The Three Mikados

The Three Mikados turned out to be far more entertaining than I expected - I confess I’m fairly ignorant about Gilbert & Sullivan, and having once fallen asleep during a live performance of The Mikado (for my 13th birthday, so I can argue I was too young to appreciate it), I approached the idea of this multi-character tale being performed by a cast of just three with some trepidation.

I needn’t have worried. For a start, all three performers had strong, expressive voices and seemed to be very comfortable and familiar with the material, delivering the alternately funny and touching songs with gusto and panache. The occasional updated lyrics referencing contemporary events, which often seems like the kiss of death in shows like this, actually worked very well, firstly because they weren’t overdone, and secondly because they were incorporated with a respect towards the integrity of the original material.

The necessary condensing of the original story and multi-character playing by the cast was cleverly achieved by framing this retelling within the context of an egomaniacal director (Colin Lane playing himself) insisting that as this was his production, he got to tell the story his way - down to his spur of the moment decisions about who would play which character in which scene. This led to clever verbal sparring between Mr Lane and Mr Collins, in which Mr Collins got to deliver the best line of the evening while casting aspersions on Mr Lane’s acting ability. The repartee between these two was frequently hilarious, and Esther Hannaford also delivered some very funny moments.

Ably accompanied by musical director John Thorn on piano, the trio rollicked through the familiar songs and gave us the abridged version of The Mikado, with a large diversion towards the end into Mr Lane’s directorial meltdown, leading to the storming out of his leading (in fact, sole) lady only for her to stage a triumphant return at the climax. It was a very funny show from a dedicated cast who have clearly put a lot of time and effort into ensuring it delivered the goods.

Alex Paige