No 43 -- 1995 Edited by Michael Walters
The newly opened and quaintly named, Live Theatre in Newcastle, is a converted warehouse got up to look like a cross between a night club and a music hall, with a bar in one corner and the performing area at floor level (I could hardly call it a stage) at the diagonally opposite. There are two high balconies and one low (the latter adjacent to the bar) and many of the seats are arranged around drinks tables. It is ideal for small, intimate shows - the only drawback (and I confess I did find it a drawback) is that tobacco smoke from the bar area inevitably drifts across into the "no smoking" zone!
Fraser Charlton's Mutiny on the Pinafore; or The Fall and Rise of Captain Corcoran (alternative title in the best Savoy tradition) is a light hearted attempt to explain how Captain Corcoran, demoted to the crew at the end of H.M.S. Pinafore, becomes Captain Sir Edward Corcoran in Utopia Ltd. Leaving aside the question as to whether it actually is Corcoran or Rackstraw who travels to Utopia (a point that was the subject of correspondence in the Gilbert and Sullivan Journal in the 1960s), I won't be giving away anything much by saying that Fraser Charlton plumps for it actually being Corcoran. Several new characters are added, mainly named crewmembers and girlfriends for the Bo'sun and Dick Deadeye, but apart from Beth Beckett (the B'osun's girl) they have little to do. The play is interspersed with a number of songs taken from familiar and lesser known Sullivan operas (not all with Gilbert), sometimes with the original words, sometimes with completely new ones. The plot is complicated, but the denoumentis that Ralph and Sir Joseph both end up as commom sailors, and Corcoran is reinstated as Captain.
The piece was produced as an end of term romp, on minimal rehearsal, and virtually no budget, and thus with little scenery, scratch costumes, and an accompaniment provided by two Yamahas. (I had often heard these mentioned on the Texaco Opera Quiz on the radio, but had never previously known what they were!) The performance, given the circumstances, was excellent, and tremendous fun. Several of the singing voices might not have carried in a large theatre, but all the parts were well acted, and the diction was superb, every word of the witty and often complex lyrics was clearly audible - as indeed was necessary.
Dick Deadeye, who acted partly as narrator, was given a superbly melodramatic performance by Christopher Routledge, reacting and playing up with admirable spontaneity to the boos and hisses of the enthusiastic audience. His voice was a very strong-sounding baritone - I was told afterwards that he was realy a tenor, but I would never have guessed it. And full marks for making "Let a satirist enumerate" (from The Rose of Persia) sound better than I think I have ever heard it sound before; it almost made me like the song (it's a splendid lyric but an incredibly boring tune). Corcoran was given a solid and reliable performance by Nick Evans. He was never spectacular, but everything he did seemed "right" and one never had the feeling that he was "acting".
Richard Temperley (Ralph Rackstraw) had a charming and outgoing stage personality, and most successfully portrayed the thoroughly nice bloke who is reluctantly thrust into the position of Captain, with which he is quite unable to cope. He well conveyed how thoroughly happy he was doing all the work of the ship (like Marco and Giuseppe in The Gondoliers) while the crew lazed about, and how reluctantly he later obeyed Sir Joseph's orders to be a martinet. Unfortunately he does not really know how to use his voice and his singing left something to be desired. Alexandra Wilson (Josephine) had a rather thin voice and couldn't manage all the top notes, perhaps due to nerves, but delivered her dialogue with charm and grace. Much the same could be said for Liz Attenburrow (Buttercup).
I pondered long over what to say about Gavin Redhead as the Bo'sun. It is when faced with a performance like this that one realises that (like to admit it to oneself or not) one does subconsciously apply somewhat different criteria and standards to college performances than to those of societies consisting of people of all ages. Judged by the latter standards I would have said that he was weaker than most of the cast, but this, in context, would be unfair. By college standards it was a fully competent and charming performance. His diffidence was not out of character (as the character in this play was written) and his singing of "I know a youth" was delightful.
By any standards Fraser Charlton gave an exceptional performance as Sir Joseph. Firm in voice and skilful in patter, he knew how to act the music as well as sing it. Much of the dialogue required split-second timing to make its point, and this was delivered with an expertise I have rarely, if ever, seen equalled. Of course, as he had written it for himself to perform, he might be expected to have perfectly understood every nuance it contained. If the rest of the show had been rubbish (which it certaibly wasn't) that performance alone would have been worth travelling to see.
Hebe (Kristy Gordon) was also excellent, and there was a splendid chemistry between her and Sir Joseph. She was the one person whom Sir Joseph couldn't dominate - and she knew it. It was a performance of gentle persuasive authority, but never degenerated into mere nagging, which it could easily have done. She had the best voice of the ladies. The whole experience, as I told Fraser afterwards, made me feel 20 years younger. Now that can't be bad! Can it?
MICHAEL WALTERS
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