Sasha Reagan’s All Male Mikado

What joy to see once again this quite brilliant company. Having grown up with the music of Gilbert and Sullivan, and loving it I hasten to add, I was always so disappointed to see tired, po paced and reverential productions on the few occasions I was able to. Apart from a few fun productions that cropped up in London in the late 1970s this was all to often the case. Then a few years ago I was lucky enough to be taken to see Sasha Reagan’s All Male Iolanthe and be blown away by the sheer beauty, the respectful and yet playful interpretations and the fine singing that this company delivered. They breathe life into G&S and joy into theatre, and this Mikado is no exception. The silly, Enid Blytonesque setting of a school boy camp works perfectly, the camp nature of school boys playing female roles harks back to the days when this was the norm and needs no questioning and the inventiveness of the design, costumes in particular has a wonderfully witty make-shift charm.

But above all this is the clarity of the music and the impeccable diction that means that every word of the narrative, every joke, every witty satirical jibe is clearly there – and all this done without the aid of amplification, that alone a joy in these days of ear shatteringly over amplified productions. Praise too for superb choreography expertly and precisely delivered by this well honed and talented ensemble.

I am charged with awarding stars, but only given five. If I had my way I would give each member of this brilliant company, front and back of that stage, five stars each and that would create a well deserved galaxy, a firmament. I cannot wait to see what they do next and hope that they will eventually deliver the full canon of G&S.

13 June

Theatre royal Brighton

Andrew Kay

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