Gilbert & Sullivan The Mikado at Middleton Hall, Hull University By Nicholas Boldock

Dagger Lane Operatic Society are old hands when it comes to Gilbert & Sullivan. - in fact, they've been performing their operettas for 20 years now. Way back in 1984 their inaugural production was HMS Pinafore. This year, for their twentieth anniversary show, it was the most celebrated Gilbert & Sullivan work of all - The Mikado.

A near capacity audience crammed into Hull University's Middleton Hall for the opening night of this latest Dagger Lane production. They were to be treated to a first class performance.

This may technically be amateur dramatics, but Dagger Lane's production was far from amateur. The principle players were excellent throughout, all of them supremely confident and without so much as a fluffed line or a bum note all night. In particular Jonathan Abbot, making his Dagger Lane debut in the role of Ko-Ko, and Malcolm Innes, as Poo-Bah, were outstanding both individually and as an effective comic double-act. The chorus - all 35 of them - were also top notch, and none of it would have been as impressive as it was without a very capable orchestra, conducted by Julian Savory.

That I was there to bear witness at all was surprising in itself. I am not, and probably never will be, an opera fan, but I had accepted the invitation to attend (and review) The Mikado with an open mind, hoping I would be pleasantly surprised.

On arrival I was pleased to take my seat on the balcony. I reasoned that if things came to the worst I could always leap over the railings to my almost certain death, thereby saving the rest of the audience from the misery of a Savoy opera, and myself from interminable hours of dubiously scripted musical numbers.

But no. I don't know what it was, but for some reason I was drawn in from the very beginning. Maybe it was the sheer professionalism of the orchestra during the overture. Maybe it was the minimalist set decoration - just some backlit drapes to the rear of the stage - which left the cast as the centre of the performance, that drew me in. I don't know. Whatever it was, by the end of the show, what had started as polite applause on my part had become rapturous appreciation.

The Mikado is a masterpiece of black comedy. I had always perceived Gilbert & Sullivan's great work to be something of a camp work, but in fact the majority of the story revolves, in one way or another, around execution, in one foul way or another. Dagger Lane, with The Mikado, have come up with something unique in this area. It is amateur dramatics - in definition at least - but with professional production values. It is the familiar playground of Gilbert & Sullivan transplanted to a stage in West Hull. It is - in short - quite brilliant. Dagger Lane Operatic Society go on the road:

The run at Hull University may have finished but you can still catch The Mikado soon, as the

Saturday 24th July: The Mikado: The Spotlight Theatre, Bridlington Here are some other Dagger Lane dates (these are not Mikado productions):

Saturday 6th November: Hull Guildhall Charity Concert Monday 29th November: Foster House Christmas Concert Monday 6th December: Paterson House Christmas Concert And.. June 2005: Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance Dagger Lane Website www.daggerlane.co.uk

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