Gilbert and Sullivan Abridged
Theatre Severn
27/03/13
As a fan of minimalistic theatre and portable theatre shows, one would imagine the sight of just three singers with a screen and wicker basket would please me immensely. However in this case the three plucky vocalists failed to fill cavernous space on the main stage in Theatre Severn and would have impacted far greater on their not so large audience, were they to have used the Walker Theatre. One feels a little something of the show was swallowed up as the three cast members used the space as creatively as they could but still looked lost.
That said, Gilbert and Sullivan fans were in for a treat as Jane Webster, David Osmond and Eric Carte blasted their way through a montage of all the G&S operettas filling in the narratives as they went along.
They made the unusual choice of presenting themselves as a down at heel amateur operatic society. I say unusual choice because the whole performance was then played as though that were really the case. The danger being of course, if you missed the introduction, you could be forgiven for believing that that was indeed their status and you had just spent eighteen pounds on a ticket for an amateur performance.
Although Ms. Webster’s voice was undoubtedly classically trained there were a couple of flat notes as the two men performed their duets. One of the performers even treated us to a jumble of mixed up and forgotten words as he opened the classic song from HMS Pinafore.
This was a quirky show and an admirable précis of the work of G&S. It is easy to forget just how witty they were and how they would poke their innocuous fun at Victorian conventionality and delight the adoring audiences. The extent of their legacy is immeasurable and so many of the tunes you know in your head but not sure from where may well have been penned by the argumentative pair. Their work appears in adverts on football terraces and other equally unlikely places.
Overall, in summary I would say this was a good idea as a show but the danger with vignette productions is that one may feel a little disappointed when it becomes obvious that they may not be featuring your own particular favourite G&S song.
However there can be no better way of giving the audience a taste of this music and whetting the appetites of new listeners, for more of the same. It was fun, light and in places very funny. Not rolling in the aisles funny but funny in an almost quiet Victorian way.
This is a three star review.
Owen Lewis
Sofia is a successful playwright living in Shrewsbury. After graduating from Wolverhampton University in theatre. Sofia went on to become an actor and film maker. Her first play was published in 2015 and her plays have been seen all around the world. She is also the instigator of the popular concerts, The Sound Of Shrewsbury Folk. She has been writing with loveshrewsbury for 13 years and loves Theatre Severn and all she sees there.
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