Script writer and director JOHN SAVOURNIN and composer, lyricist and musical director David Eaton’s Christmas production Odyssey: A Heroic Pantomime – a madcap retelling of one of the oldest and most thrilling journeys ever undertaken – continues at London’s Jermyn Street Theatre until 31 December 2023.
Co-produced with the critically acclaimed leading chamber opera and music theatre company Charles Court Opera, the anarchic musical will feature Emily Cairns, Meriel Cunningham, Amy J Payne, Tamoy Phipps and Rosie Strobel. Each plays a multitude of roles from Penelope to Polyphemus.
Alongside its critically acclaimed opera and musical theatre productions, Charles Court Opera’s notorious ‘Boutique Pantos’ are a legendary part of London’s Christmas, known for their ‘off-piste’ nature and described by the Daily Telegraph as “an annual madhouse”. The first panto was in 2007 at the intimate Rosemary Branch Theatre and the productions then moved to the King’s Head Theatre. The smash-hit Beowulf at the King’s Head won Best Panto at the Offies and received four other nominations in 2021.
Charles Court Opera is also considered one of the champions of the reinvigoration of Gilbert and Sullivan, described as “the masters of G&S in small places” and winners of the 2020 Off-West-End award for Best Opera Production for H.M.S. Pinafore. The company is committed to devising new work and has recently achieved major critical success for collaborations with Opera Holland Park (The Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore, Ruddigore) and Wilton’s Music Hall (Patience). This is the first time Charles Court Opera has performed at Jermyn Street Theatre.
Here Charles Court Opera’s chief executive officer John Savournin continues Musical Theatre Review’s interview series: Five Questions With…
Charles Court Opera is famous for producing G&S in small spaces. How do you set about scaling it down without losing anything?
We try to find a framework or concept that allows the story to feel more intimate – for example, our Pirates of Penzance in an imaginative child’s bedroom, or our Patience in a village pub – so that audiences can experience the opera in a new way that doesn’t highlight the absence of a huge chorus. And often, the principal characters are an extension of the chorus in any case (such as the dragoons in Patience), so it’s usually possible to cover everything they would do with the main characters.
According to its website, CCO is committed to new work, education and new audiences. What can G&S offer young people?
G&S is a perfect introduction to opera. They’re in English for one, and they are great situational comedies (sitcoms). They are also reasonably short in comparison to grand operas, with spoken dialogue, so they are an easy viewing experience. We always try to find a way to reframe the stories for a modern audience, too, but without ever disrespecting the original.
Your new non-G&S work for Christmas is The Odyssey as a panto in co-production with Jermyn Street Theatre. What led you to choose that, after last year’s Beowolf and how has it developed?
Beowulf (2021) was another retelling of an epic story that you wouldn’t ordinarily think of as lending itself to comedy, and that subversion was part of its success. We’ve talked about The Odyssey for a number of years because it’s full of larger than life, fantastical characters, in a huge story that, on the face of it, is exciting, crazy and almost magical. It’s perfect for a CCO panto treatment, full of left field humour, and brilliant songs old and new. We’re roaring with laughter in the rehearsal room, and can’t wait for audiences to see it.
You have a big non-G&S success list. Are you planning to revive any of your, for example, Puccini and Mozart shows?
Yes! In fact, we’re presenting Rossini’s The Barber of Seville in the spring at Wilton’s Music Hall, which we are really excited about. We’ve relocated the famed barber to the Wild West – a concept that’s spot on for Wilton’s. Expect bad disguises and bar brawls.
You are famous as pioneers of accessible “bijoux” opera. What do you see as the most important aspect of that work?
It’s so kind of you to say so. While I think it’s important to remember that “bijoux” isn’t any more or less valuable than going to see opera on a big scale, I know our audiences get a kick out of the chance to see something in an intimate setting, where the characters are very much at the forefront of the production, up and close and personal, and where every eyebrow raise counts. It makes the drama feel really immediate when the cast can communicate so closely, and that’s really cool.
- Odyssey: A Heroic Pantomime runs at Jermyn Street Theatre from 23 November to 31 December
Comments are closed.