Ahoy! Pirates of Penzance on the horizon
Starved for theatre?
Pirates of Penzance returns to the Bermuda stage next month.
It’s the first time Gilbert & Sullivan has performed one of its original productions here since 1996. According to director Andrew Lynford, it’s a chance to see broad comedy at its best.
He should know, having worked in British theatre and television for more than 20 years.
“Whether you’re ten or 90 I think you’ll have a good night out,” he said. “It’s a well-written, funny piece of theatre.”
The musical follows Frederic, a 21-year-old forced into piracy by an “accidental apprenticeship”.
Once released, he meets and falls in love with Mabel — only to learn he technically hasn’t fulfilled his side of the bargain.
“Frederic finds out that he was born on February 29, and so, technically, he only has a birthday each leap year and is only five years old by birthday reckoning,” reads the show synopsis. “His apprenticeship indentures state that he remains apprenticed to the pirates until his 21st birthday, and so he must serve for another 63 years as a pirate and return to a ‘life of plunder’.”
Frederic agrees to serve out his sentence; Mabel sends a band of men to destroy the pirates and free her true love. The results are comic.
“It is very funny,” said Mr Lynford. “We’ve done nothing but laugh in rehearsals.
“Gilbert & Sullivan did Pirates of Penzance in 1996, when Mark Hamilton played Frederic the Young, the romantic lead and he’s now playing the Pirate King.”
It’s Mr Lynford’s first time in Bermuda. He joined Pirates of Penzance on the recommendation of its musical director, Philip Shute, who is an old friend.
He’s been impressed with the quality of actors here.
“It’s a few steps above [the typical] amateur production,” he said. “It’s [what I expected] because of the directors that had been here previously. I knew of some of them from home and knew their standards of work. The standard was excellent.
“It’s the one big event of the year for Gilbert & Sullivan. People come through the door and maybe there’s a preconception that Gilbert & Sullivan is all white, middle-class people over the age of 50, but we have lots of young guys who are having a brilliant time. We’ve got a really good mix of people in our cast.”
He’s mainly left the original script intact.
“There is a little Bermuda reference. [The set has been designed] kind of like a Victorian seaside town but it’s ambiguous as to where it is. It starts with a ship landing on a beach and we’ve kept it to the imagination of the audience but there’s no reason why they couldn’t have actually landed in Bermuda.”
Performances run October 9 through 18 at the Earl Cameron Theatre at City Hall. Tickets, $55, are available at www.ptix.bm.
For information visit www.gands.bm or www.facebook.com/gandspiratespenzance2014
He acts, he dances, he writes and yes, he directs.
Fans of the UK’s East- Enders might recognise Andrew Lynford if they watched the show in the late 1990s. His character Simon Raymond’s onscreen kiss with his boyfriend caused controversy back then.
He has since appeared in repertory theatre in the UK and also worked as a writer and director for stage and television there.
Mr Lynford was groomed for it all through his studies at Mountview Theatre School in London, England.
He graduated in 1992 and landed his role in EastEnders at the age of 23.
“It’s hard to imagine now, but at the time the show had [between] 16 million and 18 million viewers per episode,” he said, explaining that the numbers were largely due to the viewing habits of the day.
Few people had then signed on with Sky TV; the vast majority of UK residents watched the handful of free channels that existed.
“So there were about one in three people watching my work,” Mr Lynford recalled. “People were stopping me in the street [and it] gave me a profile.”
By 2004, the actor was constantly on the road, touring with different plays.
“I’d bought a nice flat and never set foot in it,” he said.
A life change was necessary. Mr Lynford decided to focus on other aspects of his industry.
“I was fortunate that by age 34 I’d fulfilled a lot of my ambitions and thought let’s use some of those contacts to venture into directing and writing,” he said. “I directed a show at The Union Theatre in London and did really well and been directing full-time ever since.”
For more information visit andrewlynford.com
