No 7 — July 1977 Edited by Michael Walters
The Overture was dispensed with altogether, presumably as both those available would have been severely taxing for the Society's orchestra, this year under the direction of Gareth Morrell a Choral scholar at King's (who appeared with the Society as Grosvenor two years ago). In place of the normal introduction, therefore, he had cobbled together several of the more popular tunes from the opera, the idea being to introduce each of the main characters before the action began. This became rather tedious, and left Rose particularly standing motionless for an age before the opening Chorus commenced. The pre-production publicity had led one to expect interesting things from the producer, Hank Williams; but in fact he presented a strange mixture of in-joke and gimmick, with in several places an obvious lack of understanding of Gilbert's lines. There was also a good deal of adaptation, which, while extremely funny, had very little point; "Today I carry off Rose Maybud - well, even a bad baronet's gotta have some fun some time!" "Observed - and by a mariner. Hello sailor!" "Foiled! And by a union, Jack!" [It should be pointed out, that the last-mentioned is a standard John-Reed-ism, and the one before was done at a D'Oyly Carte last night some years ago. Ed.] As Sir Ruthven, Simon Butteriss gave an immensely enjoyable but very odd performance. A former Westminster Abbey chorister and student at the Paris Conservatoire he is a tenor of great range and sweet dark tone, and scored a success as Nanki-Poo at Minack last summer. He is well-known in many Cambridge dramatic societies as a fine actor in a particular kind of part, for example Cherubin in Beaumarchais' Figaro and the Dauphin in Shaw's St. Joan (a production in which he was to have played the title role until a suitable actress was found at almost the last moment). He has also played Phaedra in a new translation of Racine's tragedy, and Charlotte Corday in the Marat-Sade; it must be admitted that women's roles are his forte. There was some point, therefore, in his splendid delivery of the line "I'm not that kind of Baronet, I assure you;" and if the audience reaction is fair comment there was considerable doubt over whether Rose or Richard was being addressed at "Soho, pretty one!" It was not, however, his fault that Sir Ruthven had to suffer most of the producer's rewritings, including the whole of the "pure and blameless peasant" sequence. John Hall as Richard was more immediately successful, although the week's performances had taken a heavy toll of his voice, which had begin to suffer, becoming very harsh indeed on top. He has now developed the unfortunate mannerisms of the "busy'' actor; every speech accompanied by a good deal of unnecessary movement, particularly of the hands. There was no sign of this in his previous appearances as The Duke of Dunstable and Leonard Meryll. Perhaps this year he felt uncomfortable in his costume, positively sumptuous for a mere Bosun's mate. Despite all this he remained convincing and a happy contrast to Sir Ruthven's flamboyance.
Rose (Frances Jackson) was a better actress than a singer. This may have stemmed from a general lack of confidence, as she improved noticeably when singing with someone who by his or her confidence could help her along. This was especially so in her duet with Sir Ruthven and the Act 1 Trio. Dame Hannah (Mrs. Anne Datson) was perhaps one of the two best performers in the piece. A kindly but firm woman, not the mooning rag-doll of so many amateurs, who could not possibly produce the fire needed in the melodrama. Her voice was toned to match; quiet and gentle, but firm. "The flower & the oak", one of the few numbers sung absolutely straight, was very moving and showed just what could be done with the original text. It was a pity, though, that having come in too early for her verse of the madrigal she held out and was still a bar and a half ahead of the orchestra by the end, despite all the MD's efforts. Sir Despard (Paul Hudson, [presumably not the Paul Hudson. Ed.]) was the other outstanding player, though much lighter-voiced than one is used to in this role. A magnificent sense of comic timing, coupled with a judicious appreciation of his uncanny resemblance to Eric Morecambe, helped him a good deal. A former Hamlet and Edward II, this was his first singing part, and on its showing a lot ought to be expected of him in the future. Old Adam (Kit Harvey) had obviously been modelled on Charles Laughton's Quasimodo, with variations ("See, he walks this way!'') A good complement to Sir Ruthven, who took with great power the low Eb at the end of the HA-HA duet.
Sir Roderic (Timothy Cox, the Society Chairman) was by far the weakest of the cast - a reedy baritone with little acting ability. The Ghost's High Noon was a disgrace. No attempt was made to cover up the change between portraits and Chorus, not even to the extent of dimming any of the lights. Only seven members of the Chorus were on with him, and the whole scene was mis-managed and played for some very obvious and totally unnecessary laughs (at "Pass the fox'' a dead fox duly appeared from the wings and was passed along the line). Margaret (Sarah Houghton) a former Lady Jane and Katisha, did not seem entirely happy in Act 1, partly due I suspect to the funereal tempo at which the mad scene was played. Act II however, was a great improvement; her slow, stately duet with Despard and the Patter-Trio, sung by all three at an incredible speed with every word intelligible even by the third encore, were the hits of the evening, and her scene with Despard between these numbers was outstanding.
In general the tempi were on the fast side, though this did not cause the cast any major problems, and Gareth Morrell kept the orchestra well under control (this was particularly noticeable at Richard's first entry where rubato was the order of the day). The Chorus had been well trained so that every word was audible, even in the Double Chorus (until they had to polka to it with their backs to the audience). This in fact was the producer's one attempt at choreography; for the rest he appeared to have solved the problem of giving the chorus something to do by giving them nothing to do. The hornpipe, gavotte and general dance at the end of each act were cut outright. All in all a rather bitty production, marred mainly by the sort of adaptational high jinks that one might have expected on the last night of a student performance, but which in this case had been an integral part of the proceedings all through the week, and which, perhaps regrettably, were the major cause of audience laughter. SELWYN TILLETT
[Selwyn confirms that the Kit Harvey who appeared in this review is the Kit Hesketh-Harvey of "Kit and the Widow". Ed.]
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