A Great Piece of Romantic Nonsense!

As with all Gilbert and Sullivan productions, this Opera della Luna performance delivers what is best in good entertaining social comment and satire on the class barriers that lovers face, even today.

The production was originally set in the Victorian period. Jeff Clarke the director of this performance has updated it to the 'flower power' era. However, I felt many of the observations made could have equally been applied today in this class and celebrity obsessed world we live in, where much of the ruling political, entertainment and business elites, is still dominated by Oxbridge graduates from wealthy families.

The performance is full of enjoyable nonsense, memorable melodies, misdirection, unrequited love and silly narratives. It is a story of how Alex Pointdextre the son of the lord of the manor decides to resolve the problems of love that afflicts this middle England village by inviting a Sorcerer to the village to mix a love potion. Once the potion is placed in a tea urn at the village fete, there are many unforeseen consequences, for Alex, his love Aline and the rest of the community.

The star of the show is Richard Guantlett in his role as the Sorcerer. Others of note included Philip Cox as the local Vicar Dr Daly, whose performance as a lovelorn despondent bachelor was well played, together with the performance of Graham Hoadly, who performed the challenging role of the plump widow Mrs. Parlett, a performance equal to that of Les Dawson at his best in a female comic role! In addition, I did appreciate the highly professional skills of the musicians of The Ploverleigh Village Band, who provided the musical accompaniment to this performance.

Overall, all who attended The Sorcerer, last night at the Oxford Playhouse had a great and entertaining evening! It was a pity it was only on for just one glorious night.

http://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/

http://www.operadellaluna.org/