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)

The Merry Widow meets the Godfather: Scottish Opera brings John Savournin's new production of Lehár's operetta to Opera Holland Park

Lehár: The Merry Widow - Alex Otterburn, Henry Waddington - Scottish Opera (Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic)

Lehár: The Merry Widow; Paula Sides, Alex Otterburn, Rhian Lois, William Morgan, Henry Waddington, director: John Savournin, Scottish Opera, conductor: Stuart Stratford; Opera Holland Park
Reviewed 19 June 2025

Scottish Opera brings its New York Mafia Merry Widow to Opera Holland Park in a production where the two principals shine despite distractions and overdone comedy

Viennese operetta was written as escapism, usually based on boulevard comedies with plenty of mistaken identity and pretence, settings were largely exotic. in 1905, librettists Viktor Léon and Leo Stein turned to Henri Meilhac's 1861 comic play L'attaché d'ambassade, to create Die lustige Witwe. They transferred the action to Paris, moving the protagonists' native land to the exotic Montenegro, introducing extra plot involving the baron's wife and transferring the last act to the chic Parisian restaurant of Maxim's. The result seemed to have all the ingredients required for an operetta.

Hungarian composer Franz Lehár wrote music that was inflected by these Parisian and Balkan settings, yet his treatment of the opera's two couples, Hanna and Danilo, Valencienne and Camille, gives them sentimentally touching music that makes their emotional journey's believable. Die lustige Witwe isn't just about comic situations, it is about people, yet these four are surrounded by a welter of determinedly comic, stock characters, and that is the challenge when it comes to bringing the operetta alive on today's stage.

It is tempting to wonder what the original production was like (the original Hanna, Mitzi Günther did in fact record parts of the opera and you can hear her Viljalied on YouTube). Now, I expect that we would find the original tedious and hardly escapism, after all neither Paris nor Montenegro has the same exoticism. ENO has had two goes at getting the piece right in recent decades, neither the John Copley production in 2008 [see my review], nor the Max Webster one in 2019 [see my review] seem to have stuck, though both got some things right. Graham Vick directed it at the Shaftesbury Theatre for the Royal Opera in 1997, an experiment that seems never to have been repeated. At Glyndebourne last year (I only saw the production on video), Cal McCrystal brought his familiar style to the work, keeping the original setting yet overegging the drama.

Lehár: The Merry Widow - Paula Sides - Scottish Opera (Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic)

Scottish Opera, Opera Holland Park and D'Oyly Carte Opera Company have collaborated on a new production of Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow in what was presumably hoped were the safe hands of director John Savournin. Savournin with David Eaton founded Charles Court Opera and have long experience in this game, whilst Savournin and his company have collaborated with Opera Holland Park on a series of Gilbert & Sullivan stagings. For this production Savournin and Eaton produced a new English version.

Having toured the production for Scottish Opera earlier this year [see the review in The Stage]. The cast, the Scottish Opera Orchestra and Chorus, and conductor Stuart Stratford came to Opera Holland Park. We caught the first performance at Opera Holland Park on 19 June 2025. The cast was led by Paula Sides as Hanna and Alex Otterburn as Danilo, with Rhian Lois as Valencienne, William Morgan as Camille, and Henry Waddington as Zeta. Designs were by takis, with lighting by Ben Pickersgill and choreography by Kally Lloyd-Jones.

Savournin (book) and Eaton (lyrics) had the idea to transpose their new English version to Italian-American Mafiosi in New York, with Hanna's fortune coming from Sicily,  so that the second act moved to Sicily, whilst Maxim's was relocated to New York. In an article in the programme book, John Savournin argued cohesively for the new setting, which does make sense intellectually. Unfortunately, the relocation creates dramaturgical and emotional problems.

Opera Emerging: a Documentary with Scottish Opera Emerging Artists 2023/24

A lovely documentary from Scottish Opera that follows emerging artists Ross Cumming (baritone), Inna Husieva (soprano), Monwabisi Lindi (tenor), costume trainee Lovisa Litsgard, associate artist Lea Shaw (mezzo-soprano) and emerging artist repetiteur José Javier Ucendo, in their journey to create a performance of Rossini's The Barber of Seville in October 2023. 

