“The slightly disquieting scene in which Dame Hannah woos her dead lover (a reanimated Sir Roderic Murgatroyd, played by Michael Peyton Jones) with a song about a flower and an oak tree proved to be the most moving and impressive of the night: at the end of it I felt that I could be a little in love with the staunch Dame too.” Kirstin Hollingsworth ★★★★★

Ruddigore ★★★★★

Review by Kirstin Hollingsworth

One of Gilbert and Sullivan’s less popular plays, this is a tale of a cursed line of baronets, ancestors who return to life to torture their descendants, and of a crazed woman calmed only by the word “Basingstoke”.  This production at Keble’s O’Reilly Theatre did justice to the creepiness inherent in the story, swapping the script’s scene where the dead ancestors come to life through portraits for a gothic sepulchre in which the actors lay painted like monuments.

While the production was at times let down by the actors’ quietness (they were occasionally drowned out by the music), the stars were solid: Katherine Fairhurst’s Dame Hannah, Thomas Wade’s Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd and Kate O’Connor’s Mad Margaret were all uniformly excellent. The slightly disquieting scene in which Dame Hannah woos her dead lover (a reanimated Sir Roderic Murgatroyd, played by Michael Peyton Jones) with a song about a flower and an oak tree proved to be the most moving and impressive of the night: at the end of it I felt that I could be a little in love with the staunch Dame too.

The set was sparse and the costume choice seemed strange at times (why did Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd have to wear his white farmer wellies for his wedding?), but the quality of the singing was consistently high, especially by Alexandra Coghlan as the rather prissy Rose Maybud. Mad Margaret was as touching as she was comic- her ongoing craziness and restraint on a dog’s lead by her new husband at the end of the play tempered the satisfaction the audience might have felt at the reuniting of the lovers. The play achieved a great deal within the limitations of a student production’s budget, and made the most of the space available. The actors with smaller roles also acquitted themselves well: the Professional Bridesmaids were well choreographed, and although Sebastian Atay played Richard Dauntless a little like Disco Stu in The Simpsons, the role brought plenty of laughs to a play that at times comes close to a horror story.  The production made for a highly entertaining evening.