East Norfolk Operatic Society
May 2023
Stage Director Patrick Monk
Musical Director Ros Swetman
Review Author: Martyn Rolfe
In a land of hills and mountains, somewhere in England, where half the population are fairies is Iolanthe forever banished to live at the bottom of a stream all because she married a human. Her son Strephon, a shepherd, who is fairy from the waist up, is preparing to elope with his new love. As the story unfolds the usual G&S twists, turns, pangs of conscience and strict adherence to duty make up this enjoyable tale.
The non-traditional version set in the 1920s, allows us to see a totally different array of costumes but most everything else stayed the same. The impressive set dominated the stage with its castle turrets and heavy stone archways and a clever bottom of the stream effect.
The orchestra, a little obtrusive at times, were well schooled under the experienced and energetic baton of Ros Swetman.
Iolanthe (Genevieve Plunkett) is a pleasure to listen to, her control and effortless pitch perfect singing combined with a calm, confident air on stage make this performance a delight.
Strephon (Thomas Monument) has a voice and a stage presence that lend themselves to G&S and the more experience he gains the better he gets. His new love, Phylis (Becky Pick) gave us a sweet “chirrupy” soprano and the ease with which she soared to those inevitable top notes whilst maintaining good diction, good characterisation endeared her to the audience.
Phylis has two suitors Earl of Montararat (Clive Swetman) and Earl of Tolloller (Andrew Inglis) completely opposite characters and both were well played, (Andrew’s tenor voice is a joy to listen to).
On the fairy side of the story, we have a Fairy Queen (Janet Theobold), who bravely battled through her songs but not with her usual clarity and power. Then there are three cheeky principal fairies, Celia (Victoria Monument), easily the funniest and cheekiest of the three, Leila (Sam Hawkins) and Fleta (Ayshea Christian-Roxby) both vocally sound and with happy but cheeky characters.
Private Willis (Luke Davey) sang and portrayed his character well but, as for the dashing Willis, his olive-green WW1 uniform made him look a little dull.
The Lord Chancellor (Edmund Ramsdale) gave us a jovial, and pleasing performance with several humorous moments and particularly as he skips and dances his way through “Says I to myself says I”.
It is well worth mentioning at this point that the group had been suffering at the hands of Covid and on the opening night they were three members down and had had a very disrupted rehearsal schedule.
However, when this group sing as an ensemble, they make a glorious sound but on this opening night they appeared a little hesitant, anxious on their vocal pick-ups and routines whilst still sounding good.
It is always nice to visit my only G&S group and to see them attempt something different. I hope the rest of the run goes well and that the cast remain healthy and in good voice.