Christchurch Gilbert And Sullivan Society 2004 Review

Daily Echo (Bournemouth), September 25th 2004. Margaret Franklin
G & S can still be up-to-date
	"I CAN'T slaughter the whole company!" exclaimed the Fairy Queen (Christine Eastwood) when against fairy law her troupe of fairies marry the magnificently-robed peers of the House of Lords. Nor would she need to! This was a colourful, invigorating and charming production. A tuneful and refreshingly young ladies' chorus complemented the consummate acting of the leads. From the first nostalgic notes of the overture under the able baton of director Nigel Finch, to the toe-tapping finale this lolanthe had pace, humour and good voices. Phyllis (Ruth Hastings) and Strephon (Robert Eshelby) sang beautiful solos and duets while the Earls Mountararat (Mark Ward) and Tolloller (Andrew Dawson) were superb.	The contralto leads perhaps found the low register difficult but Zachary Higgins did ample justice to the Lord Chancellor's patter numbers and I loved his business with the teddy bear in the Nightmare Song. Maybe the fairies represent repressed Victorian womanhood, maybe the gentle ridicule of the law and maybe in the week of the Lib-Dem Conference the political comment is all too apposite, but the perennial yet modern appeal of G&S was as strong as ever.

Christchurch Gilbert and Sullivan Society