When HMS Pinafore premiered in 1878, audiences would have appreciated a particularly topical lampoon skewering the First Lord of the Admiralty, WH Smith, a man who, much like Gilbert’s Sir Joseph Porter, ascended the greasy pole of politics without a shred of nautical experience. Smith’s name lives on in the newsagent chain, while English National Opera’s laugh-out-loud staging looks elsewhere for its targets in an energetic show that takes the idea of the running gag to a whole new level.
Rooted in its original period, Cal McCrystal’s 2021 staging is a homage to the slyly transgressive world of the Victorian music hall which, like love in Gilbert’s libretto, really did “level all ranks”. With additional material by McCrystal and Toby Davies, it also displays a good-natured affection for 1970s British comedy and the Carry On films in particular.
