Programme
WARNING SPOILER!!! - Click here for Short Synopsis (Teaser)
ACT I
The Cornish village of Rederring is unique in possessing the only full-time troupe of professional bridesmaids, on duty every day from ten to four. They have come to call on Rose Maybud, the beauty of the village who is still in bed, sleeping (Fair is Rose as bright May-day). Zorah, the leader of the bridesmaids, complains that it has been over six months since the last wedding in the village and the ladies are concerned at their loss of income during this period of unemployment (Every Day as the Days Roll On). Rose awakes and dresses. She is the most elligible single girl, but she was a foundling and sets hers standards according to a book of etiquette that was found with her. All the young men of the village are too much in awe of her beauty to approach her, whilst her book of etiquette forbids her from making the first approach. The bridesmaids turn instead to Dame Hannah, saying she is still young enough to marry and suggesting a suitor. But Hannah reveals that she once was in love with a young man to who she was engaged to be married. But on their wedding day she discovered that her fiancee had deceived her as to his true identity, and was in fact Sir Roderic Murgatroyd, latest of the bad Baronets of Ruddigore. She relates the story of how, long ago, an earlier baronet, Sir Rupert Murgatroyd had devoted his time to hunting witches until one of his victims laid a terrible curse on him - that he and all his line must commit one grievous crime every day or die in agony. As part of that cursed line, Roderic was no husband for an honest girl, and madly as she loved him she left him there and then. Hannah rebukes Rose for not choosing a young man to marry, but Rose, consulting her book finds objections to every argument (If Somebody There Chanced to Be).
Later, in the village, Rose encounters Robin Oakapple, a young farmer with whom she is secretly in love. Robin loves Rose also, but is too shy to tell her so. Unable to express their true feelings, they each try to enlist the other's aid in advising a 'friend' (I Know a Youth Who Loves a Little Maid [duet]). The issue unresolved, Rose departs and Old Adam, Robins faithful servant, arrives - addressing him as Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd. Robin admonishes him not to use that name. Robin is indeed Sir Ruthven, but on inheriting the title he fled the village - leaving it to his brother Despard who beleives him to be dead. Adam informs Robin that his foster-brother, Richard, has returned from years at sea.
At the harbour, Richard has indeed returned and is welcomed home by the troupe of bridesmaids (From the Briny Sea). Robin arrives to greet Richard and tells him how much he envies his self-confidence and suffers from his own shyness (My Boy, You May Take it From Me). Robin asks Richard to approach Rose on his behalf and Richard readily agrees. Robin leaves as Rose arrives, but Richard is so smitten by her beauty he soon overlooks his promise to Robin and proposes to her on his own account. This time Rose is able to interpret the rules of her little book positively and agrees to become engaged (If Well His Suit has Sped). Robin reappears and asks Richard if all has gone well. Richard tells him she has said "yes," but before he can explain further Robin rushes over to Rose and embraces her. Rose is apalled and Richard quickly explains that it is himself that she has agreed to marry. Disappointed, Robin says that Richard is his friend and he will stick by him, but manages to sway Rose by describing the less favourable aspects of a sailor's life (In Sailing o'er Life's Ocean Wide [trio]). She switches her affections back to Robin and agrees to marry him instead.
All leave and a lonely hooded figure arrives. It is Mad Margaret, who has been driven to the edge of sanity by Despard's cruel treatment of her (Cheerily Carols the Lark Over the Cot). She has come in search of Rose, acutely jealous after hearing that Despard plans to carry her off as one of his daily crimes (To a Garden Full of Posies). Rose arrives to find Margaret trying and tries to comfort her. Not knowing who she is speaking to, Margaret confesses that she loves Despard and wants to kill a certain maiden named Rose Maybud who has stolen his heart. Horrified, Rose reveals who she is but assures Margaret she has no designs on Despard - she is engaged to another.
Meanwhile, in the Village square, a group of gentlemen arrive by train from the City, welcomed by the bridesmaids (Welcome Gentry [bridesmaids] / When Thoroughly Tired [gentry] / The Sons of the Tillage [bridesmaids]). But in the midst of this celebration, the evil Sir Despard appears and terrifies the villagers. Secretly, however, he despairs at being forced to do bad when he is good at heart (Oh, Why amI Moody and Sad?"). The bridesmaids and bucks and blades all leave, and Richard seeks Despard's advice on whether he should tell him (Despard) that his brother, the true baronet is still alive (You Understand?). Despard assures him he should.
