Princess Ida

Princess Ida is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S.Gilbert. It was their eighth operatic collaboration of fourteen and opened at the Savoy Theatre in 1884. It tells the story of Princess Ida who shuns her marriage obligations to the Prince of a neighbouring kingdom, made when they were both infants, to run a women’s university and teaches that women are superior to men. Prince Hilarion has been waiting for his wedding day for twenty years and is about to meet Princess Ida but she has decided that she does not want to honour the commitment. However Hilarion does not give up hope and in an attempt to woo her, together with his two friends, they dress up as maidens and sneak into the university. Their secret is soon discovered by some of the college girls who attempt to keep the knowledge from Ida. She eventually finds out, violence erupts, but Ida finally relinquishes and agrees to marry Hilarion.

There is no stage at the centre and black curtained flats surrounded the very small performance area plus there was a raised dais across the back, a bench, a stool and a small table with flowers on it. James Sweetman had great stage presence as King Hildebrande. He most definitely had the stature and bearing of the authoritative nature of the King especially in his wonderful singing of “Now hearken to my strict command”. The antithesis of Hildebrand’s regal semblance was that of King Gama. Ben Gardner totally captured this by his hunched stance, his sarcastic and insulting retorts and his grumpiness but somehow brought out the comedy in the role perfectly and his delivery of “If you give me your attention” was super. His ‘three warriors’ were as unlikely advocates of the title as you could possibly get. Michael Beale was Arac, Patrick Sharman was Guron and James Baker was Scynthius. Their attire was just hilariously unbelievable even more so when they turned up to ‘fight’ wearing cricket pads, hi-viz jackets, baseball helmets and mitts to sing “This helmet, I suppose”. Their animated actions and facial expressions were just terrific, they were a fantastically bizarre, but brilliant trio. There was another excellent trio that of Prince Hilarion, Florian and Cyril. James Benson exelled as the amiable, charismatic Hilarion, the son of King Hildebrande, and his gloriously powerful and most expressive tenor voice made light work of his numerous songs particularly “Today we meet”. Another great performance came from Benedict Parkin as Florian and indeed from Oliver Jennings as Cyril. Their attempts to portray ‘ladies’ was priceless, just so funny as were their mock impressions of monkeys. They played off one another exquisitely and were a formidable and most impressive trio in both singing and acting. Act 2 introduced us to the University academic staff and the graduates. Jennifer Jones, as Princess Ida the daughter of King Gama, gave a most splendidly assured and spirited portrayal as the idealistic, strict Head of Castle Adamant. She has a delightful soprano singing voice and so meaningfully delivered her many songs which was so apparent in her singing of “Minerva! oh hear me!” A superb performance came from Olivia Irving-Wilson as Lady Blanche, a Professor at the university. Her powerful singing was super and her witty retorts and desire to become ‘in charge’ were so well enacted. What a fabulous singing voice was displayed by Katie Cross as Lady Psyche, another Professor at the university and Florian’s sister. She was quite lovely with a much more sweeter nature than that of Lady Blanche. The three were strikingly attired in traditional ‘caps’ and gowns but Lady Blanche was all in Maroon, Lady Psyche in green and Princess Ida was in blue. The Graduates, all in Gowns and wearing red berets, were all excellent support in both acting and singing and were Sophie Cooke as Melissa, Liddy Buswell as Sacharissa, Abigail Atkinson as Chloe and Katy Beale as Ada. Good support came from Emily Hawkins, Esther Coombes and Sam Higginbottom as the Ensemble. There were so many superb scenes, but I must mention the opening to Act 3 when the ‘ladies’, dressed in white t-shirts and black shorts, were brandishing hockey sticks and so fervently sang “Death to the invader” it was divine as was the following very funny ‘fight’ scene between the two opposing ‘trios’. 

The singing by the soloists was of an exceptionally high standard as was that from small groupings and from the full ensemble numbers which were all so harmoniously delivered. Add to that, the superb acting, the comedic deliveries, the lively synchronised movements, the enthusiasm and exuberance of the whole cast, the splendid costumes (Angela Robinson) and good lighting - who needs scenery!! It was a most entertaining, witty and top notch performance delivered by an outstanding young adults cast and all rehearsed in one week! Many, many congratulations to the amazing cast, to Director Pamela Leighton Bilik, to Musical Director James Gillet, to Assistant Musical Director Martin Thiselton, to the magnificent accompanist Jacob Plumtree-Jones and indeed to everyone else involved. Also my thanks for the very warm and friendly welcome I received. 

© NODA CIO.  All rights reserved 

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.