ENO Pirates of Penzance

[hmvman]

I saw the cinecast last night in York and I thought this was an excellent production and that Sullivan's music was very well served.

Did anyone else see it - or been to see the production live?

[Stanley Stewart]

Alas, not, hmvman! However, you revived many memories of Mike Leigh. Indeed, I last spoke to him at a public session when he attended the showing of "Topsy Turvy" (1999) at York's City Screen.

Hard to remember that almost 40 years earlier, we were both RADA students studying in different streams alongside Tony Hopkins, John Hurt, Simon Ward, Geoff Hutchings, David Warner, Ian McShane and Ian Ogilvie. The 60s became the harbinger of huge social change and upheavel before the emergence of 'white heat technology' - we were also the personification of fire in the belly ambition as Stanislavsky's 'An Actor Prepares' became our religion.

The young Mike Leigh was already an older man dedicated to change, rooted in improvisation, eventually fostering the seeds of a serious wider rift among the staff before Yat Malmgren and his partner, Christopher Fettes broke away and formed the Drama Centre, near Primrose Hill, changing the main focus of teaching to Laban notation. I've always admired Mike's work for its own sake as well as the stamina and dedication required in a constant need for sponsorship. Heady times!

I hope a DVD of his "Pirates..." production may follow.

[hmvman]

Some great memories there, Stanley.

I think Mike Leigh is to be commended for his very 'straight' interpretation of "Pirates". He allowed the comedy to come from Gilbert's words rather than saying, "this is funny so we're going to underline every word to hammer home the point," and the romantic scenes were done without over sentimentality. I liked the way he turned the ending to be a poignant one with Ruth being left alone as a tragic character. The music was very sensitively played too. It's a very fine production and one that will stick in the memory for all the right reasons, I think. I hope there will be a DVD release.

[Don Basilio]

I went last night and I loved it. I was astonished that I was laughing at Ruth's opening song When Frederic was a littlle lad. It is a jog-trot setting and I know the words by heart. However Rebecca du Pont Davies put over the words so clearly and pointed them so that the absurdity of the rhymes and the situation told. All that with an impressive contralto tone AND a Cornish accent.

Mike Davies' faithfulness to the text was such that he even included the orphan/often dialogue just before the Act I finale, that I believe even the D'Oyly Carte used to cut as dated.

[aeolium]

I agree about the ENO "Pirates", hmvman and Don Basilio. It was an understated production, with a simple but effective design and few gimmicks getting in the way of the singers. I love the way Sullivan, after some absurd Gilbertian topsy-turveydom, can suddenly turn out a serious and beautiful duet like the Mabel/Frederic ballad "Ah, leave me not to pine...".

Mike Davies' faithfulness to the text was such that he even included the orphan/often dialogue just before the Act I finale, that I believe even the D'Oyly Carte used to cut as dated.

Do you mean Mike Leigh, DB? In this case, I think D'Oyly Carte had the better judgement

[DublinJimbo]

I saw it in the cinema also. I enjoyed it thoroughly in terms of the music and the shining joy of the glorious marriage of words and music, but I was hugely disappointed by the production (or, more accurately, by the staging). The sets were a mess, giving an impression of things done on the cheap throughout (the number of times the unfortunate cast had to step over the base of that circular cutout!!). I had expected much more from Mike Leigh, but was hugely disappointed.

It was good, though, to come away with one's admiration for Gilbert's clever, inventive, amusing libretto and Sullivan's perfect musical response reinforced.

[aeolium]

I thought the circular cutout tended to open up when there were plenty of cast on the stage. I liked the device of the hidden policemen looking down from a higher circular level during the Major-General's song in the finale to Act 2.

The principal singers were good, especially the Pirate Captain imv.

[Don Basilio]

I thought the circular cutout tended to open up when there were plenty of cast on the stage. I liked the device of the hidden policemen looking down from a higher circular level during the Major-General's song in the finale to Act 2.

Whoops! I meant Mike Leigh, of course.

I did see Pirates with the D’Oyly Carte when I was young. The only thing I remember was my disappointment that when the police and pirates are meant to hide, they just sat crossed legged on opposite sides of the stage.

Here both choruses were in hiding, for which the set worked nicely. Leigh followed the stage directions more closey than the D’Oyly Carte, who presumably followed Gilbert.