Brilliant reinvention & razor sharp take-down: Scottish Opera's double-bill pairs Gilbert & Sullivan with Toby Hession's brand new comedy at Opera Holland Park

Gilbert & Sullivan: Trial by Jury - Jamie MacDougall - Scottish Opera (Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic)

Gilbert & Sullivan: Trial by Jury, Toby Hession & Emma Jenkins: A Matter of Misconduct; Richard Suart, Jamie MacDougall, Kira Kaplan, , Chloe Harris Ross Cumming, Edward Jowle, directors: John Savournin & Laura Attridge, Scottish Opera, conductor: Toby Hession; Opera Holland Park
Reviewed 24 June 2025

A brilliant reinvention of Gilbert & Sullivan's legal satire as 1980s reality show, plus a brand new operetta that featured a razor-sharp take down of contemporary politics.

Having given us John Savournin's somewhat disappointing reinvention of Lehar's The Merry Widow [see my review], Scottish Opera completed its residency at Opera Holland Park with a double bill featuring Savournin's brilliant updating of Gilbert & Sullivan's Trial by Jury alongside a new commission, Toby Hession's A Matter of Misconduct with a razor-sharp libretto by Emma Jenkins and a cast featuring four Scottish Opera Emerging Artists.

On 24 June 2025 at Opera Holland Park, Toby Hession conducted Scottish Opera forces in Gilbert & Sullivan's Trial by Jury and Hession & Emma Jenkins' A Matter of Misconduct, with both operas designed by takis.

John Savournin directed Trial by Jury with Richard Suart as the judge, Jamie MacDougall as the Defendant, Kira Kaplan as the Plaintiff, Chloe Harris as Counsel for the Plaintiff, Ross Cumming as Foreman of the Jury, Amy J Payne as First Bridesmaid and Edward Jowle as the Usher.

Laura Attridge directed A Matter of Misconduct with Ross Cumming as Roger Penistone, Deputy Prime Minister, Edward Jowle as press secretary Hugo Cheeseman, Jamie MacDougall as special advisor Sandy Hogg, Chlose Harris as Cherry Penistone and Kira Kaplan as Sylvia Lawless.

Toby Hession & Emma Jenkins: A Matter of Misconduct! - Ross Cumming, Chloe Harris, Kira Kaplan, Edward Jowle, Jamie MacDougall - Scottish Opera (Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic)

Savournin had reinvented Trial by Jury as a 1980s reality TV show and it was a bit scary quite how well it worked. Gilbert & Sullivan's rancid fantasies becoming a sort of reality with the extremely partial jury, the showboating judge (Richard Suart), the professional bridesmaids, the plaintiff who appears in her wedding dress (Kira Kaplan), the defendant who is hated on sight but who reveals himself to be a two-timing cad anyway (Jamie MacDougall). Chloe Harris was a highly effective Counsel for the Plaintiff with Ross Cumming as the very smitten Foreman of the Jury. Edward Jowle made fine work of the Usher, now charged with making the TV show work, and sometimes fighting a losing battle against a highly active jury/TV audience.

Trial by Jury can sometimes disappoint because the satire feels cosy rather than pointed, but that was not the case here. Under Hession's fine direction the work zipped along, yet Savournin made sure the barbs all told well. It helped that the cast were all excellent. Perhaps Richard Suart's judge was more mannerism than voice, but his way with Gilbert's words was still masterly and the other cast all brought out the words well. Trial by Jury can only ever be an appetiser, but at least this time it was a very satisfying one.

Gilbert & Sullivan: Trial by Jury - Kira Kaplan - Scottish Opera (Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic)

Toby Hession is a former Scottish Opera Emerging Artist and is now on the company's music staff. A Matter of Misconduct is his third opera for the company, he and Emma Jenkins having written short opera scenes for the company's Opera Highlights tours. Jenkins is an experienced librettist, and her credits include Ian Bell's somewhat disappointing In Parenthesis [see my review from 2016] and the rip-roaring fun of Elena Langer's Rhondda Rips it Up! [see my review from 2018], and more recently David Hackbridge Johnson's Blaze of Glory, all three for Welsh National Opera, as well as Ian Bell's The Women of Whitechapel for ENO [see our review from 2019].

Jenkins libretto for A Matter of Misconduct comes over as a combination of Yes, Minister and The Thick of It, as a foul-tongued government special advisor, Sandy Hogg (Jamie MacDougall), handles a 'shit-storm' of misconduct and corruption created by Deputy Prime Minister, Roger Penistone (Ross Cumming) and his wife Cherry (Chloe Harris), which has been badly handled by a hapless press secretary, Hugo Cheesman (Edward Jowle). Lawyer, Sylvia Lawless (Kira Kaplan) is brought in to handle matters.

Whilst all the characters are well drawn, in Sandy Hogg and Sylvia Lawless, Hession and Jenkins created two extremely memorable ones, with a deft combination of words and music. That was the virtue of this piece, it felt like a genuine opera rather than a play sung with music. Hession's style is tonal with effective orchestrations and lively, busy harmony. He can write tunes, but he does not dumb down and has a knack of putting on styles without the final work feeling like pastiche. You sense that Hession has not yet quite fully demonstrated his personal style, but this full-length work was a fine stepping stone.

Toby Hession & Emma Jenkins: A Matter of Misconduct! - Ross Cumming, Chloe Harris - Scottish Opera (Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic)

The work opened with Kira Kaplan addressing us directly, explaining her role in clearly up shit but doing so with loving attention to words combined with gorgeous melisma, this Sylvia Lawless was seductive and fearsome. Along the way we had a hilarious campaign video for Penistone, but it was when the scandal hit that things got fun. Jamie MacDougall had a virtuoso solo where he lambasted the Deputy Prime Minister and his wife for their idiocy, as well as the press secretary for not handling it. This Sandy Hogg was hilariously foul mouthed, with Jenkins finding him many memorable phrases and rhymes. Hession's music took second place here, but was effective nonetheless.

As Cherry, Chloe Harris got a wonderfully sleazy jazz number as she describes the way an Arab Prince talked himself into buying influence through her wellness company, GUSH! This is followed by Sylvia Lawless' solo telling them how she will fix things, where Kaplan was a wonderful combination of fierce and seductive.

Up to this point, Hession and Jenkins got the pacing of the piece just right, hectic farce allied to telling musical moments. But in the final section of the opera they seemed to take their characters too seriously and the pacing slowed. A long scene when it is discovered that the Prime Minister is ill and in hospital led to an ensemble that was perhaps too much, and then Cumming and Harris had a Sondheim-esque duet that was indeed satirical, but ran on too long for the joke. Cumming's mad-scene as Penistone has a breakdown when he realises that the entire day has been recorded, was a nice touch but again seemed over done. The work ended as it began, with Kira Kaplan's brilliant Sylvia Lawless.

Toby Hession & Emma Jenkins: A Matter of Misconduct! - Ross Cumming, Edward Jowle, Jamie MacDougall - Scottish Opera (Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic)

All the cast were terrific and each got a moment to shine. Ross Cumming brought out the right combination of desperation and culpability in Roger Penistone, the best of a bad job as politician, with Chloe Harris spot on as his dim wife whose attempts at glamour fail. Jamie MacDougall was razor sharp as Sandy Hogg, presenting his foul mouthed rant with wonderful verbal dexterity and relish. It was, however, Kira Kaplan who stole the show with her seductive vocal lines and fierce tongue.

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