Come to the opera they said. The English National Opera. Well the only ENO I know is Brian, who used to be in Roxy Music. But I'll try anything once. And I was particularly tickled to hear that the director of Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe is Cal McCrystal, who directed the Mighty Boosh in their early Edinburgh Fringe days and, more recently, oversaw some of the brilliant knockabout routines in One Man, Two Guvnors which helped to make James Corden a superstar (but we won't hold it against him).
The plot here is a bit Shakespearean Midsummer Night's Dream-y with some Victorian satire lobbed in for extra comic effect. Phyllis and Strephon wish to marry, but as Phyllis is a ward of court she requires the Lord Chancellor’s permission. Oh and did I mention that Strephon is half man half fairy? Things are going to get complicated...
You absolutely can't fault the look of the production. I lost count of how many cast members there are but there are certainly plenty of fairies and ermine-clad lords-a-leaping. There is even a train that smashes through the scenery which can't be cheap if they do it every night (unless they laid it on just for me). You certainly don't get that at the Soho Theatre.
The plot is fun and the songs are jolly and catchy. If there is a stand-out star it's Andrew Shore as the Lord Chancellor. He's the one who gets the audience singing along at one point as if we are having a Christmas knees up down the boozer. The sending up of his high status is slightly subversive now but must have felt very naughty back in Victoria's days.
A few modern references, such as the blond toff on a bike who wasn't called Boris but might as well have been, felt gratuitous. But a Dick Van Dyke Mary Poppins dance-off hit the right buttons. And talking about buttons the appearance of various (fake) animals including a cow gave this a decidedly pantomime-ish feel at times.
It is the Lord Chancellor's scenes that offer the most opportunities for slapstick. The highlight – apart from a (fake) horse doing a (fake) shit onstage – is his four-hander (pictured) with Ben Johnson, Ben McAteer and Richard Leeming, in which fresh-faced Leeming gets repeatedly knocked about. So yes, in the very literal sense this is knockabout comedy and it is funny, but there is a dining table scene in One Man, Two Guvnors, which is way, way funnier and way, way more surprising.
Iolanthe is enjoyable to watch and with at least 500 tickets at every performance at £20 or under – pretty much London cinema prices, it is not remotely elitist. And it is definitely artistically accessible - in case you hadn't already twigged, it is in English (the English National Opera, geddit?) so there is no reason to be intimidated. In fact as an entry point into opera (is it opera or operetta? and who cares?) - this is a pretty good place to start. It's just that if you go to see a lot of comedy like I do this is not quite the call-a-nurse-I've-split-my-sides laugh riot I was expecting.
Until April 7. Tickets here.
Picture: Clive Barda.
