THE audience’s excitement was tangible before English Touring Opera’s second night at York Theatre Royal and the Olivier Award-winning new production of Benjamin Britten’s Paul Bunyan certainly lived up to expectations.
Premiered in 1941, the operetta depicts the lives of the eponymous American folklore legend and his logging camp inhabitants. Liam Steel’s meticulous direction matches the depth and humour of the material superbly, in scene after scene of joyous ensemble performance.
Chief among many stand-out pieces of comic choreography are the hilarious Stuart Haycock and Piotr Lempa as culinary rivals Sam Sharkey and Ben Benny respectively, and rollicking campfire songs complete with diegetic acoustic guitar accompaniment by Mark Wilde (Balladeer/Johnny Inkslinger).
Often all on stage, the cast are involved constantly in the action – sometimes ambiguously between the world of Bunyan’s logger community and that of the framework Balladeer narrator – complementing the laughs with some moralistic food for thought.
A kaleidoscope of personal trials emerges from this play-within-a-play.
While operatic choral singing has never sounded better, the orchestra excels under Philip Sunderland’s deft baton. A remarkable production by an exceptional company.
- James Whittle
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