Magdalen Auditorium

Wednesday 25th – Saturday 28th November 7.30pm

“Any actress who plays Katisha, the unwanted bride of Nanki-Poo with “a caricature of a face”, can’t be vain, but Denhoed embraced Katisha’s overpowering undesirability and made the performance a delight.” Kirstin Hollingsworth ★★★★★

The Mikado ★★★★★

Review by Kirstin Hollingsworth

The start was unpromising- the curtain rose to a drably dressed seated chorus behind the Emperors of Japan, who were dressed in suits and at the mercy of a terrible dance routine. Would I need some of that champagne being served up on stage in order to get through the performance, I wondered. Things were swiftly improved, however, with the entrance of Robert Hazle’s coke bottle glasses wearing Ko-Ko, whose high-pitched, nerdy performance was truly professional. Providing the funniest moments of the performance, his ability to truly create a comic character with no reference to his personal dignity whatsoever (and I mean this as high praise) was only matched by Andrea Denhoed’s superlative Katisha. Physical comedy is hard to do well, but Denhoed’s facial expressions were straight out of the Lucille Ball school: classic, hilarious, and bore the markings of real comic actress. Any actress who plays Katisha, the unwanted bride of Nanki-Poo with “a caricature of a face”, can’t be vain, but Denhoed embraced Katisha’s overpowering undesirability and made the performance a delight. Perhaps my favourite scene was her wooing by Ko-Ko- which culminated in her carrying him off for the wedding. If I had to fault one thing, it would be that her voice is too pretty for that of a villain- but I guess you can’t have everything.

In fairness, the entire cast sang beautifully, most notably Verity Thomas as Yum-Yum, and never fell flat. What the production lacked (read: sorely needed) was imagination in its use of costume and setting. While the programme notes informed me that they couldn’t afford to put the entire cast in kimonos, dressing the chorus like waiters and having them sing straight from Mikado score books made it look like they weren’t even trying. The reading of The Financial Times at the beginning also looked gimmicky, but the actors’ occasional use of the production’s piano, and the pianists’ interjections into the performance, were imaginative touches that made the very most of limited resources. Despite this, the cast were compelling, and Sheridan Edward’s confident Nanki-Poo, Benjamin Lewis’ pompous Pooh-Bah and Alexei Kalveks’ handsome Pish-Tush all acquitted themselves well. Ultimately, however, the night was Robert Hazle’s and Andrea Denhoed’s.