At the church, everyone is gathering for the wedding of Robin and Rose (Hail the Bride [bridesmaids] / Hail the Groom [gentry]). The celebrations are in full swing (When the Buds are Blossoming) when Despard suddenly arises from the back of the church and claims Robin as his missing brother. Robin, being an honourable type, cannot deny it and admits he is the true baronet (As Pure and Blameless Peasant). Richard admits to betraying Robin (Within This Breast There Beats a Heart) and Rose forthwith rejects him (Farewell!), offering herself instead to Despard. But Despard, now that he is a virtuous man again, declares that he must keep his vow to Margaret who is overjoyed at his change of heart. Rose, meanwhile, returns her troth to Richard since he is the only one left (Oh, Happy the Lily When Kissed by the Bee).
ACT II
Inside the walls of Ruddigore castle, Robin has seemingly transformed into the bad baronet, Sir Ruthven, that is his destiny and, with the aid of his servant, Adam, is trying to think up some daily crimes to commit (I Once Was as Meek as a New-born Lamb). Rose and Richard are due to arrive shortly since they need the approval of the baronet for their wedding to proceed, and Adam suggests he could poison their beer. Sir Ruthven (Robin) declares he is not that bad a baronet and proposed instead to curdle Richard's blood by making hideous faces at him - which Adam dismisses as merely rude! Rose and Richard arrive, accompanied by the bridesmaids, asking for permission to marry (Happily Coupled are We You See) and Sir Ruthven threatens to imprison them instead. But Richard pulls out a Union Jack flag and claims the protection of it's authority. Rose tries a gentler approach and plays on his conscience to gain the necessary consent (In Bygone Days I Had Thy Love). Sir Ruthven yeilds, and they all leave.
Sir Ruthven is not taking easily to his new like of wrongdoing, for which he is much too good-natured. Then the lights go out, the windows fly open, and the ghosts of his ancestors, who are charged with ensuring that the terms of the curse are upheld, emerge from their portraits hung on the walls (Painted Emblems of a Race) and reprimand him for taking the 'job' seriously, having only committed a few very minor misdemeanours. Sir Roderic warns Sir Ruthven of the consequences if he does start committing some serious crimes (When the Night Wind Howls). He suggests carrying off a Lady, and on a vote the rest of the ancestors agree. Sir Ruthven refuses, since he respects ladies, but after being subjected to a sample of the torture that awaits him reluctantly agrees. The ancestors celebrate their victory (He Yeilds!) and return to their frames.
Sir Ruthven then dispatches Adam to go and carry off a lady, any lady, and bring her back to the castle. Adam departs and Sir Ruthven follows him out of the room. Moments later, the window opens and Mad Margaret climbs in, followed by Despard. They are now married and very respectable and Margaret is immaculately dressed as a stylish lady. Their old lives have been left far behind them (I Once Was a Very Abandoned Person). Margaret is still prone, however, to outbursts of madness and to manage these they agree upon a special control word, "Basingstoke." They have come to try to dissuade Sir Ruthven from pursuing a life of crime. Sir Ruthven returns and declares that he has led a blameless life, but Despard reminds him that since he was the true Baronet, he is responsible for all the crimes that were committed by the baronet (ie. Despard himself) over the last ten years. Sir Ruthven cannot avoid this logic and has to agree he has led a pretty awful life (My Eyes are Fully Open to My Awful Situation).
Sir Ruthven resolves to defy the curse and accept his fate and Despard and Margaret leave. But then Adam returns carrying a struggling bundle - the lady Sir Ruthven sent him to carry off. When she is released from the cloak Adam had wrapped her it, it turns out to be a very angry Dame Hannah. Sir Ruthven attempts to explain it was an error but she snatches a revolver from the desk and shoots at him as he cowers behind a chair. Sir Ruthven calls to his ancestors for aid and Sir Roderic returns. When he sees it is Hannah, his former betrothed, he is taken aback and very angry with Sir Ruthven for kidnapping her. Hannah is shocked too, at seeing the ghost of her former beloved whom she has never forgotten (There Grew a Little Flower).
