Direct from it's sell-out UK tour, the internationally
acclaimed Carl Rosa Company's production of Gilbert and
Sullivan's much loved comic opera, HMS Pinafore. This brand
new production is directed by one of the UK's most highly
acclaimed actors, Timothy West.
Aboard the HMS Pinafore, an
hilarious tale of love, hypocrisy and mistaken identities
unravels when the Captain's daughter falls secretly in love
with a common sailor. Pledged by her father to marry the
mighty Sir Joseph Porter, the 'ruler of the Queens Navy',
young Josephine finds herself hopelessly torn between love and
duty. But a remarkable twist of fate changes all when a long-kept
secret is let slip, somersaulting our heroes into a heady
climax of fun, frivolity and fortune.
This sea-faring smash hit
show performed by Carl Rosa's superb cast and
orchestra, is bursting with Gilbert's brilliant satiric wit
and packed with some of Sullivan's most popular songs.
Bringing to life some of operetta's best-loved comic
characters, from Sir Joseph Porter and Little Buttercup, to
Captain Corcoran, Dick Deadeye, and young romantics, Josephine
and Ralph, HMS Pinafore is a musical delight for everyone to
enjoy.
   
Carl Rosa
Opera - Britain's Oldest Opera Company
 "Carl Rosa Opera is a unique
national touring company of 65 musicians, singers and
technicians producing high quality opera productions. Carl
Rosa's aim is to bridge the perceived gap between traditional
Grand Opera and popular music, whilst pursuing new styles and
openness in policy of innovation and access to new and
established audiences. The company has created an individual
identity of 'traditional style productions' by returning to
the original source material as laid down by the composer and
librettist.
Our aim is to inspire,
entertain and educate as many people as possible, combining
the new younger generation and the established opera audience
through artistic excellence in opera and operetta,
irrespective of background."
"I sat amid an audience ranging from
8 to 80, all had a marvelous time. We laughed, we
cheered, we came out happy." - Daily
Telegraph
“Lovers of
Gilbert & Sullivan will be delighted with this production...
Presented in true opera fashion the production was blessed
with remarkable voices...
It
presents the operetta in all its glory…”
- Worcester Evening News
Director's Notes
The Winds of Change
In 1947, a six-part radio serial
was produced by the BBC on the lives of Gilbert and Sullivan,
including extracts from the operas themselves. It was
broadcast from the old Camden Theatre in North London, and my
father, who was acting in it, got permission to take me along
with him. I was thirteen, and I was bowled over. The following
summer saw me standing for two or three nights a week in the
gallery queue (one shilling and sixpence) at Sadler’s Wells,
for the D’Oyly Carte Company’s eight-week residence.
There I was again at the
company’s triumphant Festival of Britain season at the Savoy,
marveling at the delicate artistry of Martyn Green and the
sheer huge gusto of Darrell Fancourt.
I watched a little sadly as
over the next few years the productions lost some of their
gloss, the company’s traditional audience began to fall away,
and they tremulously awaited the 1961 enquiry of copyright.
Since then, of course, we’ve been offered every kind of
interpretation of Gilbert and Sullivan; but the recent
re-emergence of Carl Rosa Opera, with its policy of
imaginative production faithful to the spirit of the original,
means we can again look at what the operas essentially are,
without feeling the need on one hand to produce a carbon copy
of Gilbert’s stage directions, or on the other to search
desperately for a way of being “available” to modern
audiences.
So now, with a clean slate,
we can examine what – for instance – HMS Pinafore is
really about. Whenever I have to work on something that’s
terribly well-known, and which has been seen produced in every
conceivable way, I give the script to my friend Graham for his
off-the-cuff reaction. Graham is not real unfortunately, he’s
a myth, but he’s perfect for my purposes because he’s
completely ignorant about the theatre and the opera, and when
confronted with a text will know nothing about the piece, the
writer, the style, the date, or anything else.
Passing him, in my
imagination, a copy of Pinafore, I say, “Just run your
eye over this Graham, there’s a good chap, and tell me what
you think is actually happening here.”
His analysis perhaps might go
something like this: “It feels like Hurrah for the Royal Navy.
