The Yeomen of the Guard
Arthur Sullivan and WS Gilbert
Charles Court Opera Company & Opera Holland Park
Directed by John Savournin
Musical director David Eaton
Photograph by Ellie Kurttz
This is the fourth year of collaboration between Opera Holland Park and Charles Court Opera and CCO’s first production of The Yeomen of the Guard. Dating from 1888, it’s a rather splendid piece which moves well beyond the usual G&S melodious comic romp, in many ways.
The Opera Holland Park setting with its huge width and annular playing space, surrounding the City of London Sinfonia, calls for something very different from CCO’s trademark, small cast, piano-accompanied, chamber versions of these operas. And on the whole it gets it in this production which casts all the soloists and has a chorus of twenty. John Savournin, and his choreographer, Merry Holden, create some visually attractive tableaux with, for example, the Yeomen Warders in solemn formation or the villagers in sepia pastels (design by Alyson Cummins) looking like a 16th century pastoral painting.
It felt a bit flat, however, for most of the first act. It was opening night and of course there were nerves, as well as some sound balance issues. Moreover Llio Evans who plays Elsie Maynard was unable to sing so she walked the part while Ellie Laugharne made a marvellous job, presumably on little or no rehearsal, of voicing the character from the pit. It was a very satisfactory solution but it probably worsened first night anxiety in the rest of the cast.
Sullivan actually wrote The Yeomen of the Guard overture himself, rather than, as he usually did, tossing the job to an assistant, who would create a medley of the show’s best tunes. And it’s beautiful, so personally I’d rather listen to it without distracting – and in this case pointless – stage action. Then the opening is challenging because the opera starts with Phoebe (Samantha Price – good once warmed up) alone on stage with her spinning wheel and “When maiden loves”. In this case it was followed soon after by Savournin as the jailer, Wilfred Shadbolt, singing “When jealous torments reach my soul”. This number was cut very early by WS GIlbert and doesn’t appear in the licence copy which was sent to the Lord Chancellor in 1888. In all my years of G&S enthusiasm I have never heard it sung before so it was an interesting curiosity but, sadly, pretty dull in theatrical terms. It works much better dramatically to move on to the bustling chorus entry more quickly which is what usually happens.
Matthew Kellett, a CCO regular, is outstanding as the travelling jester, Jack Point. He gets all the character’s nervous energy right and, although I couldn’t always hear every pattered word from Row O, with OHP’s surtitles it doesn’t matter too much. He also gives us a very plausible tragic ending as the professional fool who’s really a vulnerable human being who doesn’t deserve the rejection he eventually suffers. Kellet makes it funny, of course, but there’s also a lot of depth. And – as a bonus – he looks wonderful in, for example, in “Hereupon we’re both agreed” because he’s a small man. The nimble duet with Savournin’s very tall, ungainly Wilfred, presents the pair looking enjoyably incongruous together.
The second act is much better than the first, or at least it was on the opening night. It’s much pacier. The four part madrigal “Strange Adventure” (Natasha Agarwal as Kate, Amy J Payne as Dame Caruthers, William Morgan as Fairfax and Daniel Jeffery as Sergeant Meryll) was a musical show stopper with every note and harmony deliciously accurate, immaculately held together by conductor David Eaton. Another high spot was the sensitivity of “When a wooer goes a wooing”.
I was taught in childhood that The Yeomen of the Guard with its dark story of imprisonment (cf Fidelio) thwarted love and unhappy marriages was the nearest Sullivan got, with Gilbert, to the Verdi-esque grand opera he thought he wanted to write. This production certainly brings out that ambivalence with some strong characterisation and rich singing.
Full marks, moreover to the City of London Sinfonia who, as always, do grand work in the pit allowing us to hear clearly every note and nuance of Sullivan’s colourful orchestration and musical storytelling.
