Whilst I am not terribly surprised that Utopia, Limited, did not enjoy a single, professional performance during the entirety of the 20th century, Scottish Opera’s act of resurrection is a singularly noble, and highly gratifying undertaking.
📍 Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
📅 5 Nov 2021 7.15pm
🕖 7.15pm
🕖 Running time: 2 hours 40 minutes (includes a 20 min. interval)
👥 Composer: Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan
👥 Libretto: Sir William Schwenck Gilbert
👥 Designer: Dick Bird
👥 Director: Stuart Maunder
👥 Conductor: Derek Clark
💰 From £13.50
🎭 Capital Theatres aim to be accessible to all.
Gilbert & Sullivan’s vision of Utopia
Utopia, Limited; or, The Flowers of Progress, was the penultimate opera to spill forth from the philosophically disparate minds of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. A forthright political satire, this particular farce takes place on an antipodean idyll, an island by name of Utopia. Current ruler of Utopia, King Paramount (Ben McAteer), lives beneath the thumb of his two Advisers, Scaphio (Richard Stuart) and Phantis (Arthur Bruce), billed as the smartest men in the kingdom. Such is their undisclosed leverage, that the King has been forced to write anonymous, scandalous articles about himself in the local newspaper.
When not attending to their vituperous demands, the King pursues his own ambitions for Utopia, an ardent admiration for all things English prompting him to pursue an anglicized future for his subjects. To this end he employs an English governess, Lady Sophy (Yvonne Howard), to school his two youngest daughters, Nekaya (Catriona Hewitson) and Kalyba (Sioned Gwen Davies), who he intends to act as models of gentility for the populous.
His eldest child, Princess Zara (Ellie Laugharne), soon joins this project, returning from an education at Cambridge, not alone, but accompanied by one Captain Fitzbattleaxe (William Morgan), and five other Flowers of Progress, gentlemen who represent the qualities which have made England the greatest of all nations. Following Zara’s advice, and with the aid of these “flowers,” the King declares his nation a Limited company, assured it is the “English” thing to do.
A power struggle ensues twixt Advisers and King, now chairman of the national board, all set against the backdrop of a most absurd social experiment, and its inevitably bizarre consequences.
A slightly disjointed narrative
Utopia, Limited was a modest success on its first staging, in 1893, receiving mixed reviews, ranging from the highest of admiration, to the greatest of confusion. Subplots in this play appear and vanish without warning. No romance, or scheme is safe from either abrupt disposal, or impromptu birth. The first act is rather long, the second notably shorter, and there is a distinct feeling of imbalance to proceedings in general.
All that said, the libretto has some fine qualities, not least its satirical, and still humorous takes on national exceptionalism, capitalism, and social proprieties. The score is delightful, and not short of memorable numbers, and glorious soundscapes.
Scottish Opera assemble a fine cast
Act 1 opened with a fabulously lilting performance from the Chorus, singing “In lazy languor, motionless”, immediately transporting the Edinburgh audience to a dreamier vision of the South Pacific than musical composed 56 years later. Tenor, William Morgan was in fine form throughout, and deserved every second of the roaring applause lavished upon his masterful rendition of “A tenor, all singers above.” Ben McAteer and the Flowers (if you ever need a band name, Ben, feel free), take kudos for the best set piece in the whole show, with “Society has quite forsaken,” a tambourine embellished joy of silly song, which nonetheless skewers the concept of English/Western superiority.
Though a semi-staged production, there remained a more than adequate attention to both movement, and scene setting on stage. If the constumery was minimal, the characters remained larger than life. Very seldomly, one could detect a slightly flubbed line, and perhaps a touch of nerves. The cast’s rehearsal period must naturally have been dominated by the marquee production of The Gondoliers. Nonetheless, director Stuart Maunder most certainly elicited a most enjoyable, and rather dynamic production. One suspects the “judicious pruning” to which he subjected the original work has provided, Utopia, Limited, with greater pace, and momentum.
Thanks for the memories
Finally, I would like to thank Scottish Opera for providing the opportunity to see the show on stage. There was a particular delight to watching a Gilbert & Sullivan opera, of which I had no knowledge, and thus could not anticipate. Being able to enjoy the show, just a little as that first night audience did so many years ago, is wonderful. Whilst I am not terribly surprised that Utopia, Limited, did not enjoy a single, professional performance during the entirety of the 20th century, Scottish Opera’s act of resurrection is a singularly noble, and gratifying undertaking.
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Actually Utopia did receive some professional performances in the 20th century, although admittedly few. It was toured by D’Oyly Carte’s company until from 1893-1900 in the UK (unlike Ruddigore which had been shelved fairly shortly after its initial production in 1887) but had to wait until 1975 and 1976 before they performed it again in the UK. It was performed professionally in the early 20th century in South Africa and Australia and certainly by some professional companies in the US from the 1950s onwards.
I should have qualified that statement to say no performance in Scotland for that period. I shall edit to reflect this lacuna! Many thanks!