NODA review of Patience

SUMMARY

The Company has taken another, this time a less popular G&S piece and given it a, strong in style yet subtle music, make over. Strong direction combined with a hard working company provided a show that with plenty of pace, lovely music and singing.

REPORT

This was another of the Company’s G&S makeovers. Patience is not one of the popular G&S shows as it is mostly considered to be a pastiche of some of G&S’s other shows. It does however have all the ingredients to make an entertaining evening: a couple of handsome male leads, a delightful female lead, a bevy of young beauties as the female chorus and a team of hunks as the male chorus. The company took these ingredients added a huge dash of imagination and hard work from the Director Huw Morgan. The result was to set the story in the recent past of glorious Welsh rugby [I remember it well and am delighted that its back] and an over the top glamour / new romantics pop scene dominated at one stage by Adam and the ants.

The two posters on the sides of the stage were good but I particularly liked the setting of the overture with one of our heroes Reginald Blunthorne most attractively played by Charlie Harlow being husbanded by his ASM. And we were off into the story, meeting the rapturous [and no less rapturous] maidens of the ladies chorus who were excellent. Patience herself was a delight played beautifully by Jackie Mitchell. Lesley Khatibi played the indomitable school ma’am Lady Jane. The evocatively named Pendramwnwgl Rugby sevens looked the business; they were resplendent in their pristine kit. Their leader in the role of Coach Cradog was played in Carwyn James style by Chris Crowcroft and admirably supported by his captain Benjamin Olney and the ‘Duke’ Jezz James.
The challenger for the attentions of Patience was none other than Archibald Grosvenor a clear match for Reginald Bunthorpe and equally handsomely played by Patrick Pond.

The story with its coat of modernity duly bowled along delivering the top 25 starting with ‘twenty love sick maidens’ with great musical support from the band under the direction of Helen Price to the exciting grand finale at number 26 where all was resolved in true G&S style and every body was happy including the audience who have been truly ravished by the splendour of the show.

The Oratory is an excellent theatre and the company made good use of the acting space.

I loved the costumes; the props, the lighting and the sound all supported the show but most of all I really though that the programme and the shows hand bill needed a special mention. The programme was colourful, clever and in keeping with the theme of the evening clearly a lot of work and imagination had been applied to great effect.

I am a great fan of G&S particularly when some attempt has been made to keep their work fresh perhaps in the cutting edge style that Gilbert intended when he first set the tone of the operettas. I hope that the company continue producing their style of contemporary G&S. well done.

An excellent evening’s entertainment, congratulation to the production team [Huw Morgan & Helen Price] and the company.