[We caught both Inna Husieva and Monwabisi Lindi in opera scenes during their time at the National Opera Studio in January 2022, see my review, whilst Ross Cumming was Pilgrim in British Youth Opera's production of Vaughan Williams' The Pilgrim's Progress at the Three Choirs Festival in 2023, see my review]

Ross Cumming, Inna Husieva and Lea Shaw will be performing around Scotland in Scottish Opera's Spring 2024 Opera Highlights tour. See the website for details.

The documentary was filmed at Scottish Opera's Production Studios, Edington Street and Elmbank Crescent, and Theatre Royal Glasgow during October 2023. Filmed and edited by Antonia Bain. See the video on YouTube.

You could not help but be won over: Scottish Opera's new Gilbert and Sullivan production parks its gondola at the Hackney Empire

Gilbert & Sullivan: The Gondoliers - Dan Shelvey, Catriona Hewitson, Yvonne Howard and Richard Suart - Scottish Opera (Photo James Glossop.

Gilbert & Sullivan The Gondoliers; Richard Suart, Yvonne Howard, Ben McAteer, William Morgan, Mark Nathan, Charlie Drummond, Sioned Gwen Davies, Catriona Hewitson, Dan Shelvey, dir: Stuart Maunder, cond: Derek Clark; Scottish Opera at the Hackney Empire Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 30 March 2022 Star rating: 4.0 (★★★★)
Charm & delight to the fore with a largely youthful cast for Scottish Opera's visit to London

Scottish Opera is currently making a welcome visit to London, performing two operettas by Gilbert and Sullivan (one popular, the other rare). We caught Scottish Opera in Stuart Maunder's production Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers at the Hackney Empire on 30 March 2022. Derek Clark conducted with Richard Suart and Yvonne Howard as the Duke and Duchess of Plaza Toro, Ben McAteer as Don Alhambra del Bolero, William Morgan and Mark Nathan in the title roles, with Charlie Drummond and Sioned Gwen Davies as their beloveds, Catriona Hewitson as Casilda and Dan Shelvey as Luiz. Designs were by Dick Bird, lighting by Paul Keogan, and choreography by Isabel Baquero.

As a co-production with D'Oyly Carte Opera and State Opera South Australia, Dick Bird's sets and costumes were perhaps rather more luxurious than we often have with Gilbert and Sullivan operas. The opera is the final of Gilbert and Sullivan's regularly performed operas, afterwards came the 'carpet quarrel' and the two final works, The Grand Duke and Utopia Limited, neither of which are regularly performed (though Scottish Opera gives a concert staging of Utopia Limited at the Hackney Empire on 1/4/2022). But, even in The Gondoliers Gilbert was trying to vary the formula and the work comes with a deliberately large cast, rather than a few major roles, and effectively two story-lines which only properly intersect two thirds of the way through the opera. Gilbert's satire here is relatively gentle, and neither his skit on a Republican monarchy nor the Duke's turning himself into a limited company are quite developed enough. What the opera does have is tunes galore, and it is this aspect along with the attractive Venetian setting, that makes it so popular in the UK (and also high on the list of opera companies wanting to perform G&S).

Gilbert & Sullivan: The Gondoliers - Mark Nathan, William Morgan - Scottish Opera (Photo James Glossop.

Maunder and Bird took an entirely traditional view of the work, treating it seriously and never sending it up. The cast was an admirable mix of season professionals and young artists, including one current Scottish Opera Emerging Artist (Catriona Hewitson) and five former members of the scheme. The Hackney Empire was perhaps not the ideal theatre for the show, being somewhat larger than the company's Glasgow home, but all concerned filled the theatre with music and joy.

Scottish Opera's Outreach and Education department celebrates its 50th anniversary

The way we were: the Scottish Opera-Go-Round Bus in 1971 (Photo The Glasgow Herald)

Scottish Opera's Outreach and Education department is rightly celebrating the milestone of reaching its 50th anniversary year, and the events and projects planned show that they are as busy as ever despite restrictions.

