★★★★

“A new and mostly fresh-faced cast give their all to this hugely enjoyable show”

At the highpoint of the Victorian era, WS Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan collaborated on 14 hugely successful comic operas, thanks to their being brought together by Richard D’Oyly Carte at the Savoy Theatre. Sullivan wrote the music and Gilbert the words. The duo’s gift for catchy tunes and clever and witty lyrics won them huge success.

HMS Pinafore, The Mikado and The Pirates of Penzance have long been out of copyright and remain firm favourites for amateur companies around the world. So far, so familiar. But what happens when you freshen up these old warhorses and stage them with an all-male cast?

Since 2009 London-based director Sasha Regan has been doing just that, first at the Union Theatre, which she founded, and subsequently on tour around the country and to Australia. When asked why an all-male cast, she once said she loves their innocence. “Like a bunch of fresh-faced schoolboys, they have an energy that is infectious”. That fizzing energy rocked Wilton’s Music Hall last night.

A new and mostly fresh-faced cast give their all to this hugely enjoyable show, injecting much delightful scampering campery into the already irreverent old story. David McKechnie (the very model of a modern Major-General) is the only cast member to have appeared in Sasha Regan’s show before and his version of the most famous patter song (think the original rap) is a tour de force.

Thanks to the direction and some ingenious and ultra-precise and always enchanting choreography by Lizzi Gee, the cast occupy the entire theatre most enjoyably. From the opening scene where the troupe of white clad performers bowl energetically on to the stage through the auditorium, their movement is a delight.

Amongst the best known numbers in the show are ‘When a felon’s not engaged in his employment’ (a Policeman’s lot is not a happy one) – sung with great gusto by a knee-trembling chorus of Policemen, and ‘Hail poetry’ a beautiful rendition of this a cappella anthem.

These choruses are well-suited to an all-male cast. The greatest challenges are in the female roles, where Sullivan wrote some beautiful bel canto tunes. As Mabel, Luke Garner-Greene makes an impressive stage debut, gamely tackling the considerable falsetto challenge. Robert Wilkes as Ruth has some terrific comic moments. Tom Newland is the living embodiment of the swaggering pirate king and Cameron McAllister has a fine voice and touching innocence in his performance as Frederic.

Right down to its cheesy ending when all’s right in this shining take on the Victorian world, Sasha Regan’s The Pirates of Penzance is a delightful don’t miss.

THE GIANT KILLERS at Wilton’s Music Hall

★★★★

“This is a story of flat cap versus top hat, the salt of the earth against the posh and toffee-nosed and it’s firmly on the side of the underdog”

Falling firmly in the middle of the off-season with only the European Championships for football fans to keep an eye on, is a tour by The Long Lane Theatre Company of their own devised work all about the beautiful game. And it’s an excellent 90 minutes plus added time of entertainment.

This is the little-known story of Darwen FC from Lancashire and how they became the first team of working class lads to play in the FA Cup, then the prerogative of the privileged classes. Three memorable and bloody matches played at the Kensington Oval against the mighty Old Etonians are re-enacted and much is claimed for this little club including first use by the press of the term Giant Killers (100 years before Sutton United, this), first use of a substitute, and first involvement in a game by professional players (disputed!).

This is a story of flat cap versus top hat, the salt of the earth against the posh and toffee-nosed and it’s firmly on the side of the underdog.

Written in the style of narrative storytelling, the cast of four are equally excellent. Central to everything is Lucy (Eve Pearson-Wright), the beautiful, potty-mouthed publican who unofficially runs the football club and is in constant argument with her player brother and self-appointed Captain of the team Billy (Graham Butler). Robert Kirkham (Andrew Pearson-Wright) is a prodigal son returning to Darwin after a time away in Scotland where he has picked up controversial new ways of playing the game but is now looking to woo the love of his life. And posh-speaking James Ashton (Nicholas Shaw) is the son of the local mill owner, an old Harrovian who gets a say in the running of the team because he has bought them a set of shirts.

Designed for national tour (Designer Kevin Jenkins), the set is necessarily minimal: some cleverly designed cabinets boast hidden drawers, even a window, that open up to enhance different scenes, and ingenious use of moving benches provide a variety of options around the stage. But the actors’ movements are rather linear and at the stage edges sometimes are caught out of the light. Only when the football starts in earnest at the end of the first half and the forestage is brought into use is there any visual depth. But then things really work. Pearson-Wright and Butler especially excel in their high-octane match commentary and physical prowess. Slo-mo replays of an exhilarating dribble and shot on goal, or a goalkeeper’s save have the audience gasping and cheering (Movement Director Emily Holt).

This is a story with a lot of heart, superbly told. In a moment of tragedy Graham Butler beautifully sings a poignant Abide with Me, a funereal anthem with its own FA Cup connection. A couple of sub-plots involving rioting townsfolk and striking cotton mill workers could have been made more of but the premise that people that come together can achieve a common goal is uplifting and clearly made.

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE at Wilton’s Music Hall

★★★★

“A new and mostly fresh-faced cast give their all to this hugely enjoyable show”

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE at Wilton’s Music Hall

Reviewed on 31st October 2024

by David Woodward

Photography by Mark Senior

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE

THE GIANT KILLERS at Wilton’s Music Hall

★★★★

“This is a story of flat cap versus top hat, the salt of the earth against the posh and toffee-nosed and it’s firmly on the side of the underdog”

THE GIANT KILLERS at Wilton’s Music Hall

Reviewed on 27th June 2024

by Phillip Money

Click on image below for tour dates

Previously reviewed at this venue:

THE GIANT KILLERS

THE GIANT KILLERS