The Pirates of Penzance - Hayes Theatre Co

 

 

 

 The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan, “re-wired and re-booted” by Hayes Theatre Company (Sydney) at Canberra Theatre Centre, The Playhouse, April 2-6 2025.

Reviewed by Frank McKone
April 3

    
Cast & Creatives

Starring
Trevor Jones as The Major-General and more
Jay Laga’aia as The Pirate King and more
Brittanie Shipway as Ruth, Mabel and more
Maxwell Simon as Frederic and more
Billie Palin as Isabel, Barry and more/onstage swing

Director Richard Carroll
Co-Arranger & Musical Supervisor Victoria Falconer
Musical Director and Co-Arranger Trevor Jones
Assistant Director & Choreographer Shannon Burns
Set Designer Nick Fry
Costume Designer Lily Mateljan
Lighting Designer Jasmine Rizk
Sound Designer Daniel Herten
Production Manager Abbey Pace
Stage Manager Sherydan Simson

Hayes Theatre has brought the most rambunctious, humorous, outrageous production of The Pirates of Penzance from exciting Sydney to cautious Canberra – to a standing laughing cheering ovation.

Don’t miss it if you dare, or you’ll have nothing to talk about in your 3 days in the office.

The point is, of course, that The P of P is a political satire, and the Hayes’ rewiring makes not too subtle but plenty of LOL connections with the pirates of today, while telling the complex story of the moral dilemmas of the orphan Frederic learning proper behaviour.  It could all be happening in Parliament House where Frederic, after battles and promises to marry, finally realises he is really a teal independent simply asking for conflicts of interest to be dealt with through reasonable diplomatic discussion.

Jay Laga'aia (centre) with, from left, Trevor Jones, Maxwell Simon, Billie Palin and Brittany Shipway

Google AI tells me: The Pirates of Penzance was written by the famous duo, with the libretto by W.S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan in 1879. It premiered with a single performance in Paignton, England, on 30th December 1879 and had its official debut in New York the next day, where it was an instant hit.

Penzance is a pretty bay very near the end of Cornwall in UK, a nice little harbour town remote enough for real pirates, while Paignton is easterly, just along the south coast where I used to holiday as a child and learned nice manners, just like Frederic.  G&S for me was quite gentle social satire, rather like a good David Williamson in Australia today.

But their secondary title, The Slave of Duty, had and still has much more significance.  Wikipedia tells us: The Third Socialist Workers' Congress of France was held in Marseille, France, in 1879. At this congress the socialist leaders rejected both cooperation and anarchism, both of which would allow the existing regime to continue, and adopted a program based on collectivism. The congress also adopted a motion that women should have equal rights to men, but several delegates felt that essentially woman's place was in the home…. The congress has been called a triumph of Guesdism and the birthplace of French Marxist socialism.
[  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Workers%27_Congress_(1879)  ]

And there are all the clues in The Pirates of Penzance.  Frederic becomes a socialist, just as did my parents and therefore I did in the following half century.  

This is where, in the Hayes’ Re-wiring, we stop laughing.  They give an extra solo to Frederic to end the operetta, about his new understanding: we must not allow ourselves to be slaves to duty when the powers that be command you to kill.  

Though G&S could not be so direct in their day, this is what they imply in making fun of the assumption that pirates are all lower class who must kill the upper class to keep their thieving business profitable; and that Major-Generals and Police should therefore imprison and kill all pirates.

Frederic, the orphan pirate, and Mabel, the upper class sophisticated daughter of the Major-General, love each other – a symbol of peace without violence.

Laugh out loud along with Misters Gilbert and Sullivan, and enjoy Hayes Theatre’s genuinely funny – and powerfully performed – theatre.  But take seriously the finale:

Poor wandering ones!
Though ye have surely strayed,
Take heart of grace,
Your steps retrace,
Poor wandering ones!
Poor wandering ones!
If such poor love as ours
Can help you find
True peace of mind,
Why, take it, it is yours!

Maxwell Simon as Frederic and Brittanie Shipway as Mabel
in The Pirates of Penzance
Hayes Theatre 2025

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE OR THE SLAVE TO DUTY

 

The Pirates of Penzance or The Slave of Duty.  

