THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE (PALACE THEATRE/STREAM THEATRE)*****

 

By Aashiq

Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/16

Available until: Shows at 7.30 every night from 1^st March-3^rd April. Matinées at 2.30pm on 31^st March and 3^rd April and two further performances on Sunday 4^th and Monday 5^th April at 5pm.

This is an old review, but this gorgeous, funny, touching, romantic and out of this world production is streaming again so if you missed it last time, watch it now. If you did see it last time, watch it again. It gets better every time you watch it. (You see. I can be concise. When I want to.)

I absolutely adore this production with all my heart! I think I can honestly say with my hand on my aforementioned heart that I have officially fallen in love with a woman. So, listen, Mabel darling, as Frederic is technically still underage… it’s okay, don’t panic. I’m already married to a mostly wonderful man and after all, The Pirates of Penzance is only a story.

I have a love-hate relationship with The Pirates of Penzance. The comedy is the important thing. It can be the most beautifully-sung thing in the world, but if the singers can’t do the comedy, I’d have more fun watching fake tan dry. But if the comedy is there, it doesn’t matter how rubbish your singers are.

But of course, it is still a million times better if you have a cast that can act and sing and the cast in this production can do both extremely well. Don’t you just hate people like that? (Actually, I only hate people like that when they’re in front of me in the audition queue… Oh my God. I’ve just realised something. There is currently NO SUCH THING as an audition queue! Not only that, audition queues are ILLEGAL. Isn’t that amazing? Unless of course there are socially-distanced audition queues and no-one’s told me...)

Anyway, this fabulous cast of The Pirates of Penzance can both sing and act, they have a Mabel I actually fancy (actually, even Ruth is rather gorgeous), the only thing I don’t like about this production is that I can’t see it again till tomorrow at 7.30 which is nearly 24 hours and it’s not fair.

In case you happen to be thinking about Sir Matthew Bourne’s exquisite Swan Lake (and it’s perfectly reasonable if you are, I probably think about this gorgeous production at least ten times a day), I do need to tell you that it’s nothing like Swan Lake. The Swans are all played by men, but they’re playing male swans. When the main Swan appears as a human, he appears as a human male (I mean, not that I was able to examine him in complete detail, but I made an extensive an examination as I could and I’m very sure he’s a man). In The Pirates of Penzance, the female characters are all still female. They just happen to be played by men.

Sasha Regan’s production is absolutely hilarious, but you’re not laughing because you’ve just seen a man in a dress. (What’s so funny about that anyway? Do you think men look sillier in dresses than they do in mankinis? If so, you seriously need to drive to Barnard Castle.) You laugh at the script and the situations, but the characters aren’t played for laughs. They’re not pantomime dames (no offence to the many glorious dames I know. I adore you all). The women are played sincerely. They move gracefully. They have character depth and real emotions. They are young ladies of the 1880s (or whenever it’s set) and that’s all there is to it.

(Oh, and I just need a quick word with Google. When I’m googling something relating to The Pirates of Penzance, could you stop predicting that I’m googling Pirates of the Caribbean? I’m really not predictable so don’t even try.)

Sasha Regan’s production has some clever moments, but she keeps the focus on the characters and their story, allowing you to appreciate the talent of her cast. Choreographer Lizzi Gee and associate choreographer Lee Greenaway (who also plays the gorgeous Connie) provide beautiful era-appropriate choreography, and musical director Richard Baker gives sensitive accompaniment (there are some gorgeous male sopranos in this cast and they’re never required to push their voices to be heard over the music).

The cast are sublime. The male characters are slightly outclassed by the female characters (welcome to real life), but Tom Senior is a loving and sensitive Frederic (though he knows how to put Ruth in her place – Mabel had better not step out of line!), very different from his testosterone-laden performance as Kenickie in Grease in Milton Keynes (relax, I wasn’t breaking any laws, this was years ago when Tier 4 just meant the fourth division third division League Two of the football league… not that I remember the fourth division, I hasten to add, before anyone gets any unseemly ideas about me… actually, I barely remember the third division). Oliver Savile leads a surprisingly charming group of pirates and David McKechnie gets the comedy (and the words, for that matter) exactly right as the Major-General.

And as for the ladies… Alan Richardson has already given me one (actually rather enjoyable) identity crisis earlier in lockdown when he played the very beautiful Mermaid Queen in Peter Pan and he was at it again with his lovely, touching performance as Mabel. His singing is sensational. He hits the high notes tunefully and beautifully and he really knows how to wear a dress, which far too many men just don’t.

There is also an outstanding Ruth from the lovely Leon Craig, recently a stunning Sandra Bollock in Everybody’s Talking about Jamie and an adorably hungry Babkak (and sometimes a very cool Genie) in Aladdin. He obviously looks much too young to play Ruth, but he plays the character so well, it doesn’t matter. He gives Ruth just enough pathos to make her situation genuinely sad, but not so much that we actually start throwing things at Frederic (and I’m not thinking about underwear. This time).

There are more performances to enjoy and I might just do that because it’s lockdown and I think I deserve to be spoiled. I’m in Tier 4 so even if I get really unbearable, I’ll only be inflicting myself on one person. But you could do a lot worse than spoil yourself in lockdown with this production. It’s better than your daily workout followed by banana bread!*

*I would imagine. I’ve never actually made banana bread. It’s so conformist. Also, my husband’s ex makes it and the last person I should be aspiring to be like is someone who didn’t make my husband happy. On that note (because I don’t want to be irrelevant), let’s hope Mabel doesn’t end up like Ruth.