The Mikado at the Lawrence Batley Theatre Review
The Mikado
by The Opera Della Luna
Lawrence Batley Theatre
28 February to 1 March 2014
Reviewed by Rachel Legg
The Lawrence Batley Theatre is set just off Huddersfield’s ring road, there is plenty of parking in the Market Hall multi-story which is only a short walk from the theatre. We got to the theatre in plenty of time and picked up our tickets from the Box Office, initially the atrium was extremely crowded as the theatre hadn’t opened the auditorium doors yet but this quite quickly cleared once people were allowed to find their seats. We were seated in the stalls, which were generously tiered giving a really good view and had decent levels of leg room as well. The theatre is fairly modern and designed as a square which does mean however that the seats on the wings are set at 90 degrees to the stage.
I have not really seen much Gilbert and Sullivan before and have never seen the Mikado so wasn’t quite sure what to expect, with only a cast of 7 this is quite a spare production using cast members, costumes and set in effective and interesting ways. The costumes were very modern and effective though not really what I was expecting.
The performance was very professional and the cast and crew coped admirably with the fact that the theatre’s main curtains had decided to stick in the open position so scene changes had to be done in front of the audience. We had an enjoyable evening there were a lot of genuinely funny moments, in particular the updated “list” and “punishment fitting the crime” songs. Richard Gauntlet’s Ko-Ko provided most of the humour and he was a pleasure to watch.
On this occasion Yum-Yum was played by Celena Bridge she performed the role with conviction though it was evident that she wasn’t as sure with the choreography as the rest of the cast and personally I found her “higher operatic style” too top heavy on the vibrato which meant the diction suffered and there was a discrepancy between the Yum-Yum she portrayed when acting and the Yum-Yum she portrayed when singing.
The rest of the cast were really good, in particular Louise Crane’s Katisha was noteworthy. In general, however, bearing in mind the wordiness of Gilbert and Sullivan the diction could have been sharper.
I had an enjoyable evening at this production, and as light-hearted entertainment I would recommend it.
Rating: 4/5
For more information visit www.thelbt.org.
