Yeomen of the Guard

It is perhaps worth mentioning that the very first G and S I saw in King’s Lynn was “The Yeomen of the Guard”. I was sent by the Lynn News to review the production and, to be honest, it wasn’t half bad. Maybe just a little short of humour, but a good story that leaned towards farce (don’t they all I hear you cry) with less well known music than some of the titles available. With the prodigious genius that is Andrew Nicklin back at the helm I was intrigued to see if he could do it better. Certainly the current West Norfolk G and S regulars are as talented a group as I can remember being available to any Director. As I took my seat at The Guildhall, the auditorium was pleasingly full and the average age of the clientele had ducked below 60 (in my opinion) for the first time.

I had been a little luke-warm on the last production of” Pirates” and I took a moment before curtain up to apologise to Mr Nicklin. It was not that “Pirates” was massively deficient … it’s just that it wasn’t as good as The Sorcerer. I told him that the slate was clean and it was all to play for.

The set (Paul Lazell) was first rate and complementary lighting (the Guildhall’s own Kellie Garside) did everything it was required to do. Kellie also had credit for the sound but as is the M.O of this Society, I could not detect any amplification for the orchestra and no individual micing for the performers. This worked perfectly, with the balance between music and vocal as good as, or even better, than some of the amplified productions I have seen here recently. There were certainly a few strategically placed floor mics that suddenly enhanced the Lib every time someone was on the floor .. which was quite often!

A couple of things struck me with this production, the first being how good the vocals sounded. The male chorus were bolstered considerably by Andy Hiles who just seemed to be on fire. His crystal-clear singing was a joy from start to finish. On the same subject the absolute highlight of the show for me was again a vocal achievement, and it was the Quartet which I think was “Strange Adventure!” with Kate, Dame Carruthers, Fairfax and Sergeant Merryll, which quite simply took my breath away. The other was the quality of the orchestra. I heard a few rumblings as I left about the quantity making the output sound a little thin but for me … perfection!

In the chorus ensemble and supporting roles Andy Hiles was splendid as the First Yeoman (see comments above) and John Large was on top form again, always managing to produce the perfect facial hair for every role in every show! I was delighted to see Jessica Abbott back on stage although, this year, she had a lot less to do. She did however, do it wonderfully, as did all the chorus young and … not so young! There was also good work from Brian Turner as the First Citizen, Terry Kivlin as the Second Yeoman and plenty of acting from Chris Scott as the Headsman. Sue Nairn was in top form as Dame Carruthers’s niece, Kate and there was also a late substitution by Desmond Holmes as Leonard Meryll, who delivered a nice cameo, even if he looked older than his father, Sergeant Meryll!

In the more prominent parts, there was another excellent walk on from John T. Smith as the Lieutenant of the Tower, Sir Richard Cholmondeley, who brought just the right amount of gravitas to a small but important part. Julie Bjerregaard is never anything less that outstanding and, as the cougar Dame Carruthers, she all but stole the show. That honour went to Andrew Masterson as Sergeant Meryll, who has turned into one of King’s Lynn’s finest comedy actors bringing all the laughs that were available in this show. His rich, deep, singing voice was also at its very best in a truly crowd pleasing performance. It was interesting to see G and S stalwart, Steve Scales taking his first lead role and doing a pretty fair job. His singing voice was delightful even if he took a couple of prompts and had a fracas with some keys.

John Torr has been the backbone of the last two G and S productions I have seen, and, as tragic jester Jack Point, he was once again in the very thick of the action. Taking on the patter song once again and managing to have all the best costumes, he was indeed the lynch pin. Now I know Freya Brunton … and the last time I saw her on stage it was in a pantomime and she was excellent. I have seen her make a pretty fair job of a pop song or two but wow! I did not know she could sing like that. Together with an excellent characterisation in the role of strolling singer, Elsie Maynard, I think Miss Brunton has a big future with operetta.

It is very much as Andrew Nicklin said. “This title doesn’t allow you to add very much and the distribution of lines and songs, and the small amount of humour, make it difficult for anyone to look truly spectacular, but Laurence Panter is such an enormous talent, even in the slightly smaller role of condemned man, Colonel Fairfax, he is impossible not to watch. His incredibly accurate singing voice is a joy and he looked completely at home on this stage…. as usual.

Penultimate paragraph honours could so easily have gone to Mr Panter but no …. Someone I always seem to overlook is Sharon Cutworth. She who is always solid but seemingly never does the crowd-pleasing, scene-stealing roles. Well I thought this production was incredible tidy and for reasons too complicated to explore, I found Mrs Cutworth captivating. She is a brilliant actress with a superb singing voice (and almost as many facial expression as Julie Bjerregaard). She was as important to this production as she has been to all the others she has appeared in, but, on a windy opening night in King’s Lynn, she just blew me away!

My congratulations to Director, Andrew Nicklin for a piece of technical direction that was flawless. It may not have floated my boat like some of the other titles, but it was incredibly tidy and well delivered by a very accomplished cast. My hat is also off to Musical Director, Michael Hankinson, and his 13 piece orchestra for making it come alive. It seems I am becoming a Gilbert and Sullivan fan, I did not see that coming!

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