Libretto by W.S. Gilbert. Music by Arthur Sullivan. Directed and adapted by Richard Carroll. Co-Arranger & Musical Supervisor Victoria Falconer. Musical Director and Co-Arranger Trevor Jones. Assistant Director & Choreographer Shannon Burns. Set Designer Nick Fry.  CostumeDesigner Lily Mateljan..Lighting Designer Jasmine Rizk. Sound Designer Daniel Herten. Cast:Jay Laga’aia,Trevor Jones, Maxwell Simon, Brittanie Shipway, Billie Palin. Hayes Theatre Company in association with Canberra Theatre Centre.The Playhouse.  April 2-6 2025. Bookings: canberratheatrecentre.com.au

 

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Trevor Jones (Pirate), Maxwell Simon (Frederic), Jay Laga'aia (Pirate King)
Billie Palin (Pirate), Brittanie Shipway (Ruth) in The Pirates of Penzance

If you have a ticket to the Hayes Theatre Company production of The Pirates of Penzance or The Slave of Duty at the Canberra Playhouse then you have struck gold! If you haven’t start digging now because this is one wow of a show you won’t want to miss. It’s hard watching this brilliant ensemble of five performers and their on stage techie to believe that it is over a hundred years since entrepreneur extraordinaire D’Oyly Carte staged Gilbert and Sullivan’s riotously satirical musical about class, gender and duty for an unsuspecting Victorian audience. Gand S were to comic opera what Wilde was to theatre and their enduring popularity is proof of their relevance to a modern-day Canberra audience.

Mabel (Brittanie Shipway) with her sisters

Sea shanties lure the audience into the theatre with some seated inside designer Nick Fry’s  colourful seaside bar. The cast in pirate costuming complete with fake beards and moustaches reminded me of the plethora of amateur Gilbert and Sullivan operas that were churned out during the 1950s. But there is nothing amateur about this production. 

It rides the high seas of professional excellence–a swashbuckling oceanic tidal wave of irreverent fun and frivolity, performed with piratical elan by an amazing ensemble of five versatile performers who throw themselves heartily into the tale of Frederic (Maxwell Simon), the young slave to duty on the cusp of adulthood who decides to leave the pirate crew and pursue a life of respectability and conformity.

Frederic (Maxwell Simon), Ruth (Brittanie Shipway)

What follows is a bountiful swell of mayhem and madcap comedy as Frederic searches for love, meets the Major General (Trevor Jones), father of the sweet Mabel (Brittanie Shipway) and eventually is tricked into returning to the Pirate gang. But like all good endings with a sentimental moral Frederic’s sense of duty makes him a paragon of virtuous humanity.

In reducing the cast to five, director Richard Carroll has turned the G and S classic into a rumbustious romp of high-powered energy. And what a cast! All switch roles with breathtaking alacrity from pirates to fair maidens to London Bobbies. As the Pirate King with a soft spot for orphans Jay Laga’aia cuts an imposing and charismatic figure with a commanding presence and a fine baritone voice. He and Billie Palin also show their versatility as London bobbies with A Policeman’s Lot is not a Happy One. Brittanie Shipway doubles as the pirates’ cook Ruth and the sweet love interest Mabel. It is an extraordinary performance, maximizing Shipway’s command of jazz vocals and operatic vibrato. 

Trevor Jones as the Major General

Arrangements by Victoria Falconer and Trevor Jones imbue the songs with a contemporary feel while retaining the intricate melodies of Arthur Sullivan’s original composition. Shipway’s delivery of When Frederic was a little Boy sung into a standing microphone captured a hint of Weill’s Pirate Jenny. As Mabel, Shipway’s rendition of Poor Wand’ring One harkens back  to the sweet innocence of the Music Hall ingénue. Musical director and arranger Trevor Jones also plays the Major General and other minor roles. His rendition of the Major General’s class patter song I am the very model of a modern Major General  brought the house down with his perfect patter and updated lyrics , giving a nod to Albanese, Tom Cruise and Scientology and Alec Baldwin. In keeping with tradition the contemporary references strike a familiar chord while retaining the satirical intent of G and S. What is amazing is Jones’s perfect timing and rhythmic control as he accompanies himself on the piano while beefing out the Major General’s number.

