Seldom Seen Gilbert & Sullivan Operetta Offers Bonkers Bavarian Fun

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Penny Flood has a grand night out at Barons Court Theatre

The Grand Duke marks a welcome return of ForBear to this little theatre. Forbear are a massively talented crew who specialise in Gilbert & Sullivan works, they’ve worked together in the past (you might recognise some of them if you saw Ruddigore and Iolanthe) so they gel as a team.

They sing, they dance and they’re very funny, with exquisite comic timing wringing every drop of hilarity out of the G&S script, upholding the daftness without losing the plot.

The story may be bonkers, but it's also as satirical as any G&S plot. It’s set in Bavaria - cue lederhosen, thigh slapping, sausages and hats with feathers - in the hamlet of Pfennighalbpfennig (that’s penny ha’penny in English) where a group of thespians are plotting to overthrow the Grand Duke and run the principality themselves. They haven’t got the first idea how to do it, they're actors not politicians.

Aside from the politics there's love, and to begin with there are enough young men for all the girls but a series of duels bump some of them off and it gets awkward. Made funnier by the fact that by the second act they're all dressed as ancient Greeks.

And so it goes from daft to dafter, with lots of plot twists, spurned lovers, broken hearts, a roulette wheel, sausage rolls, too much champagne and political skulduggery. Then just when it seems things can't get any sillier or more complicated, the Prince of Monte Carlos turns up with his daughter. To make sure we know she's French she wears onions on her head.

There's some amazing choreography and energetic and complicated dance routines are piled into the very tiny space that sometimes I found myself wondering how they didn't fall over each other.

I can't praise this production highly enough, so it's a big well done to the creative team and the eight cast members who take on multiple roles: Roland Harrad, Samuel Wright, William Remmers (who is also the musical director), David Jones, Joanna Goldspink, Isabelle Paige, Rachel Middle (who is also the artistic director and sausage roll maker) and Aimee Daniel. And finally another great big well done to pianist George Ireland who supplied the music throughout.

This is an excellent chance to see one of G&S's lesser known operettas and it's great to have it right on our doorstep. So if you like G&S get on down and enjoy, if you think you don't like G&S this is a good chance to give them a second go, and if you know nothing about G&S this is a very good place to start.

The Grand Duke is at Barons Court Theatre until Saturday 27 January, at 7.30pm.

TICKETS: £16 (£12 Concessions – £8 Equity) available from Forbear! Theatre's website or from the Box Office on 020 8932 4747

You can alo make EMAIL BOOKINGS: Send details of performance and number of tickets required to londontheatre@gmail.com. Then pay for them, in cash, when you come to the performance.

Barons Court Theatre is at 28a Comeragh Road,W14, below the Curtains Up pub.

 

January 22, 2018