No 45 Autumn 1997 Edited by Michael Walters
It was a strange experience for me to sit in the audience and watch this society, as I've taken the comic baritone parts with them for the past four years, and almost co-directed this production, too. As a consequence, I saw the show twice, on the first and last nights. The latter was immeasurably better than the former, so I will confine my remarks to the better performance (if only the rest of life was like that!). Listening to the overture, I once again reflected on the ill-advisability of amateur orchestras exposing themselves like this in public. The strings were better than usual, but the oboe player was a lot worse and the brass section were as, er, approximate as ever. Besides which, I'm not terribly keen on the 'Pirates' overture at the best of times - it starts badly and is too long; I would cut it to the section after 'Ah, leave me not to pine', which is where the interesting bit starts. It was a shame that the overture let the orchestra down so much, as they were generally fine after that. The musical director Bill Caldwell once more demonstrated his excellence at conducting a full-sized orchestra, following principals and leading choruses. His tempi tend to be on the brisk side, which suits me perfectly.
The curtain rose on garishly-dressed pirates lounging around on a vinyl sofa and occupying themselves with reading, sun-bathing and playing with a GameBoy. Not a very exciting start, I must say, and the pirate sherry was notably absent until the second verse, which was odd. The whole opening scene was a little flat, with little movement, making the rather small chorus seem somewhat exposed, and did not get my hopes up for the remainder. The entrance of the women brightened things up considerably, however, and the choreography of this was, to me, the highlight of the show, based around a routine resembling 'physical jerks'. The women definitely outclassed the men in both singing and acting throughout, which is unusual for 'Pirates', in my experience. The rest of the show went at a good lick (apart from 'Ah leave me not to pine', of course), and the amount of business in the chorus ensured that there was never a dull moment. They became a little out of control in the first act on Saturday night, such was the response of the audience, and they needed calming down at the interval! The choreography, by Glynda Blackburn, was generally concentrated in the 'big numbers', and these were pretty well done. The exception to this was 'When the foeman', which fell a little flat - a great shame, and seemed to be largely the fault of the policemen's inability to master complex dance movements. There was an obvious intention not to fall into the usual clichés of 'Pirates' choreography, and there were a lot of original touches around. Some worked ('Climbing over rocky mountain'), some didn't ('Cat-like tread'). Still, it was different, and the cast had been well-drilled in their steps.
The production by Brian Blackburn was, overall, a little gimmicky, in that there were a lot of little pieces of business but no overall confident and consistent approach. Some of the gimmicks were poorly timed, too, and distracted from the main action of the principals. I understand that the intention was to cram as much into the show as possible to make the greatest possible distinction from previous productions, as this was Brian's first time as director, and emphasise the youthful energy of the cast. As such, it worked quite well, at the cost of a loss in characterisation and involvement in the story. Of course, 'Pirates' can stand this approach better than most shows, so I hope that Brian will vary his technique for other productions! The effect of a 'jokey' show also depends quite critically on the audience; on Wednesday, when the auditorium was a little empty and the occupants less responsive, there were a number of scenes that fell rather flat and were a little embarrassing. One particularly duff idea was getting the chorus to bow in twos and threes during Mabel's closing solo as 'it would be boring for them to stand around doing nothing'. The audience, inevitably, applauded them in a somewhat desultory fashion, and were quite wrong-footed when the 'proper' bows came. It was also a very unpleasant thing to do to Mabel. Why this wasn't cut after the first night, I am unable to understand. The principals were generally well-directed, and delivered their lines with a a good level of intelligence and understanding. Although the depth of the stage was well-used, this often wasn't appropriate for the poor projection of some of the principals, who could hardly be heard unless standing right downstage ands facing outwards. The problem was made worse in Act 2 when the lighting was terribly gloomy, making it both difficult to see and hear.
Lighting of amateur shows is bugbear of mine. Such is my experience of working with lighting directors who are always trying for 'interesting effects', that I tend to belong to the 'put everything full on at the beginning and turn them off at the end' school of thought. Being able to see the faces of performers is so essential to enjoying good comedy, and should always take precedence over atmosphere, in my opinion. Dull lighting is alienating and distancing, and yet lighting designers seem obsessed with it, claiming it gives 'atmosphere'. It does - a gloomy one! The lighting was far too noticeable in this show for my kidney, and distracted more often than it enhanced. Overall, exciting lighting effects do not seem to be worth the extra rehearsal time and the inevitable mistakes that occur when attempting them.
The set from Clifford and Brown was pretty good, and apparently an old D'Oyly Carte touring one. The ruined chapel set was certainly the better of the two - the first act back cloth presented a rather wrinkly sea. Costumes, from Midland, weren't terribly nice - the girls were an uneasy mix of vaguely old-fashioned looking dresses, while the pirates were a colour-coordinators nightmare! The principals were generally fine, although they lacked anyone with real 'star' quality. Richard Temperley's Major-General was sympathetically acted in a slightly demented manner, although I found his inability to remember Frederic's name became rather tiresome (e.g. 'Thingamabob here, oh joy, oh rapture!'). He had an unfortunate tendency to race ahead of the beat in his patter songs, rather lessening the impact of his entrance. Nick Evans was a good, solid Pirate King, with excellent diction and volume. Not particularly flashy, but very assured. Michael Gardner's Frederic was probably the best performance I've seen him give, making his character a wimpy innocent instead of the matinee idol that I've become accustomed to. His light tenor voice was pleasant and confident. Philip Smith was a disappointment as the Sergeant of Police, and not up to his usual comic standard - he came across as rather restrained. He wasn't helped by the dull lighting and the poor singing and dancing of most of his constables. Gavin Redhead's Samuel was unmemorable, lacking confidence and, most noticeably, volume. A missed opportunity. Liz Attenburrow cut an imposing figure as Ruth, and excellently acted the part of a thwarted lady with fading charms. If her voice was a little weak, her characterisation did much to compensate for this. Julie Shields sang the part of Mabel extremely well, with accurate and thrilling cadenzas that certainly impressed the audience. Her acting was slightly wooden, but acceptable. Keeley Saunders made the most of the part of Edith - she has a good, loud, clear voice, and considerable stage presence. Unfortunately, her portrayal of an irritating young girl was perhaps a little too irritating, and got worse as the week progressed. I must admit that I had to restrain myself from giving her a good slap on Saturday night! She is still young, though, and such things may pass. Kristy Gordon was a charismatic and full-voiced Kate, and had the only flattering dress in the female chorus. Roz Turnball said her few lines as Isobel extremely badly; surely someone else could've been given them? FRASER CHARLTON
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