The Major General's four daughters

Director Carroll has fashioned a magical G and S package with a punch. It’s pacy, ricochet rapid ensemble theatre at its very best, performed by a cast that is having a ton of fun. It’s contagious, a foot-tapping revelry that loses none of its original cutlass-clanging swipe at Victorian propriety. It is as fresh today in this imaginative Hayes Theatre Company production as it must have been at its first production almost one hundred and fifty years ago. This is a new look show for today’s G and S aficionados and totally loyal to its origins. It is a rare occasion to see the Playhouse packed to the rafters with an audience laughing uproariously. In an uncertain and troubled world this sparkling production of The Pirates of Penzance – The Slave to Duty is proof galore that laughter is the best medicine.

 

THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE

Music by Arthur Sullivan

Lyrics by W.S. Gilbert

Directed by Richard Carroll

Co-Arranger and Musical Supervisor: Victoria Falconer

Musical Director and Co-Arranger: Trevor Jones

Hayes Theatre Co. production

The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre to 6 April

 

Reviewed by Len Power 3 April 2025

 

When a show is over 140 years old, especially an operetta, you’d think it might not have much appeal any more for a modern audience, but “The Pirates Of Penzance or, The Slave To Duty” remains perennially popular.

It was the fifth collaboration of the English team of Gilbert and Sullivan. Surprisingly, it opened in New York in 1879, a year before it opened in London. It has remained popular ever since and, now that it’s out of copyright, it’s fair game for revision and non-traditional presentations.

Hayes Theatre Co. of Sydney have come up with a winner of a show with their current touring production. Gone are the expected large choruses and huge orchestra - this production has a cast of five and a piano or two. That it works so well is a triumph for this production’s creators.

Jay Laga'aia (centre) with, from left, Trevor Jones, Maxwell Simon, Billie Palin and Brittany Shipway

Jay Laga’aia is an excellent Pirate King, singing and swashbuckling his way through the show. He turns up unexpectedly and delightfully as other characters, too.

Brittany Shipway plays both Ruth and Mabel, giving a distinctive performance for each character. This fine comedienne sings very well, also popping up as other characters.

Maxwell Simon and Brittany Shipway

Maxwell Simon gives the role of the young Frederic a classic innocence that is very appealing. Also in fine voice, he makes the most of his songs. Billie Palin busily and cleverly plays the characters of Isabel and Barry as well as several others.

Trevor Jones is the pianist, Fishcake, and steals the show with his performance of the Major-General. Singing his tongue-twister of a song and accompanying himself on piano is a hilarious highlight of the show. Make sure you listen carefully to the lyrics!

Trevor Jones

The quality of the singing from this small cast is very high. Particularly memorable was the power and clarity of their harmony singing. Everything about this production works – the sets, costumes, lighting and sound – making this an evening of rollicking good fun.

From left: Billie Palin, Trevor Jones, Jay Laga'aia and Brittany Shipway

There is seating onstage for a number of fearless audience members. One of these, Peter McDonald, well-known Canberra musician, suddenly found himself briefly centre-stage as part of the action. He gave a performance that will be long remembered!

 

Photos by supplied by the production

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

 

ADELAIDE CABARET FESTIVAL 2025

 

Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2025. 

Artistic director Virginia Gay. Executive Producer Alex Sinclair. Adelaide Festival Centre. June 5-21 2025 Bookings: adelaidecabaretfestival.com.au

Previewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Virginia Gay  Artistic Director
Photo Cludio Raschella

Australia’s premier cabaret festival kicks off to a glittering start with a Variety Gala on June 5^th in Adelaide’s prestigious Festival Theatre. It is difficult to believe that the first Adelaide Cabaret Festival opened twenty five years ago, the brainchild of the late Frank Ford and under the artistic direction of the inaugural director Julia Holt. Since then the Cabaret Festival has grown into the largest international cabaret festival in the world. As well as attracting phenomenal talent from around the country many of the world’s greatest cabaret artists have appeared at this jewel in the Adelaide Festival Centre’s festival crown. From around the world people flock to Australia’s festival state to soak up the atmosphere in intimate, cosy and thrilling cabaret venues.

David Campbell

After hosting her first successful festival in 2024, the inimitable and incandescent Virginia Gay returns to present a programme worthy of this milestone occasion. ”For me it’s a huge honour to have the guardianship of the festival when it is celebrating such an extraordinary anniversary.” Gay tells me. ”What I want to do is to honour our legacy act, the act that has made us. The act that has changed us.”

