The Mikado

These are tricky times for Gibert & Sullivan productions, and those companies producing them. How to keep everyone happy?! Play too safe and you are accused of being dull and unadventurous (and of course everyone knows someone who has played all the parts better!), but try to be too adventurous and you lose the essence of G&S – the intricate wordplay, Sullivan’s wonderful orchestrations, and you might as well be doing Hot Mikado or Papp’s Pirates. Well, if you want to play safe, the first thing you DON’T do is take on Tristan Carter as director…

Rapidly gaining a reputation locally for exciting, thought-provoking and daring productions (a youth production of Doctor Faustus in the middle of the pantomime season, anyone??) Tristan’s take on The Mikado let us know exactly what we were in for from the opening seconds of a manically choreographed ballet through the overture.

The appearance of the Gentlemen of Japan in costumes combining stereotypically English bowler-hatted businessmen with their traditional Japanese touches, clutching their Styrofoam coffee cups and ipads, reminded us instantly that, even when originally written, The Mikado was never just about Japanese traditions, in the same way that Iolanthe wasn’t really about fairies, Yeoman isn’t about beefeaters and Pirates was about much more than swash-buckling. To take Gilbert’s libretto at face value as simple Topsy-Turvy-dom, is to miss more than half of what the pair were getting away with showing to the strait-laced Victorian public. In this vein, the modern references peppered throughout this production felt relevant (if a little heavy-handed at times), and relevance to modern audiences is crucial if these productions are to have a life beyond the traditionalist revivals and museum pieces. Some of the moments between Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum (a striking and fine-voiced Oli Hounsell and Rose Lambert as a far more mischievous Little Maid than usual) may have been more obviously passionate and tactile than some of the audience were expecting, but knowing what we do of, particularly, Sullivan’s lifestyle, it is hard to believe that this wasn’t the writers’ own intentions when originally writing This Is What I’d Never Do, and was ‘thrown away’ like the innuendo in a pantomime.  

The pace at times was frenetic, occasionally a little too much to take in without feeling that you were missing something, but it was clear to see that this had all been choreographed - Tristan’s highly stylised direction blending with Annette Wilsher’s frenetic choreography, giving peaks and troughs of high energy suddenly slowing to create a stunning tableau, or a moment of stillness, before racing on to the next inconceivable plot point. While definitely not what is expected of a traditional G&S production, it should not be difficult to see the sheer volume of work that has gone into blocking, staging and rehearsing a production where every cast member was busy and engaged, with a believable role in an albeit bizarre society. At times this energy also saw the chorus edge ahead of Peter Blackwood’s nicely balanced orchestra, but otherwise the voices throughout were very clear, and the diction, so important with Gilbert’s words and wordplay, was clear from the whole company.

Moving on to the performances, the already mentioned Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum were given strong support from their fellow principals, particularly Nick Lee as Pooh-Bah. Having seen Nick give an excellent performance in this role several years earlier in a smaller venue, it was good to see how much his performance had grown to fit the larger Theatre Royal, and also added a nice touch of sarcasm and knowingness at the preposterousness of his character, to his already fine and clear bass voice. Sophie Smith as Pitti-Sing and Ashley Bremner as Pish-Tush also delivered their characters and contributed to the quartets nicely.

BODS stalwart Huw Morgan was clearly having great fun as the Mikado, enjoying the silly maliciousness of A More Humane Mikado, and striking up a fun double-act with Juliette Coad’s severe Katisha. The only real disappointment for me was Richard Luscombe’s Ko-Ko – while well delivered and clear in his character, he did seem to lack a bit of engagement with his fellow cast members. Delivering everything to the audience, when a little more interaction with the other characters might have just helped us to warm to him – I know Ko-Ko isn’t a particularly likeable character, but one does need to feel some warmth towards him and his predicament at the end of the piece.

Visually, the show looked stunning – the enormous fan which dominated the stage, and was beautifully lit throughout, complimented the more traditional aspects of the set perfectly. The costumes were also excellent – I’m still not entirely sure I understand the relevance of the change from the clash of cultures to the more overtly traditional costumes for Act Two, but knowing other aspects of the production, it’ll probably come to me in a lightbulb moment in about 6 months time…!

So, traditional? No, definitely not. Interesting? Absolutely! Respectful? I think so, and with a recent watching of Topsy-Turvy and some googling to back it up, probably not far from a production which Sir William and Sir Arthur themselves would have enjoyed, or even wanted. Definitely not one for the purists, and as always with a production which tries so many new ideas, some things will inevitably work better than others, but when many societies are simply going through the motions and scared to take risks in these austere times, it is productions like this that we will remember for their bravery, as well as their execution (pardon the pun!). If we think that G&S productions are worth persisting with, and want them to remain relevant in another 50 years time, these are the sort of productions and ideas we should be embracing.

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