Patience

Patience was the sixth G&S collaboration and opened on April 23, 1881, at the Opera Comique. It is a satire on the aesthetic movement of the 1870’s and 80’s, mocking its fads and superficiality with biting humour and ridicule.

This was my first visit to Bristol G&S, and I thoroughly enjoyed my evening. Director Alex Turasiewicz, set this version in the 1920’s. The set designed by Toby Foster comprised of two sweeping staircases, colourfully painted with a very clever central circular set piece, a decorative fountain like structure, which moved round easily providing seating and levels for the cast. The sound was overall very good, occasionally I did lose some words when the cast moved towards the back or turned away from the audience. The lighting again worked well as a whole, but maybe the follow spot use was not always necessary, especially when the action was fast paced, and keeping on top of the performers was more difficult. The costumes were all in keeping with the style of the era. It was lovely to hear the 11-piece orchestra ably led by Musical Director John Pitts. The Choreography by Marilyn Norton-Smith was simple and effective.

The libretto is full of puns, wordplay, and social commentary, the characters are colourful and entertaining, and every member of the cast bought each character to life, making them memorable and endearing in their own unique ways, which enhanced the overall humour and satire of the operetta. Reginald Bunthorne displayed great characterisation and vocal skills. He was vain, egotistical, but also portrayed rejected at the end effectively, the audience left feeling deeply sorry for him. Patience, in this version a housemaid, was portrayed well, with an effective accent and strong vocals. Archibald Grosvenor demonstrated some strong vocals and was suitably vain, at times he had me laughing out loud with his ridiculousness. Lady Angela, Lady Saphir, Lady Ella and all the chorus of maidens put considerable effort into their characters and gave us some lovely performances. Lady Jane added some excellent comedic moments, a highlight for me was the Beauticians scene and the perfectly timed massage “moves” of the beautician. Colonel Calverley, Major Murgatroyd and Lieut,The Duke of Dunstable were very strong and with the rest of the Officers of the Dragoon Guards were very entertaining particularly as they tried their hand at aestheticism in Act 2 to try to win back the affections of the maidens, some of those postures were hilarious. I want to also mention the four youngsters that were incorporated a lot in this production, its lovely to see the next generation being introduced to G&S and they all did a great job. I particularly enjoyed the storytelling in “Long years ago, fourteen maybe” and “A magnet hung in a hardware shop” a lovely touch.

Thank you for inviting me it was a very enjoyable evening, well done to all concerned. 

Any observation made by the reviewer can only be based on what he sees at the performance in question. The reviewer may have received information in advance of the performance, and it is inevitable that his assessment will be affected by that knowledge. The N.O.D.A. Representative’s intention is to give an objective critique of the overall production and in particular the performance viewed.  It should be remembered that any review of this nature can only be objective as far as the techniques used during the performance observed.  Any criticisms expressed may not have been valid at other performances and are only made to encourage higher standards in Amateur Theatre. It is hoped that the audience’s appreciation of your efforts will have given everyone a lift and encouraged you to greater achievements in the future and that the observations made by the reviewer will prove helpful in improving future productions.

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