After 25 years, Gay is in no doubt about what cabaret is and her voice sparkles with excitement. “Cabaret is mischief, wit, sass, celebration of community and just a little whiff of chaos” she says with a twinkle in her voice. “That to me is everything that cabaret is and does. What is exciting about my cabaret festival,” Gay says, “is that it has a place in the global firmament of arts festivals. International stars are excited to come here and work with us. It is so thrilling and is a testament to the Artistic Directors who have come before me.”  The list is a roll call of Australia’s brightest cabaret talent including David and Lisa Campbell, Kate Ceberano, Ali MacGregor and Eddie Perfect, Barrie Humphries, Julia Zemiro and to give it that touch of international pizzazz Alan Cumming. The roll call of artists is too long to mention but over the past twenty years they have defined the nature of cabaret, stamped it with their phenomenal talent and turned Adelaide into the epicentre of everything that makes cabaret the thrill that it is.

Carlotta Photo Claudio Raschella

As a salute to the origins of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Gay has invited the one and only Carlotta to open the 2025 festival. Carlotta opened the very first festival and now, a quarter of a century later and at the unstoppable age of 81, Carlotta will return to introduce artists and audience alike to the 25^th anniversary festival.. The past, the present and the future will be the cornerstones to Gay’s selection of artists. Performers like Bernadette Robinson, piano man Trevor Jones , Reuben Kaye and David Campbell will be familiar favourites from previous festivals.

 

Jessica Mauboy Photo Peter Brew Bevan

Newcomers like Jacob Collier and Demi Adejuyigbe and The Burton Brothers will bring their international acts that are changing the present and the young aspiring cabaret artists of Class of Cabaret will launch the art form into the future. Gay reminds me that “cabaret is irreverent, it is sexy, it is fearless. It is not afraid to speak uncomfortable truths and hold power to account.” That is why artists like Rizo and Reuben Kaye play an integral role in the cabaret festival. “There is no separation between audience and performer in this show. At any second Reuben Kaye is going to have his head in your lap. And that is cabaret my friend!”

The twenty-fifth anniversary cabaret will be a showcase of familiar faces, new talents and future stars of the cabaret stage. Best newcomer at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, American writer, comedian, filmmaker and performer Demi Adejuyigbe promises the most perfect, hilarious and insane show at the festival. Time Out called Demi Adejuyigbe is Going to Do One (1) Backflip both ramshackle and slick, the future of Musical Comedy. Audiences are asked to expect the unexpected.  Adejuyigbe has the kind of charisma that could power a city. While playing Cyrano in Cyrano de Bergerac in Edinburgh during her UK tour, Gay could not get a ticket to Demi’s sold out show. She had to wait until the London performances to get to see this new cabaret sensation.

The Burton Brothers Photo Simon McCulloch

Also new to the festival is six times Grammy award winning multi-instrumentalist and composer Jacob Collier. In an Australian exclusive Collier will wow audiences with improvisation, genre bending songs and audience participation. It promises to be a two night stand only to remember. For a deliciously absurdist dose of comedy, audiences won’t want to miss The Burton Brothers – 1925. Real life brothers , the Burton Brothers will present an hilarious sketch comedy show set entirely in the year 1925. The Great War is over, the Jazz Age is in full swing and their two part harmony jazz classics herald in a new age of optimism. “It’s very, very funny.” Gay says. Award winning singer, comedian and screenwriter Frankie McNair brings her alter ego, ageing lounge singer Tabitha to the 2025 Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Described by Gay as a Melbourne superstar, she also claims that there is no one more fearless than McNair “ an alternative comedy wunderkind”.

An anniversary as significant as this year’s cabaret festival has an obligation to salute the past, applaud the present and imagine the future. ”What is truly exciting and such an honour when you have this position,” Gay says,”is to look towards the future and say what cabaret could be.” More than ten years ago, David and Lisa Campbell introduced the Class of Cabaret to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Twenty young people are selected to write their own material and work with industry mentors and leadership to devise a show of 65 minutes.

