Iolanthe in January 2005

synopsis

The action alternates alternates between the unlikely pairing of The Gilbwarts School of Fairycraft and Wizardry, and The House of Lords.

act one

Twenty-five years ago (our show is set in the present day), Iolanthe, the Mistress of Trips and Measures at Gilbwarts School, committed the capital offence of marrying a muggle1. The Headmistress of Gilbwarts, the Queen of the Fairies, commuted the sentence to exclusion from the school, on condition that Iolanthe left her husband and never saw him again.

Her son, Strephon, has grown up as a farmhand; half fairy, half muggle. Strephon loves Phyllis, who is a Ward of Court and secretary of the local Equestrian Society. She loves Strephon, but is unaware of his half-blood2 status. Meanwhile, the entire House of Lords, including the Lord Chancellor, is in love with Phyllis.

The pupils of Gilbwarts are all unhappy that Iolanthe, their favourite teacher, is no longer at the school. They persuade the Queen to pardon Iolanthe, who has chosen to live out her banishment among the frods in The Secret Swamp (for the rest of her life). The Queen gives in and Iolanthe returns, introducing Strephon to her pupils and colleagues. The Queen agrees to help when Strephon announces that he wishes to marry Phyllis, despite the Lord Chancellor’s refusal.

The Peers from the House of Lords enter, on a shooting excursion in the country. They make an unsuccessful attempt to woo Phyllis, ending in an extravagant musical demonstration by Lord Tolloller. Phyllis declines to marry a peer, announcing her intention to marry Strephon. The Peers spy on Strephon and his (rather too young looking) mother and, with Phyllis, misinterpret the scene leading them to believe Strephon is being unfaithful. Phyllis decides to marry one of two peers, Mountararat or Tolloller.

The fairies take revenge by sending Strephon to Parliament, and casting a spell to make all the peers pass any bills that Strephon chooses, including admission depending on Tony Blair’s nomination rather than status. The peers are terrified, and appeal to the fairies not to carry this out, but they refuse, so all angrily snub each other.

act two

At the opening of the second act Private Willis, a sentry on guard outside the Houses of Parliament, comments on the current political situation. The peers are upset about Strephon’s success in Parliament, and appeal for the fairies to return things to normal. The fairies would like to oblige, as they have fallen in love with the peers themselves, but it is too late to stop Strephon.

Tolloller and Mountararat discover that if either marries Phyllis, then by family tradition, they must duel to the death. Both then renounce Phyllis in the name of friendship. Meanwhile, the Lord Chancellor has had a fairy-induced sleepless night, and eventually decides to marry Phyllis himself. Strephon confesses to Phyllis that he is half a fairy, and they decide to marry as soon as possible. They persuade Iolanthe to appeal to the Lord Chancellor on their behalf, and she does so, using her Invisibility Cloak before revealing her surprising secret so that all can end in implausible rapture!

the making of gilbert and sullivan’s iolanthe

The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company was in its second decade. The company had performed five operettas by Gilbert and Sullivan to great acclaim, including HMS Pinafore which enjoyed a record-breaking opening run at The Opera Comique. The principals, such as Grossmith, Barrington and Bond, had become household names and, most significantly, proprietor Richard D’Oyly Carte had commissioned and built a theatre especially for the works of the company, The Savoy.

Patience, the company’s fifth production, was given the honour of opening the new theatre on October 10th 1881 with the Prince of Wales in attendance and the new electric lighting. It became clear, however, that Patience would not run for more than a few more months so Gilbert turned his mind to a new piece for Carte and the new theatre. The Savoy Theatre had been a huge investment for the company; should the next piece fail, its future would be in serious jeopardy.

Sullivan, however, was less inclined to co-operate having suffered a great personal tragedy. He became very close to Mrs Ronalds, a wealthy American who was considered one of the great beauties of the time. On first sight of Gilbert’s first act, whilst holidaying in Cornwall, Sullivan was not impressed and asked Gilbert to meet him and talk it over. They met at the Half Moon Hotel in Exeter and, after several hours of conversation, came up with an alternative opening act for the new piece.

The authors were worried about pirate companies performing the opera, as they had done in the past, and so sent a company to the States to perform the opening nights simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic. They were also very secretive about the title of the piece. The company knew the show as Perola until the final rehearsal when Iolanthe was substituted (when sung the old lyric had been “Come Perola” to fit the music).

Gilbert knew his cast well by this time and wrote the characters of Iolanthe with performers in mind. The large and demanding role of the Chancellor went to principal comedian George Grossmith, comic baritone Rutland Barrington was given licence to entertain with the pompous Mountararat and Jessie Bond, soubrette and close friend of Gilbert, was given her largest part to date in the title role. Richard Temple was given the role of Strephon. He was an actor with whom Gilbert took issue and in this show, like many others, Temple found his part reduced dramatically throughout the rehearsal period. In this case Strephon’s song “Fold Your Flapping Wings” was cut from Act Two. Temple left the company a few years later after a succession of smaller and smaller roles were allocated to him.

Sullivan, as usual, was very late in scoring the music. It is interesting that the melodies of Iolanthe, considered by many to be his most beautiful, were all written whilst the composer was suffering great sadness at the death of his mother. Sullivan also received bad news from his stockbroker on the morning of the opening night when he heard that his life savings had been lost.

Gilbert (after a nervous night walking round The Strand) and Sullivan (having conducted the performance despite his personal worries) took their curtain calls on opening night together, to a positive response. It was clear, in spite of the problems that the D’Oyle Carte Opera Company was here to stay.