Aug 16th 05
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The Pirates of Penzance

Cape Town G&S Society

First I must give credit to the perseverance of members of this company, many of whom only arrived in Buxton at 10 pm last night after surviving the strike at British Airways.  Some were travelling for over 40 hours to get here.   They were supported in tonight's production by the South African High Commissioner, Her Excellency Ms Lindiwe Mabuza  who was sitting in the centre of the front of the dress circle.  It is good to see such support given to groups from overseas. She was wearing a stunning gold national costume this evening.

On reading the programme for tonight's production we were lead to expect something different to the norm from this production and we certainly were not mistaken!  The overture struck up and then shortly afterwards the tabs were lifted to show the front of the stage with a backcloth just behind - curtains had been drawn from each side to about a third of the front just leaving a gap of one third in the centre which was floodlit.  Two young ladies, dressed as flappers, came on with boards containing names of each individual character and the actor playing the part was present  - the boards were flicked round to indicate the actor's name.  Good fun but I feel that this would have been better at the end as a "curtain call".  The laughter tended to drown out the overture.

The tabs were eventually lifted as the men's chorus sang "Pour, Oh Pour.."  What a colourful crew they were - all dressed in excellent costumes and what fun they were having as they celebrated Frederic's birthday.  Samuel sang the solo parts and he had a fine voice.  

They had good fun at Frederic and Ruth's expense as she explained how she had made a mistake and apprenticed him to a Pirate instead of a Pilot.  Ruth was a good actress with a fine clear voice.  The Pirate King was really over the top - he was very camp and minced about the stage in a very domineering manner.  At first I did not like this approach but as the production went on he became less camp and I enjoyed his performance more.  Having said that he was a fine actor - very confident with an excellent singing voice and wonderful diction.    

In the usual solo for Ruth the first verse was sung by Frederic "When I was but a little lad" and then Ruth sang the others. The "Pilot" mistake was related to him wanting to be an airline pilot. Frederic was a very enthusiastic actor - he performed very well with excellent movement about the stage.  He had a good voice but it was not very strong.  

A good rendition of "Oh, better far to live and die" by the Pirate King with much prancing about by the pirates.  

Ruth had just about won over Frederic when he heard the voices of young girls - it showed how naive he was he though it was seagulls at first!  He spurns Ruth when he spots the girls - good interaction as they sing "Oh! False one".  

The girls enter - they are a mixture of 1920's Flappers, bright young things, more elderly daughters and servants - so many of them!  A excellent "Climbing over rocky mountains" with wonderful choreography and movement.  All kept up the 1920's style of movement and posturing.  Edith and Kate sang good solos along with Frederick as he tries to warn them that he is there and they should not start to remove their clothing. 

Frederic tries to get any of the girls to marry him but they will have none of it until Mabel enters.  She has an excellent voice and is full of fun.  A very confident actress and she holds the stage as she delivers her song "Poor Wand'ring one".  Very clever work as the girls all pretend to ignore Frederic and Mabel, who pop into a beach hut, as they sing "How beautifully blue the sky".  

However, Frederic realises that the girls will be in danger from the returning pirates if they do not go but - too late - the pirates return and gleefully capture the girls - who resist - but not too much.  

Mabel warns off the pirates by telling them that father is a Major General.  This makes the pirates more wary and then as they all follow something in the sky we see a huge balloon come down at the rear of the stage, from which emerges the Major General.  He is dressed in shorts with a pith helmet and is accompanied by his servant and his young son - also dressed as a major general.  The Major General is a fine actor with a good voice.  He sings  an updated Major General's song - it was a good job the words of this were handed out to the audience or we never would have followed them -a good laugh from the audience as he mentions British Airways - however, there was no need for the swear word - Gilbert would certainly not have approved that!    

He has great fun with the Pirate King as they discuss uniforms and then have the usual confusion over the Orphan Often ! He leads the company in to an exciting finale of act one with lots of clever movement about the stage and excellent singing.

For act two the set has changed from a very rocky shoreline to the ruined chapel.  The Major General is sad about having told a lie to the Pirates.  He is consoled by his daughters and Frederic  and then the police are summoned.  What a motley crew of Keystone Cops they are!  They are well drilled and carry out some complex movements quite skillfully.  The Sergeant is particularly delightfully over the top!  They all have good fun as they sing "When the foeman bears his steel"  Lots of falling about and fright as the girls tell them that they may be off to their death and glory!

Frederic is told by Ruth and the Pirate King that due to having been born on the 29th of February he is in reality only five and a bit if counted by actual birth"DAYS"  - he is shocked to find that they expect him to remain a pirate until the 1980s!  They have great fun during this section.  Mabel returns to find Frederic all upset - they sing a moving "Stay, Frederic, Stay!" as he promises to return when he has finished his long apprenticeship - she agrees to  wait.  

More fun now with the return of the Policemen but they rush to hide as the Pirates are heard - these enter with great authority and noise singing "With cat-like tread".  When the pirates hear the Major General coming they also hide!  He sings "Sighing softly".    

The girls return to see what father is doing - they are all now in night attire as well.  The Pirates rush on and capture him, the police are summoned and then follows one of the longest fights I have ever seen - lots of action and reaction going on here - eventually the pirates are victorious.  But the Sergeant has an ace up his sleeve and demands that the pirates yield in "Good King George's name" - which of course they do.    

As usual Ruth comes on and explains all and all ends happily with a very lively finale.  

After the curtain call the cast sang a wonderful and moving rendition of a traditional South African prayer.    Ms Lindiwe Mabuza  joined in with shrill calls from up in the Dress Circle

A good production which grew on me as the evening progressed.  The costumes were super (except I missed the full Major General's uniform).  Lighting was good except for the odd times - especially which the lights came up too early, a few seconds before Mabel's first entrance.  The choreography was first class.  The change of period was well maintained and did work, keeping us in the "flapper" period at all times.  A bright and colourful production which moved along with real pace.  Most of the additions/modifications worked.