DAUNTLESS DICK DEADEYE
A New Version of HMS Pinafore

The Sunday Times
Robert Hewison
July 31, 2005
HMS Pinafore
The Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, London

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Gilbert and Sullivan are so deeply stained into the fabric of Britain's heritage that you will know the tunes and work out the ending without having seen this 1878 naval satire before. Which is why the director, Ian Talbot, was right to choose Herbert Appleman's version rather than the Savoy Opera origional. As an American, Appleman sees the humour in a class-ridden English navy overtaken by political correctness enforced by a desk-bound bureaucrat: Desmond Barrit, looking like a cross between George III and Edward Heath. The inflation of Gary Wilmot's part as able seaman Dick Deadeye into that of hostile commentator on the action brings out Gilbert's satire on long-lost operetta conventions, beautifully guyed in Sullivan's music. Encouraged to view Victorian values through the lens of postmodern irony, we are set free to enjoy the evening for what it is: a glorious romp involving jolly jack tars and bouncing soubrettes, with Scarlett Strallen giving her all as the Captain's daughter, and Simon Thomas as a sweet tenor who luckily discovers he was born above his boat station after all. RH