VIU Music and Theatre students prepare to launch HMS Pinafore

Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera HMS Pinafore comes to Malaspina Theatre at Vancouver Island University March 4.

It's a great collaboration between the music and theatre departments at VIU, said director Ross Desprez.

Greg Bush, musical director and orchestra conductor for the opera, expects the production to provide valuable experience to the performers.  “It gives music students an opportunity to be in a pit orchestra. There’s certainly a buzz, and the theatre and music students are really excited about it.”

Students in the 10-piece orchestra will spend at least 52 hours preparing and performing the light-hearted musical. 

Since VIU became a university, there are more performance opportunities for students, Desprez said.  “We have a bigger talent pool now than before. We have a very good technical theatre department, and now we are able to put more focus on acting.”

Production manager and lighting designer Mike Taugher said the 24 students on stage are likely to make a strong visual impression. “The cast will be quite exquisite in their costumes due to the complexity of nautical details,” he said.

HMS Pinafore; or the Lass That Loved a Sailor first played in 1878 at the Opera Comique in London. The opera was the fourth collaboration, and first international sensation for lyricist W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan. Sullivan was very serious about the music while Gilbert was much more relaxed.

“It’s an excellent mix of classical music and humour,” Desprez said.

The opera tells of forbidden love between a lowly seaman and the daughter of Pinafore's captain. It’s a satire on the British obsession with class distinction, and explores love across different social ranks in Victorian England.

 “HMS Pinafore is all about shtick – comic business. I’ll be looking for opportunities to put in modern political jabs,” Desprez said.

HMS Pinafore plays in Bldg 310, Malaspina Theatre, on the Nanaimo campus. Evening performances start at 8 p.m. with a preview March 3 and a regular run March 4 - 7 and March 10-13. Matinees will be performed March 7 at 2 pm and March 9 at 4 pm. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors.
 
Call the box office at 250-740-6100 for tickets and information.