Dear Michael, I saw the new Iolanthe in Chicago, and loved it. I thought the sets and costumes were splendid, especially the silver traceries of Act 1 & the small light that flickered intermittently above the Thames in Act 2 [I don't remember seeing that. Ed..] Of course, I saw it at a distance - even the first, or lowest balcony in McCormick Place's Ayrie Crown Theatre seems farther from the stage than the highest balcony at Sadler's Wells, so I could not see individual facial expressions. The stage was much too big for the sets, which thus had to be framed by half-drawn curtains, & this may have lent a good effect by removing the play yet another step from reality. I was never bored, as I have frequently been in other DOC productions of Iolanthe for part of the time. As ever, PHYLLIS KARR

[A series of letters appeared in The Times in October 1964, about another production of Iolanthe.]

19 Deneswood C1ose, Weybridge, Surrey 7 Oct. Sir, I cannot feel that the BBC were well advised to allow the performance of Iolanthe to appear on television at election time. With its frivolous attitude to Parliamentary institutions and its references to Conservatives and Liberals, with no mention of the Labour Party, this production involved a grave departure from the Corporation's proud and proper record of impartiality. Yours faithfully, D.H.N. BROOKES.

Richmond Rectory, Yorkshire 9 Oct. Sir, Mr. Brookes has questioned the propriety of the BBC allowing a performance of Iolanthe at election time. I am tethered by a less important problem. Was Gilbert correct in placing a sentry from the Grenadier Guards outside the Palace of Westminster? Today this public duty is carried out by the police. Has this always been so? Perhaps in some future production a chorus of policemen will sing the sentry's song. A blending of Iolanthe with The Pirates of Penzance, omitting all references to party politics might be broadcast at the next election. This also would in its own way be a "grave departure". Yours faithfully, DAVID W. SILLAR .

Rimpton Manor, Yeovil, Somerset 10 Oct.

Sir, How true. That performance of Iolanthe gave at least one voter, interested in matters of defense, a nostalgic longing for the happy days when "noble statesmen did not itch to interfere in matters which they do not understand." Yours faithfully, J.C. SLESSOR.

[Derrick McClure had something to say on the DOC's IOLANTHE.]

I'm most surprised by your reaction to the new DOC Iolanthe. I thought that visually it was one of the most imaginative and beautiful productions I've seen. There may have been some differences between the production as you saw it: the "bridge spanning nothing and ending in mid-air" correspond to nothing in my recollection. The black and silver fairies were startling at first, certainly; but I found the effect most impressive: the glitter and sparkle of the fairies themselves and the big lacy shapes of the set contributed to an enchantingly dream-like (and not bad dream-like) atmosphere. My adverse criticism of the opening is of another kind: it was too static. "Tripping hither, tripping thither" sounds kind of daft when you're standing still. The colourful entry of the Peers provided an excellent visual contrast. I felt, like you, though, that this suffered by comparison with something else: what it reminded me of was Scottish Opera's magnificent Cosi fan Tutti a few years ago, which was all done in black and white until the entrance of the men in disguise. When the girls fell each for the other's boy friend they too assumed bright colours, and even the scenery was transformed by the appearance of gaudy and exotic-looking flowers - all lapsing back into monochrome at the denouement. [This is hardly original; exactly the same technique was used in the film "The Wizard of Oz". Ed.] The trouble was that that had a carefully worked-out point the suggestion of a transition from reality to fantasy and back - here, the contrast between colour and monochrome was purely incidental: charming but with no further significance. The setting for the second act I thought was most ingenious: the normal face-on view of the Houses of Parliament inescapably makes for a somewhat heavy set, besides (as someone pointed out once in a letter to The Savoyard) being a bit unconvincing when an actor stands at the back of the stage. Both these drawbacks are avoided by having a steep-angled view of the building instead. No, I give the designer full credit for this production: I thought it was superb. As to the performances, I agree with most of your judgements: especially the praise you give Patricia Leonard, whose bowing of the head in grief at "and thou shalt die" was to me the most moving touch in the production. I found the Ayldon-Shovelton trick of making Mountararat the ultra-affected silly ass, and Tolloller the straight man somewhat strange in view of (a) the musical characterization, (b) the text - M. is generally the spokesman for the two and clearly envisaged by Gilbert as the more forceful character, and (c) the natural implications of the bass-baritone and tenor voices - still Ayldon's performance was at least more acceptable than when he plays Colonel Calverley in a comparable style, making the Colonel about as affected as the poets.

THE LAST WORD ON IOLANTHE ? (We'll be lucky!)

[David Skelly dug this letter out of the December 1932 edition of the G & S Journal]

Dear Mr. Editor, I am afraid I am one of the people who cannot get used to new scenery and dresses of the operas. A visit ....to "Iolanthe" only served to deepen that impression ...The actual performance of the opera gave me unalloyed delight, but the setting of the first act still seems to me too elaborate. It doesn't realise my idea of what an Arcadian landscape should be. It is all too sophisticated and up to date to my mind, though I do not deny that it has an artistic kind of beauty. As regards the dressing, surely no Arcadian shepherd and shepherdess were ever arrayed in such a magnificent and costly fashion as Strephon and Phyllis Why is it necessary for the Queen of the Fairies to wear such a very full ....skirt ? Gilbert J. Taylor. Barons Court Road. W14.

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