Gilbert and Sullivan get the full Illyria treatment (From Gazette)

Gilbert and Sullivan get the full Illyria treatment

4:00pm Thursday 5th July 2012 in Theatre By Neil D'Arcy-Jones

ACCLAIMED touring theatre company Illyria will be bringing Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore to Colchester next week.

Formed in 1991, the company have been delighting audiences across the UK, as well as in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, the United States and Canada.

They’re best known for their lively approach to Shakespeare’s plays, but in recent years have also started producing family shows, such as Roald Dahl’s the Twits.

Last year they dipped their toe into that classic of British theatre traditions, Gilbert and Sullivan.

Oliver Gray, artistic director and founder of Illyria, says: “Although Gilbert and Sullivan wrote the Savoy Operas with seven or eight principals, a large chorus and a moderate orchestra in mind, for the sake of affordability we tour with a cast of seven actor-singers and one musical director on piano.

“Despite the reduction in scale, not a single word from Gilbert’s libretto is cut, nor a single note or harmony from Sullivan’s score unsung. The works are performed faithfully, in their entirety – and given the full Illyria treatment.

“The subject matter of Gilbert and Sullivan is often romantic and frivolous, the music jolly, and the approach iconoclastic, satirical and extremely tongue-in-cheek. In other words, the perfect material for us.”

HMS Pinafore Minories Garden, Colchester July 11, 7pm. Garden from 6pm £12.50/£9. 01206 712437