Iolanthe

It was a wet and grim evening when myself and my guest found our way to see Rochdale Phoenix Opera Society`s production of Iolanthe. Upon arrival we entered a fairy dell, the stage curtains had been decorated with various coloured mushrooms and toadstools, bluebells, grass and other flowers. The stage edge had also been intermittently decorated with grass, a frog and toadstools, the front stage flats had been adorned with brightly coloured, different sized butterflies. There was a fence to stage right and a bridge to apron front stage left. All in all very simple, but incredibly effective. A complete colour wash of green lighting helped enhance the feeling of being in the fairy dell.  Iolanthe doesn’t really require much physical set and with a cast this large in such a compact space a large set wouldn’t work. The largest piece (I think) was the  guards box . The painted backdrops really worked hard in this production to set the location of the scene – be it the fairy dell or London, the flats were also decorated for the fairy dell but the stage curtains covered them when the scenes were in London.

Jon Gibson held great pace both with his orchestra and with all the varied voices. The harmonies melded together beautifully and we could hear all the different melodies. It was obvious that he had put a great deal of time in with the cast as they were all confident in their solos . The sound balance between the orchestra and the cast was good.

Sound throughout the performance was good with no gremlins. Lighting was very sympathetic to the scenes and very simple generally just a colour wash, but in a production like this that works very well. Costumes from The Boyz Theatre Costumes looked fabulous, the fairies were colourful and had gone that extra mile by sourcing elf type ears. The Peers resplendent in their red and blue velvet and ermine and then very dashing in evening dress.

Jane Hyde as Queen of the Fairies gave a great performance, she had some good stage presence which was then backed up with a cheeky minx like characterisation, she definitely had a twinkle in her eye and her sense of fun was portrayed in her delivery of her dialogue. She had good diction and timing and vocals were strong and confident, she used her stage space well and made a very good connection with the audience. Her chemistry with the rest of the fairies was evident. Her turmoil about Iolanthe (Charlotte Crossley) was evident in her facial expressions. Charlotte gave a confident performance, I particularly enjoyed “My lord, a suppliant at your feet”. Charlotte has a very expressive face which allows the audience to see what her character is thinking or feeling at times. She had some lovely dialogue with Strephon (Adrian Davison), Adrian is no stranger to the stage and is such a strong confident yet humble performer. His vocals are so solid and pure, he completely immerses himself in his character and is a joy to watch. His chemistry on stage with his love interest Phyllis, played by Gwen Hallas-Friedrich was lovely to see, they were very well matched vocally . Gwen was every inch the spoiled, entitled, naïve female and she played each facet of her character beautifully. Her diction was clear, timing good and her vocals were lovely. She is no stranger to the stage and her use of stage space and connection with the audience was very good. Paul Lydiate as Private Willis was very good, his delivery of “When all night long a chap remains” was solid, his chemistry on stage with Jane was good. The Lord Chancellor (Peter Fitton), Earl of Mountararat (Steven Miller) and Earl Tolloller (Colin Garside-Trickett) were a fabulous trio, their dialogue just bounced along with some good timing, facial expressions were great and vocals were solid and strong. I particularly enjoyed “If you go in you`re sure to win”, I could hear all the different vocal lines and all three put a lot into their performance.

The ensemble consisting of the fairies and the peers were very hard working. Basic choreography was evident and well executed, there were no prompts and every single person on the stage delivered their characterisation well during songs or in reacting to dialogue going on, myself and my guest thoroughly enjoyed this production of Iolanthe.

Thank you for inviting me, I look forward to seeing you all very soon.

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