Originally seen at the old 50 seater Union Theatre in 2009, Sasha Regan’s acclaimed all-male production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance returns with a new all-male cast to Wilton’s in February.
A classic musical comedy of mistaken identity, The Pirates of Penzance follows young Frederic, a child apprenticed to a band of tender hearted, orphaned pirates exploring the coastline in search of treasure and romance. It first opened in 1879 and was an immediate triumph for Gilbert and Sullivan, remaining to this day their most popular and successful collaboration. Now, Sasha Regan’s critically acclaimed all-male production, a fresh and exquisitely funny re imagining of this much-loved classic, returns to set sail again.
From its humble beginnings playing to 50 people under a railway arch at the Union Theatre in Southwark, The Pirates of Penzance has gone on to play sell-out runs at Wilton’s Music Hall and Hackney Empire, before heading to Australia for a major national tour and UK tour. The production now makes a welcome voyage home to the magical Wilton’s.
The Union Theatre has developed an extraordinary reputation for reimagining musicals on the small scale, and is becoming known for its all-male productions of Gilbert and Sullivan, with HMS Pinafore, The Mikado and Iolanthe also having been staged and toured across the U.K.
The cast features Tom Bales as Mabel, Tom Senior as Frederic, Alan Richardson (Currently playing Mary Sunshine in Chicago) as Ruth, James Thackeray as The Pirate King, David McKechnie as Major General, Duncan Sandilands as Sergeant of Police, Ben Vivian Jones as Samuel, Sam Kipling as Edith, Connor Hughes as Kate, Richard Russell Edwards as Connie , Dominic Harbison as Isobel.
The ensemble company is completed by Daniel Miles, Adrian Bevan, Tom Duern, Patrick Coulter, Matthew Facchino, Jamie Chidzey and Kyle Anthony.
The Pirates of Penzance is at Wilton’s Music Hall 20th February to 16th March 2019.
