Richard Trinder, Managing Editor

Ruddigore. Remarkably Silly And Remarkably Delightful

Henry Waddington as Old Adam Goodheart and Dominic Sedgwick as Robin Oakapple. All photos by Richard H Smith
Henry Waddington as Old Adam Goodheart and Dominic Sedgwick as Robin Oakapple. All photos by Richard H Smith
The light and lyrical operettas of Arthur Sullivan and William Schwenck Gilbert are so well known, and so enduringly popular that it's hard to know what any further performance could add to the canon. Opera North take on this challenge with Ruddigore, the tenth creation of the famously fractious G&S partnership that immediately followed their hugely popular The Mikado in January 1887.

It was not well received.

However after a few tweaks here and there and a name change from Ruddygore to Ruddigore (the former name apparently offended Victorian sensibilities) it became widely loved and eventually a commercial success.

Xavier Hetherington as Richard Dauntless with the always excellent John Savournin as Sir Despard Murgatroyd
Xavier Hetherington as Richard Dauntless with the always excellent John Savournin as Sir Despard Murgatroyd
Ruddigore tells the tale of the Murgatroyd family and a witch's curse that condemns the head of the family to commit a crime daily or die an agonising death. To avoid his heinous inheritance, the current head of this one man crime syndicate disguises himself as a farmer called Robin Oakapple. All would be well for Robin but he just has to go and fall in love with local beauty, Rose Maybud, and from that moment on it's all downhill. Robin's true identity is uncovered, Robin's brother returns from 10 years at sea and falls in love with Rosebud himself, Rose refuses to marry a Murgatroyd, and so on...

There is an amusing local rumour that the Murgatroyds are based on the family of the same name at East Riddlesden Hall, West Yorkshire.Despite its slightly gruesome theme, Ruddigore is a witty bouncing romp through the English class system filled with hummable tunes and amusing lyrics. Any production of Ruddigore is greatly helped by subtitles/supertitles as the dialogue is extremely fast. Unfortunately, this does mean reading rather than watching, which is a shame as the character acting on stage is rather well done.

Ruddigore provides a fine platform to show off the talents of the chorus. Apart from singing beautifully, they can ham-it-up with the best of them.

Dominic Sedgwick as Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd (seated) with members of the Chorus of Opera North as the ghosts of Ruddigore
Dominic Sedgwick as Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd (seated) with members of the Chorus of Opera North as the ghosts of Ruddigore
Henry Waddington is quite the character actor and plays Old Adam Goodheart, the faithful retainer to Robin Oakapple (Dominic Sedgwick) making a very watchable comedy double act. Rose Maybud (Amy Freston) takes on the challenging task of sounding present whilst standing next to a brace of belting basses and does so with an assured performance and a precocious twinkle.

Another entertaining comedy duo: Helen Évora as Mad Margaret and John Savournin as Sir Despard Murgatroyd
Another entertaining comedy duo: Helen Évora as Mad Margaret and John Savournin as Sir Despard Murgatroyd
Richard Dauntless (Xavier Hetherington) is Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd's long-missing brother and love rival. This is a lovely little rôle and Hetherington makes an excellent job of it, providing just enough comedy to keep us entertained, but not enough to make us sorry when he loses Rosebud to his brother.

Dominic Sedgwick as Robin Oakapple and Amy Freston as Rose Maybud
Dominic Sedgwick as Robin Oakapple and Amy Freston as Rose Maybud
A cracking set in the second half shows the interior of the Murgatroyds gaff. It's the backdrop for a well known scene where the ghosts of the ancestors come out of their paintings to remind Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd of his obligation to commit an crime every day.

Although this production is a revival of an earlier work by Opera North it has been given a breath of fresh air with a largely new cast and is well worth a look. And a couple of extra lines added by Richard Stilgoe add a modern political and highly amusing punch to proceedings.

The production runs in Leeds until Saturday 2 November before touring to Newcastle, Salford and Nottingham, alongside revivals of Mozart's The Magic Flute and Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

More details can be found here.