The Sorcerer

The Sorcerer’ is the third show that Gilbert and Sullivan collaborated on. It tells the tale of a young man, Alexis who likes the idea of the whole village falling in love. To try and make this happen, he invites J.W.Wells, a family sorcerer, to brew a love potion. This causes everyone in the village to fall in love with the first person they set eyes upon and results in the pairing of many mismatched couples. In the end, J.W.Wells has to sacrifice his own life to break the spell. The productions underlying message shows that however much you want something and think is it a good idea, sometimes things are better left how they are.  It shows this through the use of magic and although it seems like a great idea, things do not necessarily turn out how they were intended to. The show has a very strong narrative that runs from start to finish, as do many of Gilbert and Sullivan’s shows do.

The show opened with a local dance school providing a group of dancers for the overture. We were unsure if this added to the production, but it is always nice to see some younger people involved with G & S. After the opening dance the first sections were a bit laboured but the cast soon warmed up and the show picked up pace.

The orchestra sounded well rehearsed and the dynamics in the music were well played. Both the orchestra and singing were finely balanced, the chorus songs were particularly good. We thought that the finales of both acts were the strongest sections of the show. The choreography although simple was well achieved by most of the cast, giving a clean and clear look to the chorus numbers. The Act 1 finale which contained the full chorus was very well executed with the whole onstage cast seen leaning from side to side due to the effects of the potion coming into action, this was very effective. The whole show was well characterised and acted throughout by both the principles and the chorus. Also the ending to Act 1 stood out with good acting due to the superb facial and body expressions that were achieved by all the cast as they drank the potion and were overcome by a strange feeling. This section also continued after the interval when all the cast awoke and the potion was working.  This caused the cast to fall in love with each other creating some none traditional relationships, and adding some interesting characterisations which continued through the show.

In addition to the casts performance, the technical aspects of the show were very good and enhanced the production. Lighting design was well executed and the section when the spell was cast and the potion was added to the teapot was particularly good. This part of the show also included pyrotechnics within the teapot itself, these were very well designed and worked extremely well creating the required spectacle and adding a real wow factor to this scene.  The set was static for the whole show although it was functional and looked nice. It also seemed sturdy and robust. The props and cast accessories always looked fitting and were well used throughout. The costumes again looked good on stage, as they were correctly fitted and colourful with the principle cast looking especially nice.

A few minor sound issues could be heard during the show but this is very common with radio microphones. This said dialogue delivery and the diction of the cast were good. This enabled the story to be easily understood, creating an enjoyable piece of theatre that was not confusing. No one had to over think or work out the plot, the story just unfolded before you.

Overall we thoroughly enjoyed this production and the audience, as well as ourselves left with smiles on our faces. The direction of this production should be commended for being able to get the best from the cast and ensure the comedy as well as the underlying themes were acted out within the production. We always feel that watching a G & S production is like reliving a piece of British history that has stood the test of time. This traditional British theatrical experience by Blackburn G & S Society, with some added techniques of modern day theatre has once again shown why people have for many years and still continue to enjoy G & S productions. We would like to thank Blackburn Gilbert and Sullivan Society for inviting us and we look forward to their next production of ‘Pirates of Penzance‘ in 2016.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.