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and Arthur Sullivan's THE ZOO M4 Theatre Company Barrington Theatre Ferndown July 2002 Neither piece is well known, yet both are absolute gems – and the combined talents of Poole and Parkstone Musical Theatre Society, guests from other companies and superb direction from Pat Donovan made for an outstanding entertainment that deserved a far longer run that the three days allotted to it. Terence Rattigan’s Harlequinade is a delightful farce about an ageing actor/manager and his wife touring and playing the leads in Romeo and Juliet. Well cast throughout, there were show-stealing performances from a doublet-and-hose clad Don Gent as a wonderfully “luvvie” Arthur Gosport and Shirley Kennard as his elderly Aunt Maud. Arthur Sullivan’s “musical folly”, The Zoo, was written before his association with W S Gilbert but featured snippets of music that would later become familiar in the Savoy Operas. Set in London’s Zoological Gardens, it proved to be a lovely half-hour romp with a sparkling chorus and excellent principals, not least John Ponting ( Aesculapius Carboy), Ian Reynolds (Thomas Brown) and Clare Albanozzo (Eliza Smith). I’d love to watch the evening all over again. Any chance? Linda Kirkman Courtesy of the Bournemouth Daily Echo |
