Eastbourne Gilbert and Sullivan Society's Iolanthe proves "an oasis of joy"

Tired of the world? Seeking a respite from mortgage rates and sewage on the beaches? The Eastbourne Gilbert and Sullivan Society is never short of an escape route, and this week’s Iolanthe at the Royal Hippodrome Theatre has been an oasis of joy.

There are delicious surprises from the very start. Following a lovely overture – jaunty, lyrical and wistful by turns – the “dainty little fairies” who trip their way on to stage for the opening chorus are a strikingly colourful sight, dressed in a kind of rustic Steampunk! Great credit to the wardrobe team, who have come up with bold and striking combinations! The genius of that costuming gives each chorus member a persona and personality: a cheeky shrug, a wink to the audience. In this production, everyone counts and nobody hides.

This daftest of stories (mind you, several G&S plots run it close!) balances the Human World with the Fairy World, and if anything, it is the latter who drive the plot – always a touch cleverer and more devious than the rather hapless human House of Peers. It’s as daft as it is delicious, and this production absolutely bubbles with glee, fun and fairy mischief. Experienced director Helen Halliday, taking the reins at Eastbourne for the first time, oversees a smooth production which never flags, indeed seldom pauses for breath, and she has beautifully brought out the details and the quirks of each character: it’s a production in which every single actor matters, and nobody is just a third Lord from the left.

Hosting the show – and, indeed, the new home for quite a number of local companies – the Royal Hippodrome is looking splendid, and it also offers that closeness between stage and audience which money in a bigger auditorium cannot buy. Sit in the front row, and you could literally reach out and turn the page for the flautist in the pit. Mind you, it would risk the point of the conductor’s baton from MD Russell Ablewhite – whose breezily assured direction keeps the tempi moving and produces a brightness of sound, and a genuine feel for Sullivan’s more lyrical and pensive moments in the score.

The production opens to a sylvan forest scene, with the cooling sparkle of a waterfall constantly flowing on the backcloth. (How do they do that? Very professionally, under the skilled control of lighting guru Megan Stanfield, and Steve Walter’s design team! And an extra mention for the super back projections for the Nightmare Song.) But back to the story. Rather like a pastiche of Shakespeare’s Dream, WS Gilbert’s story creates a fairy world in collision with the human world. Iolanthe has been banished for 25 years by the Queen of the Fairies, after bearing a half-fairy, half-human son Strephon – whose girlfriend Phyllis is ward of the Lord Chancellor, the most powerful man in the House of Lords. Gentle readers, there are too many confusions, mistaken identities and romantic overtures to baffle you with…

In fairness, watching the story unfold on stage, it all makes a kind of sense. The joy of this Eastbourne G&S show is that we are swept along with it: the lyrical and glorious music, the brisk patter and dialogue, the assured and confident movement – super input here from assistant choreographer Chloe Goatcher alongside director Halliday. And set again those theatrical pleasures, a daft plot is no trial at all! So many actors – a dozen named parts plus a splendid fifteen-strong chorus – and not a single weak link. Our three “principal fairies” Rowan Stanfield, Melody Westcott and Katie Miller interact seamlessly and give a glorious, impertinent lead to the action. The pace never drops and there is always a little bit of business here, a cheeky wink at the audience there, to engage the audience.

Gilbert and Sullivan, although well over a century old, so often has relevance. At its time of writing, the Suffragette movement was on the point of its conception; and this Fairy Ring certainly looks subversive enough to upset the Establishment.

Rebecca Hughes is an awesome Queen of the Fairies, fabulously dressed and totally commanding the stage. Alison King brings a lovely reading of the title role, sympathetic and tugged between loyalties. And Lucy Sarsfield’s Phyllis is an absolute delight, with purity of vocals and a sweet personality. Her scenes with Strephon – a handsome and engaging Benjamin Craven – are convincing and really very sensitive – not a word always associated with the preposterous brashness of Gilbert and Sullivan. And what of the Lords? In their ranks of ermine, with more pomposity than actual gravitas – and with all their amorous designs dashed in Act Two – Gilbert has set them up to be mocked. But actually this chorus of Peers is full of character. Wendy Dovey has great fun as Lord Tolloller – and delivers a lovely “Blue Blood” and Nigel Lawton is a superb foil as Lord Mountararat. Ian Charlesworth has the audience on the very verge of joining in with Private Willis’s famous Entr’Acte sentry song. “Either a little liberal, Or else a little conservative…!” How very Eastbourne!

Have we forgotten anyone? Of course: when this company needs an assured comic male lead, they look no further than Paul Eccles. Patter songs by the yard, and stage presence by second nature. Hunched beneath his judicial wig, with patter-perfect timing and nimblest of dance steps, Paul is as close to a professional as any amateur company gets. But wait: remember the true meaning of amateur – one who does it all for love! In this show, as in so many splendid productions over the years, Eastbourne G&S has always delivered with skill, with panache, with faithfulness to the composers. And with an unshakeable commitment and love for what they do. This wonderful Iolanthe has yet again brought Gilbert and Sullivan alive.

Kevin Anderson