IOLANTHE, The Operatic Society of the Polytechnic of North London, November 1977.

Iolanthe is one of those perennial favourites which maiden aunts and grandmothers will always flock to see; one of its endearing qualities is that it can usually make an enjoyable evening even in the absence of an adequate production. The production which Philippe Perrottet prepared for the North London Poly was adequate if somewhat uninspired. In the Polytechnic theatre, Perrottet was blessed with a relatively large stage and a small chorus - a situation which many producers would give their right arms to be in [To some producers, this is a serious problem, not a blessing .Ed.] - but he did not seem to make adequate use of the two. I wonder why the second act was re-sited away from the houses of Parliament; the absence of a sentry-box left the well-sung and relatively powerful Private Willis of Harold Barker stranded in the middle of the stage with very little excuse for existence. The traditional choice for the Lord Chancellor is an actor who is capable of projecting words of a song even if he is not the possessor of a fine singing voice; Kevin Yell certainly fitted the bill for this part although he must be careful of his projection of words during patter-songs. John Pearse and Cyril Foley as the Earls Tolloller and Mountararat made a mild but fairly amusing pair. Perhaps the high spot of the evening was the opening duet of Phyllis (Bethan Howells) and Strephon (Stuart Haycock). Both Stuart and Bethan hope to make singing their careers and their voices appear to have the required qualities; Stuart has a pleasant tenor voice and a good 'presence' on stage but must learn to speak his lines a little slower at times, Bethan possesses a well-balanced mezzo-soprano voice which was well-projected in both songs and dialogue [It strikes me as unusual to cast a mezzo as Phyllis, but as I didn't see the production, I cannot really comment. MPW] Doris March made an adequate Queen of the Fairies, she has a pleasant lower register but lacks control in higher registers. Iolanthe (Jane Compton) is a fairly good actress who possesses a pleasant voice though it tends to be quiet. The chorus was small and mostly adequate although the Peers chorus would have been more effective with a larger number of peers (tenors particularly). David Thompson coped well with the orchestra, and, on the whole, adopted satisfactory tempi; he should, however, concentrate on picking up cues more quickly. ANN ALDERSON

[Bethan Howells and Ann Alderson are both members of Imperial College Operatic Society, the latter being Michael Withers "other half". Ed.]

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