The villagers all arrive and Sir Ruthven reveals he has had a brilliant idea to break the curse. He reasons that, since it is certain death to defy the curse, then defying it is, in effect, an act of suicide, and since suicide itself is a crime, then to not commit a crime is a crime in itself. Furthermore, Sir Roderic should never have died and, as such, is practically alive. Rose agrees that, as a good baronet, she can now marry him instead of Richard, who has already set his cap at Zorah. Roderic and Hannah are re-united and all ends happily (Oh, Happy the Lily When Kissed by the Bee).
Ruddigore is one of Gilbert and Sullivan's lesser known, and certainly least frequently performed works, but on the strength of this showing from Opera North it is difficult to understand why. Okay, it may not match the colour and whimsy of The Mikado, the sheer musicality of Pinafore or Iolanthe, or the derring-do of Pirates of Penzance - but Ruddigore, in my opinion, is one of their funniest operettas and for that reason alone deserves more recognition than it is generally awarded. Gilbert is on top form playing all kinds of word games with his lyrics - take Rose's opening ballad:
If somebody there chanced to be, who loved me in a manner true,
My heart would point him out to me, and I would point him out to you.
(then referring to her little book)
But here it says of those who point, their manners must be out of joint,
You may not point, you must not point, it's manners out of point to point!
Sublime! Later he even pokes fun at his own lyric writing, ending one of his trademark rapidly sung tongue-twisters:
This particularly rapid, unintelligible patter,
Isn't generally heard, and, if it is, it doesn't matter.
If it is it doesn't matter. If it is it doesn't matter.
If it is it doesn't matter, matter, matter, matter, matter!
Of course Gilbert's lyrics were filled with topical references to affairs and events of his time and these have been cleverly and wittily replaced with similar references that are more easily recogniseable to a modern audience. Thus we have allusions, among other things, to a floating duck-house and porn videos charged to expenses. This Ruddigore also rethinks the setting, combining some of the locations to simplify the staging whilst the historical setting seems to be a bit ambivalent. Sir Roderic, for example, is very much First World War vintage (an event which didn't occur until almost thirty years after the operetta had been written), whilst sea-faring Richard seems to have been left behind in the original Napoleonic era setting. But then Gilbert himself was never exactly a pedant when it came to his timelines, his stories were fantasies after all, and it all adds colour and incidental interest to the proceedings so that it works quite well.
The sets for the first act, most of which takes place in Rose's bedroom or at the harbour, are fairly simplistic, but when the curtain rises on the second act there is a definite wow-factor as we gaze into a magnificent stately room inside Ruddigore Castle, the walls of which are fully lined with portraits of Ruddigore ancestors. And it gets even better when those portraits come to life and emerge from their frames.
The cast, as usual, is top notch, although not always best served by the sound department. Rebecca Moon, standing in for the originally billed Amy Freston as Rose Maybud, has a glorious voice which, whilst it lacked a little in volume (cue sound department) was clear and mellifluous and a pleasure to listen to. Her Rosebud, devoted to her little book of etiquette, is in fact every inch the "bright little, tight little, slight little, light little, trim little, prim little craft!" Grant Doyle and Richard Burkhard are excellently cast and revel in their roles as the brothers Murgatroyd. Both sing well, and excellently capture the underlying personalities of their characters, Grant the reticent naivety of Robin/Ruthven, and Richard the slyly suave Despard. Hal Cazelet was first rate as the confidently charismatic Richard and Steven Page's deep bass singing as Sir Roderic in the second act provided one of the stand-out moments. Heather Shipp as the wild-eyed Mad Margaret, meanwhile, was a sheer delight. She clearly has great fun in the role, and the scene in the second act where Despard controls her outbursts with the code-word "Basingtoke" is hilarious. The chorus of white gowned bridesmaids are equally delightful.
With top class singing, spirited dancing, wonderful comic characterisations and impressive sets and costumes, this was a highly polished production - sheer operetta heaven in fact, and thoroughly deserving of the extended applause given to it at the end.
Brilliant staging and performances. A real treat for any fans of Gilbert and Sullivan.
Don Gillan - www.stagebeauty.net
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