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ENO: The Pirates of Penzance
Tue, 19th May, 2015 @ 19:30pm - 21:50pm
£8 – £12Sentimental pirates, blundering policeman, absurd adventures and improbable paradoxes – Gilbert and Sullivan’s dazzling The Pirates of Penzance comes to ENO in a highly anticipated new production from renowned film maker and director Mike Leigh.
This much-loved comic opera is a showcase of brilliant humour and razor-sharp wit and features a sparkling score chock-full of memorable melodies and catchy tunes.
With stylish designs from Alison Chitty, this vibrant production is conducted by David Parry. The superb cast includes the ever-versatile Andrew Shore as the very model of a modern Major-General, Jonathan Lemalu as the affectionate parody of the British bobby, Robert Murray as the innocent pirate-apprentice Frederic, and Rebecca de Pont Davies as the older woman who has designs on him.
Mike Leigh on his direction of the ENO’s The Pirates of Penzance:
“For a joke, I did go in with a completely straight face and say I was going to set it on a spaceship in the 29th century, which I think for a few moments was taken on board. No, the piece will speak for itself: the costumes will be 1880 costumes. I don’t feel my reputation will be salvaged by being perverse and original and imposing on it all kinds of irrelevant criteria. It’s about simplicity and letting the piece speak for itself – and stripping it of that awful campoonery that companies often inflict on Gilbert and Sullivan.”
Live broadcast performance from the ENO.