H.M.S PINAFORE

Siren Theatre Co presents a Hayes Theatre Co production

Touring 2022 - get in touch

Everyone's favorite musical duo Gilbert & Sullivan bring us mistaken identity, class warfare, sisters,

sailors and the trickiest of tongue twisters abound in this nautical caper.

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Set sail with Gilbert & Sullivan’s beloved comedy of star-crossed lovers, mismatched marriages, and mistaken identities. Kate Gaul re-imagines a gender-bending, hyper-theatrical and kinky take on this

Gilbert & Sullivan classic. All 'is not what it seems!"

H.M.S. Pinafore answers the burning question of who, among equals, is the most equal, and whether love can level the ranks. In this quirky chamber version, love is celebrated as the 21st Century collides with the 19th Century in unexpected ways. The work’s humour focuses on the love between members of different social classes and pokes unashamed fun at society’s obsession with social status, patriotism, party politics, and the rise of unqualified people to positions of authority. It’s as camp as Christmas (and we don’t change a word!) and a good laugh too!

This new production has been conceived with a reduced cast of lively men and women. The primarily young company reclaim Gilbert and Sullivan, test its boundaries and have a shipload of fun.

There are sequins, tutus, flags (lots of flags), and a moustache or two!

Gilbert & Sullivan are the undisputed masters of comic operetta and the proud parents of the modern musical. Ample proof of their lasting brilliance is that their works are as in demand today as they

were when they were written over a century ago.

So – sit back, enjoy tunes you are sure to have heard before and consider how two Edwardian gentlemen

created an operetta about society on a saucy ship named after a lady’s undergarment!

REVIEWS

“(Gaul’s) take on the show manages to encompass … the gentle boundary-pushing of the original text, our local tradition of sending up the classics, and the meta-textual, pop-culture referential riffing .. And she does it all through a confident, unapologetically queer lens.

Why stage H.M.S PINAFORE at the end of 2019? Because it can be a celebration of living outside your expected social role. It can be a queer party. It can be funny and sweet, and clever." ★★★★ TIME OUT

"Under director Kate Gaul’s command, Gilbert and Sullivan's classic finds new vigour as genderfuck carnival.

If the class plot is unrelatable, the norm-busting use of gender scrapes off the HMS PINAFORE’s barnacles. With wit, style and thrill, this production is relentlessly entertaining. "Love can level ranks” - and this revel ranks high. ★★★★ CITY ROCK JESTER

“The show is bursting with talent and expertise and basically it’s all joy and effervescence for the rest of the voyage.” ★★★★ STAGE NOISE

“Turning the topsy-turvy of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan’s 1878 operetta inside out, this saucy staging of H.M.S. PINAFORE is a delight from bowsprit to the sternpost.” ★★★★ AUDREY JOURNAL

“Kate Gaul reinvigorates the comic operetta for an audience today, giving it a fabulous, fresh spin with her gloriously camp, glittery, cross-gender production.” ★★★★ LIMELIGHT

“It’s always fun to see an actor steal a production, as Thomas Campbell does in the opening scene to this giddy and hilarious new production of H.M.S. Pinafore.” ★★★★ CITY HUB SYDNEY

“Gaul’s H.M.S. PINAFORE is dazzling and oozing with personality” ★★★★ TWENTY ODD REVIEWER

For all of What the Critics said ...

TOURING NSW 2020

Glen Street Theatre, 20 - 22 February

Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, 25 - 29 Feb
Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre, 3 March
Capitol Theatre, Tamworth 5 March
Cessnock Performing Arts Centre, 7 March
Bathurst Memorial Entertainment Centre, 10 March
Orange Civic Theatre, 12 March
Glasshouse Port Macquarie, 14 March