BWW Reviews: THE MIKADO, Hackney Empire, September 4 2013

They're all there, of course. Lovesick Nanki-Poo, the son of the Emperor, disguised and on the run but wooing his Yum-Yum, even as he avoids the terrifying Katiisha and the law against flirting. There's the Lord High Executioner, Ko-Ko the ex-tailor, who also woos Yum-Yum, but is about as successful in that as he is in, er..., executing his duties, in which he is assisted by Poo-Bah, always available, always willing to compromise his family honour for a small (or large) consideration. And The Mikado himself - keen on applying the law, at least when it suits him. We're in Gilbert and Sullivan territory all right - an hermetically sealed world which, like that of PG Wodehouse, bewitches with its comic invention and technical mastery and, once entered, seldom left with anything short of reluctance.

Director James Bonas and designer Carl Davies have created a visually stunning look that owes something to Arthur Rackham. His angular exaggerations are everywhere, with Katisha, in black and elevated on light-sabre stilts, a giant cockroach scuttling about the stage, crouching here, poking there. There's a touch of Weimar too, especially when the Three Little Maids From School introduce themselves and prove to be rather less blushingly innocent than they might be. With references to Japan limited, the work becomes a luscious fantasy - and is all the better for the freedoms that offers, gleefully accepted by the cast and creatives.

In keeping with Co-Opera Co's philosophy, there's a fine blend of seasoned pros amongst the new young talent on stage. Tristan Stocks as Nanki-Poo has something of Douglas Fairbanks in his dashing looks and is winningly devoted to his Yum-Yum, whom Lilo Evans plays as a 21st century woman, with her own interests to protect. Owain Browne's Poo-Bah is greasily subornable in all the Offices of State and Thomas Asher's Pish-Tush is Northern and jolly, if constantly puzzled by the tooings and froings around him.

The best two performances amongst a consistently impressive ensemble, come from either end of the company's experience specrtrum. Martin Nelson is an old hand and enjoys every second of playing The Mikado himself, hamming it up with plenty of sideways glances to the house, as he just stays this side of panto. Still a student, David Jones - at very short notice - stepped in to play Kok-Ko and did so with great charisma and no little skill, especially when delivering his famous List, one not short of a few villains of today! Mr Jones will surely be back and taking leading roles in his own right.

And I haven't mentioned the music nor the singing yet! It's marvellous to hear an orchestra and voices, fresh and unamplified, perform the timeless tunes of Arthur Sullivan and deliver the rapier wit of William Gilbert in the grand old Hackney Empire. If you've seen a G&S before, this Mikado will delight and dazzle. And if you haven't seen a G&S before, then - really - you should.

Co-opera-co's The Mikado is at the Hackney Empire on 7 September and on tour.

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