Review: HMS Pinafore ****
St Fagans by moonlight can be a magical place. And it’s an ideal outdoor setting for the Everyman Theatre production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera HMS Pinafore.
Everybody in the audience is under cover, while a strong and enthusiastic cast are in the open, playing to a backdrop of trees. That somehow adds to a show with a nautical theme.
There is plenty of fun, loads of laughter and so much to enjoy in this Everyman production. Director Simon West stepped in to solve a problem posed when Uriel Walker, playing Captain Corcoran, was unavailable. The experienced West joined seamlessly and played a leading role during an enjoyable evening of fun and music.
The Everyman production of HMS Pinafore, or the Lass that loved a Sailor, is set in the 1920s/1930s. It tells the story of a lowly able-seaman who falls in love with the captain’s daughter. How do they overcome the serious social obstacles to marry?
HMS Pinafore sails the ocean and on board are a whole host of eccentric characters including a First Lord of the Admiralty who has never been to sea and a Captain who is never seasick.
“What never?”
“No, never,” says Captain Corcoran.
“What never?”
“Well, hardly ever!”
My personal favourite was comical chief cook and bottle-scrubber Dick Deadeye, played by Paul Hayden Williams, while West’s portrayal of Captain Corcoran and Gregory Owens as Sir Joseph Porter (ruler of the Queen’s Navy) added to the humour.
Lovers Josephine (Lizzie Gould), the Captain’s daughter, and Ralph Rackstraw (Ellie Hoare) were both outstanding. Captain Corcoran and Dick Deadeye team up for the song Kind Captain, I’ve important information, while other songs include We Sail the Ocean Blue, I’m Called Little Buttercup, He is an Englishman and Oh Joy, Oh Rapture Unforeseen.
If you haven’t experienced a comic opera, you have all of this week to attend. Start times and ticket price information can be found on Everyman Festival Website or by calling 0844 8700 887.
Terry Phillips | South Wales Echo. 26 July 2010.