Sir William Schwenck Gilbert’s & Sir Arthur Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore, English National Opera, The Coliseum, London WC2, 23 January to 7 February 2026, 4☆☆☆☆. Review: Clare Colvin.
Photo Credit: Craig Fuller.
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert’s & Sir Arthur Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore, English National Opera, The Coliseum, London WC2, 23 January to 7 February 2026, 4☆☆☆☆.
Review: Clare Colvin.
“ENO at its best in Gilbert & Sullivan’s early success.”
Cal McCrystal’s lavish 2021 production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s satire on the British class system, HMS Pinafore makes a welcome return to the Coliseum, scheduled after two pre-Christmas performances, for the New Year. The curtain rises to designer takis’ polished quarter deck of the ship at anchor off Portsmouth as a chorus line of sailors in naval blue and white tee shirts celebrate their commander Captain Corcoran for never, or hardly ever, using bad language.
John Savournin, back in fine tap dancing form as the gentlemanly Corcoran is close to swearing as his daughter Josephine refuses to contemplate a dynastic marriage with First Lord of the Admiralty Sir Joseph Porter, because she’s in love with humble Able Seaman Ralph Rackstraw. The plot hinges on the supposed British rule that each couple should stick to their own class when falling in love. A clue to the topsy turvy denouement is provided by a cryptic message from contralto Rhonda Browne’s wandering baby farmer Little Buttercup; “Things aren’t always what they seem.”
McCrystal seizes every opportunity for a visual gag. Sir Joseph Porter is piped aboard with a vast retinue of female relatives in crinolines of sweet pea colours. One of the cousins, Hebe (Bethan Langford) gets tangled up in the ship’s rigging and is hoisted by her ankles up into the flies. The director also memorably resurrects from the original production the disheveled figure of a Union Jack-waving Boris Johnson trapped mid-air on a zip wire.
Individual performances stand out. Trevor Eliot Bowes as Dick Deadeye scatters shot and malevolence all round. Savournin is impeccably suave as Corcoran, this time including a comedy turn with TV comedian Mel Giedroyc’s Cabin Boy. Current ENO Harewood Artist Henna Mun as Josephine, has a soprano of gleaming silver, capturing the duplicity under youthful innocence, while Thomas Atkins is in fine lyrical voice as lovelorn Ralph Rackstraw.
The role of Sir Joseph Porter was written by Gilbert with the purpose of satirising W.H. Smith, founder of the newsagents’ chain, who was created First Lord of the Admiralty despite his lack of qualifications. Bass-baritone Neal Davies, in gold braid and feathered bicorne, captures the vain glorious Sir Joseph Porter’s core belief to “Stick close to your desks and never go to sea/And you may all be rulers of the Queen’s Navee!”
With Matthew Kofi Waldren conducting the Orchestra of the English National Opera and an energetic chorus the evening ended on a high note. The remaining ten of the twelve performances take place at the Coliseum from 23 January to 7 February 2026.
Conductor: Matthew Kofi Waldren
Director: Cal McCrystal
Designer: takis
Lighting Designer: Tim Mitchell
Sound Designer: Dominic Bilkey
Choreographer: Lizzie Gee
Associate Choreographer: Spencer Darlaston-Jones
Revival Lighting: Adrian Poult
Production pictures: Craig Fuller