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Patience - Gilbert And Sullivan
RRP: £14.99
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Top marks for a classy production!
Review date: 2008-10-29 Rating: 10 out of 10
I discovered this production about 10 years ago (on good, old fashioned VHS) but what a delight to rediscover it on DVD! A G&S fan friend once told me with a sorry shake of his head that Patience was 'not much fun'. Ha! This production makes best use of every shred of humour. The mechanics of the production are a delight - the pre-Raphaelite lovesick maidens, the wonderfully stylised set of Act II, wonderfully bitter Bunthorne, Archibald the Alright, and the divine Lady Jane - who not content to play the 'cello at the opening of Act II, plays the double bass! It's just jam packed with vibrant, good fun. It is true that Patience herself has clearly travelled the length and breadth of Great Britain and Northern Ireland accumulating accents, but if this is the only criticism I can make of the show then it's a really great show!
I recommend this to anyone - G&S fans should love the attention to the text and to the great music - and people who have never heard G&S will find a production that is both humourous and inviting.
Similar Products
- Gilbert & Sullivan - HMS Pinafore & Trial by Jury
- The Gondoliers - Gilbert And Sullivan
- The Mikado
- Pirates Of Penzance - Gilbert And Sullivan [1982]
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Reviews
Superb!
Review date: 2008-10-04 Rating: 10 out of 10
This is a terrific production - don't hesitate, order it. Unlike most reviewers, I rarely give 5 stars in a review; I reserve it for really exceptional quality.
Some other reviews found fault with Patience's accent. They are wrong to do so. I'm English, and I'd say that there are so many regional accents in England that only a Professor Higgins can judge whether an accent like Patience's is authentic or not. What does it matter? Regional accents have changed anyway since Gilbert and Sullivan's time. The "message" is simply that Patience does not speak the standard, non-regional English which in Gilbert and Sullivan's day was spoken by the educated classes.
I agree with the good things other reviewers wrote about the music, and would add that the performance is lively as well as technically excellent - it's fun to watch, as a comedy should be.
Pick of the bunch
Review date: 2008-08-25 Rating: 10 out of 10
With so many mediocre Gilbert & Sullivan productions on film, it is great when a really good one appears. I rate this particular production as the best of any Gilbert & Sullivan video I have seen. The cast, most notably Anthony Warlow as Grosvenor, Dennis Olsen as Bunthorne and Heather Begg as Lady Jane, are spectacular. It is well staged, well performed, well directed and well orchestrated.
For traditional Gilbert & Sullivan fans, this is a must. While the less enthusiastic Gilbert & Sullivan fans may lean towards the better known HMS Pinafore, Mikado and Pirates of Penzance productions, if you wish to see how well a Gilbert & Sullivan show can be produced and captured on film, I strongly recommend you check this one out.
A great performance of a great opera
Review date: 2007-12-25 Rating: 10 out of 10
The singing is good, the acting is good, although one of the star moments appears too be unplanned (near the end of Act II, Lady Jane barges into Bunthorne and sends him sprawling - and then can't control her laughter). It's a live performance in front of an audience at the Sydney Opera House, so accidents like that can't be cut or redone, but this is a comic opera after all, it's supposed to be funny, and Gilbert once told an actor to make a regular feature of a similar accident in the Mikado because the audience loved it so much.
Patience contains some of Sullivan's best music, and Gilbert's work is excellent too. As a satire of the aesthetic movements that were running around in the late 1800s, you will enjoy it more if you understand something about them, but The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan (available here on Amazon) explains a lot of the refences, and the opera is very funny even if you don't know anything about the Pre-Raphaelites, Oscar Wilde, etc.
The performance sticks very closely to Gilbert's original words, with only a very few lines being cut.
The biggest complaint is the Patience has a weird accent - or she does in the spoken dialogue, it's not so noticeable in any of the songs.
Excellent production
Review date: 2007-07-10 Rating: 10 out of 10
This is beautifully staged and produced, very much on the traditional lines. Sets and costumes are exquisite,obviously an expensive production by Australian Opera (as it then was). The singing is generally very stylish, Heather Begg probably the biggest name here, and rightly so.The only jarring note is the dialogue from Patience, what sort of accent is she trying to capture? I spotted a touch of welsh, merseyside and even geordie amongst others.I imagine she had seen the performance by Sandra Dugdale whose accent was certainly very convincing. This said, there is so much to enjoy and the choreography is striking too!This production goes to prove that Gilbert's wit is still as relevant today as it was in his day .
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Christine Douglas
Elizabethan Philharmonic Orchestra
Dennis Olsen
Anthony Warlow
Heather Begg
Creators:
Christine Douglas (Primary Contributor)
Heather Begg (Primary Contributor)
Recording label: Opus Arte Media Productions
Manufacturer: Opus Arte Media Productions
EAN: 0809478040125
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2006-05-29
Universal product code (UPC): 809478040125
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audience rating: Exempt
Running time: 130 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1995
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)