A package of digital initiatives for primary school children marks the first time the Company has offered projects to all Primary 1 to 7 ages simultaneously, giving schools the opportunity to engage all pupils in a Scottish Opera primary schools project at the same time ranging from introducing Primary 1 to 3 to brass instruments whilst also supporting delivery of the Early and First Level numeracy curriculum, to a digital storybook project which introduces Mandarin language skills alongside concepts of food preparation and healthy eating (for Primary 3 and 4), whilst a digital performance project invites Primary 5 to 7 pupils on an intergalactic adventure to save Planet Earth and engage with the topic of climate change as Scotland prepares to host the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) later this year.

Scottish Opera’s work with older pupils in secondary schools includes the creation of resources relating to a sequence of filmed scenes in three contrasting stagings, directed by Roxana Haines, of Donizetti’s L'elisir d'amore as part of the Scottish Opera: On Screen collection. Available to schools in Spring 2022, the resources will encourage critical analysis from secondary school pupils studying Music, Art & Design and Theatre Studies.

Scottish Opera online performance of Primary School project Fever! in 2020

Scottish Opera Young Company returns to the stage for the first time since March 2019 with a new production Kurt Weill’s The Tsar Has His Photograph Taken directed by Roxana Haines. Rehearsals are underway via Zoom and will culminate in outdoor performances in the car park of the Company’s Edington Street Production Studios in Glasgow on 31 July and 1 August. Looking further ahead, in 2022 the company will give the world premiere of Rubble by composer Gareth Williams and writer/director Johnny McKnight, specially commissioned for the department’s milestone anniversary.

With a new Breath Cycle project, the company begins work on a new initiative to create a song collection for and by people affected by Covid-19, and there are further projects to focus on health and wellbeing with plans also underway to engage children with the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow.

Full information from the Scottish Opera website.

Philip Glass's The Trial receives its Scottish premiere

Philip Glass's opera The Trial receives its Scottish premiere at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow tonight (24 January 2017) when Scottish Opera perform the work. The opera is a co-commission and co-production with Music Theatre Wales, the Royal Opera and Theater Magdeburg. Philip Glass worked with playwright Christopher Hampton to create the piece based on Franz Kafka's novel The Trial.

The production, which is directed by Michael McCarthy, artistic director of Music Theatre Wales, and conducted by Derek Clark, head of music at Scottish Opera, debuted at the Royal Opera's Linbury Studio in October 2014 and then toured to theatres in England, Wales and Germany.

The cast includes Nicholas Lester as Joseph K, plus Michael Druiett, Paul Carey Jones and three of Scottish Opera’s Emerging Artists 2016/17 - Emma Kerr, Hazel McBain, and Elgan Llyr Thomas.

The production is at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow until 28 January 2017, and tours to Edinburgh's King's Theatre (3,4 February 2017).

Full information from the Scottish Opera website.

Stuart Straftford appointed as Scottish Opera's music director

Stuart Stratford. Scottish Opera 2015
Credit James Glossop.

The British conductor Stuart Stratford has been appointed the new music director of Scottish Opera. He joins the company in June this year and his first performances as music director will be announced as part of the 2015/16 season launch in May. Stuart Stratford recently conducted critically lauded performances of Jancek's Jenufa with Scottish Opera (you can read review by Christopher Lambton over on The Arts Desk). The search ends something of a hiatus for the company after the precipitate departure of Emmanuel Joel-Hornak in April 2013, and will hopefully bring an element of stability to standards in the company at a time when it is much needed. 

Stuart Stratford was born in Preston, but his mother was from Clydebank. This will be his first music director post in an opera company, but he has been gaining plaudits for his thoughtful musical approach. We have seen him in the pit at Buxton with Gluck's Orfeo in 2014 (see my review) and the double bill in 2012 (see my review), at Opera Holland Park with La Fanciulla del West in 2014 (see my review), Cav and Pag in 2013 (see my review) and Lucia di Lammermoor at Opera Holland Park in 2012 (see my review) and he has worked regularly with Opera North.