A review by Richard J Thornton for EXTRA! EXTRA!
Christopher Finn as Iolanthe in IOLANTHE
It’s an encouraging touch when a director’s vision is clear from her opening scene. As the lights drop and the score lifts, schoolboys’ torches sweepingly illuminate Wilton Music Hall’s grand auditorium, drawing focus to the eminent setting of this voluptuous and fabulous opera-farce. Iolanthe is a show which couples trademark Gilbert and Sullivan political satire with absurdist frivolity, with a plot that lends itself to slapstick and caricature. Sasha Regan’s masterstroke is to push these light-hearted inclinations into to a sumptuously camp free-for-all by using an all-male cast rife with innuendo smirks, graceful sauce and intellectual fondling.
In a story where fickleness is as honourable as forgiveness, Gilbert’s libretto provides a colourful mural of images for Regan to exploit. But due to the show’s satirical content, a director could fall foul to entanglement in joyless exposition: some of the lyrics are baffling. Not so. This production skips playfully over the politics and bathes deeply in the comic clashes between the uber-camp fairy world and the buffoonish House of Lords. Where the two worlds meet – quite literally in the half-mortal, half-fairy Strephon – we might find the most identifiable character of the play, but these hopes are dashed by the director’s lack of interest in him, in favour of the more exuberantly attractive caricatures of the Fairy Queen, Phyllis and the Lord Chancellor. But what the show forgoes in potential for human empathy it gains in enchanting revelry. There’s little relief when Strephon and Phyllis are allowed to marry because the plot is overshadowed by the hilarity of the sung-out soliloquies; but this directorial choice is the triumph, eliminating the danger of a weak attempt at ‘drama’ in favour of increasing entertainment.
Regan’s clever choice to focus on the physicality and frivolity of Iolanthe complements both the archetype of shabby-chic Wilton’s and the pantomime skills of the actors. Wilton’s is a music hall, and the acoustics are resounding, but what we miss from the plot due to complex satirical lyrics, we gain in comically choreographed dance sequences. The natural atmosphere of Wilton’s relieves the audience of their shame at disregarding the plot, and encourages them to indulge in the calamity of interactions on stage. Especially delightful are the meddling fairy duet of Reuben Kaye’s Celia and Adam Lewis Ford’s Leila and Shaun McCourt’s eloquent nightmare song as the tortured Lord Chancellor, which is perfectly executed and an immediate heart winner.
Some may whine that Gilbert’s carefully satirical libretto is not done justice, but Sullivan’s score is so simply and elegantly performed by Christopher Mundy that its buoyancy leaves little inclination to mull on politics. Regan’s success owes much to his creative comrades. The aesthetics breathe energy, comedy and style into the production which do more than frame the painting. The costumes are inventive and exquisite, the set simple - unobtrusive yet luxurious. The key to the aesthetic success, however, lies once more in the integration of the hall’s design – so credit to Stewart Charlesworth. Alex Weatherhill’s mighty introduction as the waddling Fairy Queen, walking through the aisles, suitably warms the space for the ensemble to later fill with choral voices as they encircle the audience in the climax scenes.
This production works because it couples the eminent quality of Gilbert and Sullivan with very 21st century theatricality. By twisting the opera’s already topsy-turvy nature even further into gender ambiguity, the show sidesteps the dated satire and enriches the absurdist farce, giving the audience the go-ahead to chortle and bellow high into Wilton’s painted ceilings.
Alex Weatherhill as Fairy Queen in IOLANTHE
Photo by Kay Young
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