A brisk piano sets the tone
When we think pirates, instantly tricorn hats, eye patches, daggers, skull and crossbone flags and crow’s nest spring to mind. Indeed, the programme cover depicts a cigar-puffing pirate peering at us from under his bandana with his one patch-free eye. In Sasha Regan’s, all-male version of Gilbert & Sullivan’s late Victorian classic we get breeches, thigh-slapping and swashbuckling antics, yes, but buckles and swords, no. The only flag is the Union Jack and there is a monotone hue about costumes and props. But this simplicity of colour comes as a surprise and stands out as a major triumph, allowing our focus to be on the oft-familiar songs, the vocals, the characters and the amusing demeanour of the all-male cast, writes Eleanor Thorn.
A brisk piano (Giannis Giannopoulos) sets the tone when we meet a crew of orphan pirates. Frederic (Cameron Mcallister), coming up to his 21st year, is preparing to relinquish himself of his soon-to-expire indenture but, before taking leave, discloses the crew’s weakness – they are “too tender-hearted” with a well-known reputation of leniency on the high seas towards anyone who claims they too are orphans. Whilst Frederic is champing at the bit to depart, especially to find out what the fairer sex looks like, his conscience invites a quandary, for his fellow pirates and Ruth (Robert Wilkes), suggest that taking her with him to marry would be best. She is older and smitten, but instinct is telling him he may well find fairer – something that is confirmed the moment a group of sisters are heard and spied when out on a day trip.
Amid a flurry of handkerchiefs, parasols and butterfly nets, these boy-maidens await their “papa” for a picnic. Frederic declares his presence, such is his desire to protect their modesty at the mere suggestion of a dipping of toes in the water, and instantly falls in love, a feeling reciprocated by Mabel (Luke Garner-Greene), ripe as they are for romance and flirtatious warbling. The arrival of Ruth, pirates and the maidens’ father, the Major General (David MaKechnie), keeps the tempo high.
We giggle as his great steed is no more than a broom and are regaled with the show’s masterpiece song “I am the very model of a modern major general” and the only concession to a splash of colour in the form of his red jacket. To avoid losing his daughters, whose hands are sought by the pirates, he demands their pity for he is, he says, an orphan. In exchange for this “innocent fiction” he is rewarded with a badge of honour: the one eye-patch of the show.
Ruth’s upset is not enough to dampen the joyous wedding party but she is yet to get her revenge. Major General Stanley, sleepless and racked with guilt at his deception, has the police vow to capture the pirates. But Ruth and the Pirate King (Tom Newland) have sussed that Frederic has not completed his indenture, for born on a leap year, he has only had five birthdays rather than 21! Dutiful pirate once more, he vows to kill the General. Police and pirates alternately quake in fear and gain the upper hand till finally it is Ruth who declares the pirates “all noble men who have gone wrong”, in acknowledgement of which their father benevolently allows his daughters to marry them.
Police and pirates to and fro, making ample use of London’s only surviving Victorian music hall with its wonderful acoustics and two-tier stage that lends itself perfectly to prancing pirates and creeping constabulary. A surprise to find that director Sasha Regan, founder of the Union Theatre in Southwark, is actually the only female in the production! Is every Gilbert and Sullivan an all-male affair? I guess not, but the last one I saw featured my brother as the Mikado’s Yum-Yum in his school production, so I expect nothing less! We went with our eleven year old who found it an absolute delight.
Wilton’s Music Hall, Graces Alley, London, E1 8JB until Saturday 23 November.
Monday – Saturday at 7.30pm; Thursday and Saturday at 2.30pmAge Recommendation: 6+
Booking: http://www.wiltons.org.uk/ – 020 7702 2789
Tickets: from £12.50
