ENO: The Pirates of Penzance

The ENO’s production of The Pirates of Penzance sails along smoothly in buoyant mood with an enthusiastic cast on board. The set design by Alison Chitty leads into the action framed through a porthole, an eye-catching gambit which is at its most effective in the opening scene when the pirate ship looms into view.

The Pirate King, played by John Savournin, has the sartorial style of Captain Hook, but lacks the mean streak. He is rather well-mannered and runs not so much a tight ship as a polite one. He bears no ill-will when apprentice pirate Frederic, played by William Morgan, completes his training and prepares to leave the crew, reminding them that he was taken on by mistake, and was meant to have trained as a pilot, rather than a pirate.

Once on dry land, Frederic sets out to find a bride and encounters the Major-General’s many daughters. Soprano Isabelle Peters gives a captivating performance as Mabel, full of playful fa-la-la’s and resonant top notes, and the couple’s voices blend well in their duet.

Mabel’s father, Major General Stanley, makes a grand entrance while tackling the tricky tongue twisters of: “I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General”. Baritone Richard Suart rises to the challenge, as the ENO orchestra, conducted by Natalie Murray Beale, deftly keeps pace.

When the pirates decide to break into the Major General’s home, singing “With cat-like tread” they stomp around the stage with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. It later turns out that, like Frederic, they are not proper pirates, but in fact “noblemen gone wrong”.

A troop of plodding policemen, led by James Creswell, have a neatly choreographed routine to accompany “A Policeman’s Lot is not a Happy One”. When the Major-General’s daughters urge them to prepare for a noble fate of “slaughter and death” their reluctance to go into battle with the pirate crew has some amusing comic touches.

It all went down well with the audience, which included a fair number of children, giving this Gilbert & Sullivan operetta the seal of approval as a family favourite.

English National Opera’s production of The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan is showing at the London Coliseum on selected dates from 24 January – 21 February.

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