Iolanthe

Whilst I appreciate Gilbert & Sullivan’s Operettas are not everyone’s cup of tea, this is a great shame, as in the whole, they are still very relevant today, the writing of these pieces was extremely clever and so many of the lines and songs could very easily apply to today’s lives.

 The story of Iolanthe is the fairy in the title role who married a mortal and has therefore been committed to a lifelong exile by the Queen of the Fairies instead of death, however this was only on the condition that she left her husband, which she did. Iolanthe has a son called Strephon who has grown up as a shepherd and is half mortal and half fairy, he falls in love with a ward of court called Phyllis.

Fay Church in the title role of Iolanthe was superb, she has a voice which was meant to be heard and delivered her songs with ease, much to the delight of the audience.

One thing I have noticed about many G & S societies is they almost always use a full orchestra in their productions and here was no different. Batley G & S had an orchestra of no less than 15 players, yes you did read it correctly, fourteen in the pit. Having fourteen in the pit is a fantastic number to have and they did make a wonderful sound, backing the singers on stage, however having such a good number of players could be a nightmare to the singers, having to ensure they can be heard above them.

This was not a problem to any of the performers on stage as Richard Buxton, their Musical Director, ensured everyone could be heard, keeping the volume level of the orchestra low for anyone who may not have a particular loud voice, please remember none of the performers here used radio mics. Richard is the perfect MD for any productions and certainly knows his stuff when directing both orchestra and performers.

We all know in every G & S operetta has a Patter Song which calls for an actor who can manage to get his lips and tongue around all the words which are usually performed very quickly, step up Malcolm Parkinson as The Lord Chancellor who was perfect not only in the character but also singing the songs, especially in The Nightmare Song which as usual has many, many words which Malcolm delivered with ease.

The role of Strephon was played by Oliver McGreevy who portrayed the humble shepherd superbly much to the delight of the audience and when he was joined on stage by Heather Watson as Phyllis it was pure bliss, their voices blended really well especially in the songs Good Morrow, Good Lover and If We’re Weak Enough to Tarry.

The role of The Queen of The Fairies needs to have someone who can easily command the stage to portray this very royal character, Stephanie Roe was just the right person for this role and the audience loved her, she certainly was able to deliver. The song she sang Oh Foolish Fay was perfect.

I must mention the role of Celia who is one of the named fairies in this, it should have been played by Carol Parkinson, however Carol had a fall and was unable to complete this role, with very short notice Kathryn Buxton was contacted who learned the role with very short notice and did an excellent job.

One character which really impressed me was that of Private Willis played by Simon Bray, who actually ends up marrying The Queen of the Fairies, Willis’ song, When all Night Long a Chap Remains was excellent and following his singing of this Simon had to stand to attention in his box for almost the rest of the act. He remained to attention even when Heather Watson in the role of Phyllis was tickling him, trying to make him laugh via various methods but none of them worked, even though the audience was in hysterics, well done Simon for not corpsing at any point.

All the principals were ably supported by a myriad of actors making up the Fairies and the Earls, Lords and other members of parliament.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this piece, especially David Hall who had the vision to direct and Richard Buxton as MD.

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