Class of Cabaret 2024

This year their efforts will count towards their HSC results, but that is unlikely to affect their bravery and daring to forge a new future in cabaret. “It is the show most guaranteed to make me cry.” Gay tells me. ”Tears of pride are so strong. I can see them putting their heart on the line and speaking honestly with authenticity. We really need storytellers like that. We go into the future to empower the next generation of storytellers. We say to them your voice is important. You can change the world!” Gay says to these 16 and 17 year old cabaret artists of the future “You are going to change the world and make it funny and fabulous and deeply, deeply attractive. That’s cabaret.”  It is a bold message of hope and optimism for the next generation.

The interview is coming to an end but I have time for one final question. “What can audiences expect from the 25^th anniversary festival?” Gay is quick to answer. “People can expect a rollicking good time, authenticity and immediacy and mischief and they can probably make a couple of new friends over a couple of glasses of very nice champagne. And that my friend is cabaret!”

 

 

 

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Wajanoah Donohue and ensemble in Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Photo: Chris Baldock

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Based on the novel by Mark Haddon; adapted for the stage by Simon Stephens. Mockingbird Theatre Company, Canberra, at Belconnen Arts Centre, March 20 – April 5 2025. 

Reviewed by Frank McKone April 1 

 CAST: Christopher (at certain performances) – Wajanoah Donohoe Christopher (at certain performances) – Ethan Wiggin Siobhan – Leah Peel Griffiths; Ed – Richard Manning; Judy – Claire White Ensemble – Travis Beardsley, Callum Doherty, Peter Fock, Meg Hyam, Anthony Mayne, Tracy Noble with a special appearance from Phineas Baldock 

PRODUCTION TEAM: Director/Designer – Chris Baldock; Assistant Director – Stephanie Evans Stage Manager – Rhiley Winnett Lighting Design – Rhiley Winnett and Chris Baldock Projections Design – Matt Kizer; Projection Realisation & Operation – Rhiley Winnett Music Composer – Matt Friedman; Costumes and Props – Chis Baldock and cast Autism Lived Experience Consultants – Jacob Alfonso and Jennyfer Lawrence Taylor Rehearsal Prompt – Liz St Clair Long 

The calculation of the square of the hyptenuse of a right angled triangle is the image which informs this thoughtful presentation of The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night-Time. 

 Though the drama of the life of Christopher John Francis Boone, accurately characterised by Wajanoah Donohoe, is not exactly exciting in a conventional theatrical way – since the central character has no empathetic capacity – we find ourselves watching the story play out at some ‘distance’ emotionally. Rather like Christopher himself, we seem to be objectively observing a documentary about adults as parents and neighbours, including their rearrangements of sexual relations, and how difficult life therefore is for a seriously autistic child, at the stage of achieving the highest score possible in Mathematics on his way from high school to university. Intellectual determination to complete his knowledge of mysteries, from who killed the dog in next door’s garden to the explanation of Pythagoras’ theorem is the central feature of Christopher’s life. 

So, physically, Baldock and the Design Team have us sitting in straight rows on three sides of a square, watching highly stylised acting-out of the story, in terms of choreography and costume design, surrounded by large rectangular projections of words, and even mathematics, and images of practical things like trains which illustrate the action in a Christopher-like way. 

And then we discover the final ruse. We are watching in real time Siobhan and Christopher creating a play for us to understand what happened in the past, especially including how difficult Christopher’s built-in need to only always speak the truth had been for his parents, and the reasonable resolution of their lives which was achieved. So the play within a play parallels what the theatre company is doing – artfully creating the words of a novel in living form. 

This extra level is emphasised in Baldock’s production by the abstract white costuming for the Ensemble, rather than having the characters dressed in normal street clothes. This play is not presented as ‘naturalism’, but in a form designed to illustrate the issue of how being autistic, despite one’s intelligence, is fraught with difficult situations and often unfair treatment – even when other people understand that you can’t not behave in the frustrating, for them, way you do. 

 Rather than presenting this now famous play with the razzamatazz of the Grand Tour by the National Theatre of Great Britain which I reviewed (on this blog) June 2018, Baldock brings the play down to size, and in doing so leaves me with a more simple focus on the issue as it is for so many people ‘on the spectrum’. 

And Wajanoah’s explanation of the proof of the Pythagoras theorem – after the curtain call, as if he was Christopher but somehow out of role – was terrific. Thank you, Mockingbird.