A salute to Nelson, HMS Victory and all that traditional
stuff. But hang on – by 1878 every new warship was
steam-powered. So things are changing, aren’t they? Staffing
is changing, too, what’s this, a solicitor’s clerk at the head
of the Admiralty? And he’s an awful snob, but he keeps banging
on about his humble beginnings. That sort of appointment is
going to make itself felt right down the chain of command. I
mean, look at this man Rackstraw! Stirrings of Marxism there,
am I right?
And come the Revolution, mark
my words, that Boatswain’s going to be right there beside him.
“Then there’s your man
Deadeye; all right, he’s a bit of a Tory, but all he wants
really is to get back to a reliable code of discipline – he
can feel everything slipping away from him. The girl – she’s
got a comfortable home in Gosport or somewhere, and she’s
thinking of giving it all up just because she fancies that
hunky sailor. That’s not very Victorian, is it? And her poor
Dad – he feels in this changed climate he’s got to be dead
democratic and lean over backwards to be matey with his crew.
They’ve all been caught in the winds of change.”
I agree with Graham. It is
the Winds of Change that fill the sails of
HMS Pinafore,
and steer her on her dramatic course.
I hope you all enjoy the
voyage.
Timothy West
 
Biographies
Timothy West
Director
Born in Bradford in 1934,
Timothy West is best known as an actor on stage, screen and
radio, but has worked intermittently as a director throughout
his career.
He was Artistic Director of
the Forum Theatre, Billingham in 1973, and of the Old Vic
Theatre, London from 1980-81. In 1982 he was appointed
Director in Residence at the University of Western Australia,
and in 1990 became Associate Director of the Bristol Old Vic
Company.
He has also directed plays at
Salisbury, Northampton, Cheltenham, the Gardner Centre
Brighton and the Open Space Theatre, London, and numerous
recitals and musical programmes with leading soloists and
orchestral groups around the country.
Timothy started his theatre
career as an assistant stage manager at the Wimbledon Theatre
in 1956. Several seasons in repertory around the UK followed
before coming to the Piccadilly Theatre in the farce
Caught Napping in 1959. Since then performances on the
London stage have included Gentle Jack, The Trigon, The
Italian Girl, Abelard and Heloise, Exiles, The Constant
Couple, Laughter, The Homecoming, Beecham, Master Class, The
War at Home, When We Are Married, The Sneeze, Long Day's
Journey into Night, It's Ralph, Twelve Angry Men and
The Birthday Party.
For the RSC: Nil
Carborundum and Afore Night Come at the Arts
Theatre, seasons at the Aldwych and in Stratford until 1966
and Hedda Gabler in 1975 (also Australian, Canadian
and USA tour).
For Prospect Theatre Company:
King Lear, Prospero, Holofernes, Claudius, Enobarbus, Shylock,
Bolingbroke (Richard II), Mortimer (Edward II),
Shpigelsky (A Month in the Country), Emerson (A
Room with a View) and Samuel Johnson. For the Bristol Old
Vic Company: Trelawny, Falstaff (Herny IV Parts I
and II), Sartorius ( Widowers' Houses), Solness
(The Master Builder), Lord Ogleby in (The
Clandestine Marriage) and Vanya (Uncle Vanya).
More recently he has played King Lear in Dublin,
Death of a Salesman and Macbeth for Theatre
Clwyd, Brian Phelan's Himself on tour for the Nuffield
Theatre, Southampton, The Rivals at the Chichester
Festival, Mail Order Bride and Getting On at
the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Gloucester in King Lear
at the National Theatre, Falstaff and Solness for English
Touring Theatre, The External on tour, Luther
at the National Theatre and most recently King Lear
at the Old Vic.
Television includes:
Edward VII, Hard Times, Crime and Punishment, Churchill and
the Generals, Brass, The Monocled Mutineer, A Very Peculiar
Practise, The Good Doctor Bodkin Adams, What the Butler Saw,
When we are Married, Breakthrough at Reykjavik, Strife, A
Shadow on the Sun, The Contractor, Blore MP, Beecham, Survival
of the Fittest, Why Lockerbie, Framed, Smokescreen, Eleven Men
Against Eleven, The Place of the Dead, Cuts, King Lear,
Midsomer Murders, Station Jim, Murder in Mind and
Bedtime .
