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Forty
years on found Haywards Heath Operatic Society celebrating their anniversary at Clair Hall with the first show they staged at the old Grammar School (tickets 3/6 - 6/-) in 1965, The
Pirates of Penzance.
No
change there then? Well yes,
actually, for this time
they opted for the Broadway version, a bit of
a burlesque at the expense of Gilbert's comedy,
and a fresh, zippy arrangement of Sullivan's score which in the interest of a seamless free-flowing show
pretty well dispenses with spoken dialogue.
With
more
movement involved, the danger was that the action would be too restricted on a
narrow stage. That the outcome was a happy celebration show, was down to Barry Dowden's imaginative production; Beth Bryant's practical choreography; and lan
White's fresh and invigorating treatment of the
score. Strings will of course always be
missed but White's conducting of a
small, versatile orchestra including key board, established well both the
music's wit and the charm.
The
director overcame cramped conditions
by bringing principals, knockabout policeman and swashbuckling pirates, out
from under the proscenium arch. Good use was made of a platform a few feet from
the audience so that rapport could be established.
It was as if the
straight-jacket that all too often makes G&S revivals seem like wax-work
affairs had been ripped away, allowing the fun to sparkle and spill out of the
glass like champers. |
The
show was also one of the best sung in
recent years with the honours going to Vicky Rogers whose feisty Mabel had a
touch of radiance both in presence and song. Her light coloratura was well
projected and accurate if at times on the shrill side.
Not
though in Leave Me Not to Pine Alone,
which was touching and honeyed of tone. A voice then of promise to watch out
for.
Mark
Freeman's Frederic was an ardent
fellow who sung his numbers expressively and was not above injecting a spot of
crooning or Elvis rock into his vocalising. Rebecca Dowden's Ruth was not the
usual over-blown contralto, but a business-like Scot, upstanding of figure and
brisk of manner that smacked a little of Mary Poppins.
Paul
Welch contributed a very model of a
modern Major General, fleet of foot and phrasing he strutted the stage like a
crimson bantam cock. Tim Wray led his well characterised buccaneers with brio
as the soft hearted Pirate King, and Barry Clifton's Sergeant of Police set the
right animated example to his capering Keystone cops colleagues of the Penzance force.
The
general's daughters were a winsome
bunch very much caught up in the action which culminated with visual tributes
to both the old Queen and the celebrating Society.
After
the '65 Pirates, a colleague reflecting on the quality of the show, observed
that the more established societies would have to look to their laurels. That
still applies: long may it do so.
Mark
Gale
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