G&S "OUT OF TRADITION"

The September 1963 edition of the G&S Journal contained articles by Margaret Lode and George Tyson on "experimental" productions of G&S round that time, and the tales they tell are most intriguing. Kentish Opera Group did The Mikado with: "a nincompoop little Mikado, henpecked by a Katisha, who, owing to the youth and charm of the actress, emerged as a femme fatale, a dangerous rival to Yum-Yum." The same group put on The Gondoliers: "Doing Venice with guide books and cameras, the Duchess was a horsy county type, the Duke a shabby upstart heading for The Top via expense account luncheons. Luiz was the much put-upon carrier of the ducal luggage, who is later silently whisked off by Don Alhambra's two emissaries, M.I.5 types in drab raincoats. His mother, Inez, now married to her brigand husband busy in the outskirts of Chicago, was as smart a Momma with as broad an accent as could be expected. She had her camera at the ready when Luiz mounted the throne to claim his own in polo kit. In Act II the light hearted Venetians celebrated their reunions in contemporary style by dancing the twist”. George Tyson described a "beatnik" Patience at Ramsay Grammar School, Isle of Man. "The love-sick maidens, in beatnik attire, were represented as the Reginald Bunthorne fan-club, carrying a banner WE DIG REGGIE. ... Bunthorne was a tall, bearded beatnik who, in his If you're anxious for to shine song accompanied himself with some virtuosity on the guitar, revealing unexpected hillbilly rhythms." There were emendations to the text such as "Lady Saphir's rebuke 'You are not Empyrean. You are not Della Cruscan. You are not even Early English,' was changed to the short exclamation 'You are not - not - WITH IT'."

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