Patience or Bunthorne's Bride

This was my first visit to Blackburn G&S, but the Thwaites Theatre is a very familiar setting for me as no less than four Region 12 societies perform there.  The production this year was Patience or Bunthorne’s Bride, one of the lesser performed Gilbert and Sullivan collaborations, written in 1881 this was their sixth Opera.  The production parodies the aesthetic movement prevalent in Victorian Society at that time, which basically involved men flouncing around in fancy clothing, carrying flowers and quoting poetry!  Whilst some of the themes involved in this opera have become lost to us over the years, the G&S humour has endured.

As this was the follow up to Pirates of Penzance, many aspects and themes from the earlier opera are revisited here – the band of men (soldiers rather than pirates) the Fair Maidens and the patter song, so making some familiarity to those of us not so accustomed to the lesser known G&S works.

So to the performers; the role of Patience was taken by Debbie Thew, a welcome return to performing after a few years away from the stage.  Debbie was delightful in this role, playing it in the style of a northern working girl really made a connection with the audience.  Lovely singing, as usual, added to this great interpretation.  Clive McCoy and Jim Lancaster took on the roles of the protagonist aesthetic poets Bunthorne and Grosvenor, both playing their parts well.  Director Dave Slater had made great use of tongue in cheek humour with these characterisations in making the most of the fact that our ‘young’ heroes were both slightly more ‘mature’ men, indeed this approach worked well throughout with the ‘rapturous young maidens’ as well – perfect!

Tony Lewis, Leigh Brown and Robin Reid were all up to scratch as the Officers of the Dragoon Guards – particularly as they try their hand at aestheticism in Act 2 to try to win back the affections of their particular maidens!  These maidens, played by Brenda Murray, Joyce Kearton and Kath Rand performed perfectly with some lovely vocal work.  The only maiden to stay true to Bunthorne, Lady Jane was interpreted well by Heather Nicholas, with some very nice comedy moments.  The rest of the chorus all performed well and added depth to the production.

I am pleased to report that this was an acoustic performance, not a microphone in sight.  Blackburn G&S have clearly retained the art of balancing principal and chorus singing so that nothing is lost.  Also hats off to MD Geoff Hill for keeping the sound balance between cast and orchestra just right.

The set looked great and the lighting was good, costumes were sumptuous and colourful and added to a very entertaining evening.  Well done to all involved.

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