Iolanthe

What makes the choice of Iolanthe so good for the Union is that it enables the male cast to embrace the female roles on a hitherto unseen level. Unlike most Gilbert and Sullivan works where the female chorus are wards, here they are fairies. The opportunities, therefore, for the cast to skip, trip and be merry are even greater than normal as they dance around their Arcadian paradise, courtesy of Mark Smith’s exemplary choreography.

The production is also aided by a strong concept. The stage is cluttered with books, lanterns, footballs and other miscellaneous props. It signifies no particular place (although it could be a backroom in the House of Lords) but rather alludes to the quaintness of English ways, or the baggage that the country carries by virtue of its history. The costumes are also in the same vein, and never before can a theatre’s general raid of its stores have been quite so productive. The fairies’ wings are made from bunting, table tennis nets or shuttlecocks, while the Lords appear in a variety of dusty robes. Sporting military, naval, pith or even ARP helmets, they capture both the pride and outdated values of the peers.

Though no principal is bad, only half of them really excel. Shaun McCourt is strong as the Lord Chancellor because he doesn’t portray him as an entirely blithering idiot. In the first half at least we can have some appreciation for the logic in his approach to law. Kingsley Hall and Matthew James Willis are also effective as Earls Mountararat and Tolloller, the latter particularly so as he dons a Harry Potteresque appearance. Kris Manuel’s Fairy Queen hits the mark, his muscular presence working well with the character’s determination to uphold the fairy code, while Raymond Tait, also the production’s dance captain, is a sturdy Private Willis.

But Gianni Onori’s Strephon feels a little lacklustre. His delivery is well considered, but he brings out the subtleties in the language rather to the detriment of its obvious humour (with many Gilbert and Sullivan performers it’s the other way around). Like Manuel and the fairy chorus, Alan Richardson as Phyllis and Christopher Finn as Iolanthe sing well at the correct female pitch, without ever reaching the vocal heights achieved by Adam Ellis as Mabel in last year’s Pirates.

But if this production is a shade less strong musically than its predecessors, this is more than made up for by its visual appeal. There is still plenty of mileage left in the Union’s all-male productions, and I just wonder which operetta it will choose to tackle next.

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