THE GONDOLIERS. In rep to 23 August.
Chichester
THE GONDOLIERS
by W.S. Gilbert music by Arthur Sullivan
Chichester Festival Theatre In rep to 23 August 2003
7.30pm 20-26 June,4-5 July,9 August 7.30pm
21,26 June,5 July23 August 2pm
17 August 4pm
Audio-described 20 June,4 July
Runs 2hr 40min One interval
TICKETS: 01243 781312
www.cft.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 29 May
Sun, smiles and sparkling tunes as Chichester sets off for a summer in Venice.What's the purpose of an understudy apart from ensuring the show does go on? Is it to replicate as closely as possible the performance of the substantive actor? Or to provide an individual interpretation within the production's overall strategy? Judging by the foyer photos, James Saxon playing Gilbert and Sullivan's Grand Inquisitor, makes him a bluff old codger. But, an indisposition striking, in stepped Kieran Hill. A generation younger and of a tall, slim build (being, most nights, a working gondolier), Hill comes over very differently.
He's the self-confident bureaucrat, smiling and response-rebuffing. The type who can tell you whatever's plainly white is assuredly black according to procedures It fits superbly the Grand Inquisitor's quintessentially Gilbertian song in which an inexplicable question is wrapped up in details of which there can be no possible doubt whatever. He'd wear out a Jeremy Paxman with denials, this Inquisitor.
Opening their Venetian summer with this comic operetta is a cunning ploy by Chichester's adventurous new management. It comes out less old hat than you'd think. Alison Chitty has provided a season stage layout which makes the Festival Theatre more wide and shallow than usual. Slipping late into a side-centre seat (they've also moved matinees forward half-an-hour, as everyone but me seemed aware), the result demands less upstage scenic splendour, increasing actor-audience contact.
On this, production designer Ashley Martin-Davis creates a toy Venice with mini-bridge and canal, matching the operetta-eyed view of the city. All is neutral white, emphasising the colourfully-clad performers including the onstage band, who remonstrate with any character who impugns musicians. The only drawback is limited space for dance numbers.
Despite some arch dialogue delivery, Martin Duncan's staging keeps events moving happily along. Sullivan's last triumph at the Savoy has moments being his first at the Festival Theatre; among the always competent singing some voices rise to give a depth of feeling. The women looking forward to becoming a queen must also say goodbye to their husbands as lapping lights and a liquid flute see the men off, there's more to this show than Gilbertian wit and pretty tunes.
The Duke of Plaza-Toro: Martin Marquez
The Duchess of Plaza-Toro: Louise Gold
Casilda: Alicia Davies
Luiz: Steven Fawell
Don Alhambra del Bolero: James Saxon
Inez/Luisa: Nicola Sloane
Gianetta: Fiona Dunn
Tessa: Liza Pulman
Fiametta: Julie Barnes
Vittoria: Deborah Crowe
Giulia: Sasha Oakley
Rafaella: Natasha Bain
Antonella: Katherine O' Shea
Gianna: Jo Nesbitt
Marco Palmieri: Joe Shovelton
Giuseppe Palmieri: Jamie Parker
Antonio: Steve Elias
Francesco: Trevor Conner
Giorgio: Adam Tedder
Annibale: Christian Patterson
Paolo: Benedict Quirke
Silviano: Kieran Hill
Fausto: Neil McDermott
Director: Martin Duncan
Designer: Ashley Martin-Davis
Lighting: Peter Mumford
Sound: Matt McKenzie
Musical Director/Orchestrator: Richard Balcombe
Choreographer: Jonathan Lunn
Additional material: Alistair Beaton
2003-06-16 11:35:40