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without such ef orts, but right up until the 1980s there were some pretty stale productions.
Amateur societies were even worse, doing copies of the Carte productions, which were already
pale copies. The 1980s' English National Opera's legendary production of
Patience
had the
glorious pairing of Derek Hammond Stroud and Sandra Dugdale as Bunthorne and Patience.
This ignored any traditional stage directions and totally rethought it as a piece of living theatr
It was a dazzling production, lavish, fresh, hysterically funny and imaginatively staged, with
music and words treated with real respect. Gilbert's words had resonances that had been
lost through years of dusty touring productions. I can't believe that Gilbert, such a theatrical
innovator in his time, would have been happy for his productions to stand still. I'm sure he
would have whole-heartedly embraced new staging techniques and ideas (as long as they
were his!). This lively production made me listen to the words afresh and marvel at just how
sophisticated the lyrics are. There is no doubt that the words marry with the music so well,
and naturally this collaboration has had a huge inl uence on music ever since. Rodgers and
Hammerstein echoed the successful partnership, and George Stiles and Anthony Drewe look
like carrying on that tradition, but other cases where the words have been so in tune with the
music have often been penned by individuals, such as Cole Porter and Stephen Sondheim.
This idea of a creative partnership led me to think about how Mr Gilbert and Mr Sullivan are
believed to have been cold with each other: professional but cold. It struck me as an unlikely
relationship, but I have been in similar professional relationships. Complicating matters with
Gilbert and Sullivan was D'Oyly Carte keeping them together, somewhat against their will, but
promising them success and wealth, and even building them a theatre for their operas.
A contemporary illustration of Gilbert and Sullivan.
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