Film includes: Nicholas
and Alexandra, The Day of the Jackal, Oliver Twist, Hedda,
Joseph Andrews, Agatha, Masada, The Thirty Nine Steps, Rough
Cut, Cry Freedom, Ever After, Joan of Arc, Villa des Roses,
The Fourth Angel, Iris and Beyond Borders.
He has taken part in over 500
radio broadcasts and recorded many Talking Books. His own
book, I'm Here I Think, Where Are You, is published
by Coronet and his autobiography, A Moment Towards the End
of the Play by Nick Hern Books.
Timothy is President of the
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and of the Society
for Theatre Research. He holds Honorary Doctorates at four
British universities, and was made CBE in 1984.
Peter Mulloy
Artistic Director
Peter Mulloy re-launched Carl
Rosa Opera in 1997 with a production of La Bohème.
Born in Middlesborough, at
the age of fifteen he created Costume Cavalcade which supplied
and executed scenery and costume to the television, opera and
theatre industry. This led to an invitation by Monty Berman to
design for opera that included Gilbert & Sullivan operetta and
operas such as La Traviata, La Bohème, Otello and
Arabella.
As a director, Peter received
the International Award for Operetta for his production of the
1879 Pirates of Penzance (San Francisco and
Philadelphia) and the Best Director Award at the Waterford
Festival for Iolanthe. For the Buxton G & S Festival,
Peter supervised the restoration of the original 1885 Savoy
Mikado production costumes that were last used in the
1953 film, The Gilbert & Sullivan Story . This led to
Peter being invited to research the original settings and
costumes designs for Mike Leigh's film, Topsy-Turvy.
The Oscar-winning sets and costumes can now be seen in Carl
Rosa's current production of The Mikado. As Artistic
Director for Carl Rosa Opera, Peter has also recreated
Iolanthe, Die Fledermaus and The Pirates of Penzance.
Peter began training as an
actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, where
he received a Diploma in Drama. In 1991 Peter began his vocal
training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, with Neil
Howlett, and continued with his studies at the Royal Northern
College of Music in Manchester.
Notable singing engagements
included: Landjaenning Greig (with John Lill and
Julian Lloyd Webber at the Royal Gala Concert Hall, Barbican);
Beethoven's Symphony No 9 (Paris); Papageno Die
Zauberflöte (Covent Garden Opera Festival); Dancairo
Carmen for British Youth Opera, and for Classical
Productions at Earls Court and on tour; Shaunard in La
Bohème and Baron Zeta in Die Lustige Witwe for
Clonter Opera; Dr Blood and The Herald in Down by the
Greenwood Side (Harrison Birtwistle) and the Teddy Boy in
The Waiter's Revenge (Stephen Oliver), both for the
UK/LA Festival Bing Theatre, Los Angeles); Dulcamara in
L'elisir d'amore (Clonter Opera); Junius in The Rape
of Lucretia for RNCM, the 50th Year Celebration
Production at Snape Maltings Concert Hall.
Peter was a recipient of the
D'Oyly Carte Opera Scholarship and won the Duet Prize in the
ESSO Webster Booth International Singing Competition.
Martin Handley
Conductor
Martin Handley was born in
Oxford, and studied at Cambridge University. He began his
career working for six years in German Opera Houses, joining
the Australian Opera as chorusmaster and conductor in 1981. In
1984 he returned to England to become chorusmaster for English
National Opera, where he spent six years and conducted many
performances, including Rigoletto, Eugene Onegin, the
Mikado, Carmen and Billy Budd.
He left to become freelance
in 1990. As well as symphonic work with the BBC Concert
Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, he has
guest conducted with D'Oyly Carte, Travelling Opera, Central
Festival Opera and Castleward Opera and was principal
conductor for Crystal Clear Opera.
Abroad he has conducted in
Germany, France and the U.S.A, where he led tours for London
City Opera of Die Fledermaus and the Magic Flute.
In 1997, he was appointed
head of music and House conductor at the Royal Opera in
Copenhagen.
He is a guest coach with the
Vilar Young Artists' Programme at the Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden.
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