Review: Trial By Jury / A Matter of Misconduct

With its latest double bill, Scottish Opera offers a study in contrast and continuity: the enduring power of satire, from the gleefully anarchic world of Gilbert and Sullivan to the all-too-familiar farce of contemporary British politics. “Trial by Jury”, given a zany reboot as a reality courtroom TV show, shares the stage with the premiere of “A Matter of Misconduct!”, a new one-act operetta by Emma Jenkins and composer Toby Hession. One lampoons Victorian justice; the other drags modern political duplicity into the operatic spotlight. Together, they argue that farce may be the one constant in public life.

Legal Lunacy: Reinventing Trial by Jury

Trial by Jury, amongst the most modest of G&S’s works, is here a technicolour beast. Director John Savournin and designer takis conjure a pastel-and-glitter television spectacle, complete with screeching studio lights and knowingly trashy staging. The court is no longer a symbol of British probity but a warped entertainment spectacle where legal process is theatre and justice is, appropriately, a punchline. It is not a subtle take, but then again, neither are the source materials or the genre. The comedy is broad, but rarely slack, and never mean-spirited. It owes much to the crispness of movement and blocking, as well as to the cast’s commitment to high camp.

That said, the visual excess occasionally verges on the exhausting. The perpetual brightness and movement, while energetic, can undermine the musical pacing, with some of the patter and wordplay drowns in spectacle. There is also a tension between the piece’s Victorian text and the modern conceit that is not always convincingly resolved, particularly in moments of narrative transition.

Nevertheless, G&S stalwart Richard Suart’s Learned Judge leads with a vaudevillian smirk, relishing the absurdity of his role. His delivery, peppered with knowing glances and sardonic emphasis, feels effortless but never disengaged. Kira Kaplan, as Angelina, plays the wronged bride with operatic intensity that underlines the absurdity of her plight, while Jamie MacDougall’s Defendant leans into sleaze with a kind of polished abandon. The ensemble-drawn from Scottish Opera’s young artists programme-brings impeccable timing and a collective wit to the proceedings.

Nevertheless, G&S stalwart Richard Suart’s Learned Judge leads with a vaudevillian smirk, relishing the absurdity of his role. His delivery, peppered with knowing glances and sardonic emphasis, feels effortless but never disengaged.

From Scandal to Satire: The World Premiere of A Matter of Misconduct!

A Matter of Misconduct! is a more daring proposition. It relocates us to the media briefing room of Downing Street, where Roger Penistone (Ross Cumming), a hapless politician under investigation, attempts to deflect, dodge and discredit. If “Trial by Jury” is a send-up of justice, “Misconduct” takes aim at power itself-and the production does not shy from its targets. In a world where political scandal breaks weekly and public trust sinks by the hour, Jenkins and Hession craft a new operetta that feels both tragically absurd and familiarly cynical.

Trial by Jury and A Matter of Misconduct in action © **Mihaela Bodlovic**

The tone is sharper, darker, and altogether more complicated. While “Trial” is designed to elicit laughter, “Misconduct” invites it with a wince. This tonal shift is mostly successful, though there are moments where the weight of topicality flattens the musical buoyancy. A few scenes risk didacticism, where satire veers toward skit, and the libretto momentarily loses its lyricism in favour of exposition.

Much of the production’s strength lies in performance. Ross Cumming gives a solid comic performance as Penistone, hitting the right mixture of arrogance and fragility. As Cherry, his hapless influener wife, Chloe Harris delivers moments of unexpected pathos, giving the production emotional ballast. Kira Kaplan returns to dominate proceedings, however, as the formidable Sylvia Lawless, a hybrid of ruthless political advisor and journalistic conscience, and it is in her duet with Penistone that the piece reaches its most biting musical and dramatic moments.

Kudos are also due to the returning MacDougall, who channels a PG-version of Malcolm Tucker as Penistone’s exasperated SPAD.

Music, Direction, and Design: Operetta with Teeth

Hession’s score is light-footed and elastic, moving between Gilbertian patter and a more lyrical modern idiom with ease. The instrumentation is tight and responsive, under Hession’s own baton, and the writing for ensemble is especially strong. Still, some of the harmonic material, particularly in transitional scenes, feels underdeveloped—more functional than inspired. There’s a sense that the music, like the politics it satirises, occasionally settles for expediency.

If “Trial by Jury” revels in artifice, “A Matter of Misconduct!” thrives on uncomfortable proximity. The audience is not only asked to laugh but to recognise; not only to enjoy, but to reflect. The production draws strength from the friction between these pieces, inviting us to see satire not as escape but as confrontation.

Takis’ design work continues to shine in the second half. The press room setting, complete with spinning lecterns and dead-eyed staffers clutching briefing folders, grounds the action in a space recognisable enough to unsettle. Costuming echoes the pinched, soulless aesthetic of modern political media, creating visual continuity with the opera’s thematic chill.

Hession’s score is light-footed and elastic, moving between Gilbertian patter and a more lyrical modern idiom with ease. The instrumentation is tight and responsive, under Hession’s own baton, and the writing for ensemble is especially strong.

Conclusion: Satire in Harmony

Scottish Opera deserves kudos for programming new work alongside familiar repertoire, and for doing so with such cohesion of style and tone. This is operetta, not only for the nostalgic, but for the now. By yoking Victorian satire to post-Brexit political theatre, the company reminds us that power remains inherently performative, and therefore always ripe for ridicule.

In a cultural climate where farce often overtakes policy and scandal passes for personality, Trial by Jury and A Matter of Misconduct! feel less like diversions and more like acts of civic commentary. Scottish Opera, to its credit, delivers both with irreverence and insight.

Featured Image: Kira Kaplan (Sylvia Lawless) in A Matter of Misconduct! Credit Mihaela Bodlovic.