chancellor is accompanied by only one male – David Menezes as Tolloller – and tweedily formidable female peers, notably Catrine Kirkman’s Lady Mountararat, playing it in a Lady Hale spider badge and an eerie ability to sing at moments in Margaret Thatcher’s unmistakeably breath-heavy tones and catchphrases. The sentry Lewis becomes a doddering House of Lords librarian – taking on the front row with an accusing glare at the deathless information that every little boy and girl that’s born into this world alive is either a little liberal or else a little conserva-tive. Matther Palmer of course doubles as Strephon the hybrid fairy-human, voice and leg-based comedy immaculate in both roles. The Queen of the fairies – fabulous contralto line from Meriel Cunningham , it’s like being massaged – updates her curse on Parliament by dooming them all to Clacton and a Reform vote.
Comedically, there is nothing not to love as one expects from the gentle mockery of Charles Court Opera in its G and S mode. But it does not neglect the actual musical beauty, the yearning romantic tone which Gilbert and Sullivan were artful enough not to neglect. And which, face it, in our brutally cynical age comes as balm to the spirit. Especially in Wilton’s, between the barley-sugar pillars. Even the happy ending for Thatcher-Mountararat and Tololler moved the soul a bit. And yes, you G and S purists, Kellett delivers the nightmare song with laser precision, before collapsing on a dispatch box, bum in air. As you would. Bravo to all. Quick, there are still a few tickets. And join the Friends,I am…
box office wiltons.org.uk to 28 Feb
rating 5
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