Gilbert & Sullivan - Patience / Douglas, Olsen, Warlow, Australian Opera
In this production, Opera Australia meets and brilliantly overcomes a special kind of challenge--what we might call historically informed comedy.Patienceraises problems different from and harder to negotiate than inThe Mikado,H.M.S. Pinafore, orPirates of Penzance. Those works get most of their laughs from universal human foibles or ridiculous plot twists; they have a validity as deep and permanent as human stupidity.The comedy inPatienceis closely linked to a particular time and place,  specifically the antiquarian fads and fashions of Victorian England, with  characters striking Pre-Raphaelite poses and the hero pursuing the heroine with what he calls "a Florentine 14th-century frenzy." For a modern production,  the designer and stage director must establish awareness of these absurdities to  make people laugh at them. This is accomplished in a performance as effective  visually as it is musically--Gilbert & Sullivan caviar.--Joe McLellan