Mike Leigh's Pirates of Penzance review: A stark take on the rollicking band

As a kid, I bloody loved Pirates of Penzance. Long before Johnny Depp donned his guyliner, I was enthralled by Kevin Kline bouncing about as the Pirate King in the 1983 film version.

Mike Leigh and the English National Opera are the latest team to put together a production of Gilbert & Sullivan's classic comic opera, and the London Coliseum is the perfect venue to parade such a rollicking band of pirates.

It must be a daunting task staging a production that has been seen countless times for over 100 years, but sadly this new production didn't offer anything highly original or exciting.

Leigh previously took on Gilbert & Sullivan for the 1999 film Topsy Turvy, but this is the first time he has staged an opera on stage.

First performed back in 1879, The Pirates of Penzance follows the story of an apprentice who escapes the clutches of a timid group of pirates, and his love for Mabel, the daughter of a "modern Major-General".

The play saw a new lease of life in 1980 when Joseph Papp staged a new version as a musical comedy, starring Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, George Rose and Rex Smith. A film version was produced in 1983, with Angela Lansbury joining the cast.

The ENO version goes back to its operetta routes, but retains a lot of Papp's comedy leanings, especially the Jack Sparrow-like Pirate King, played brilliantly by Joshua Bloom.

The main issue with this new version is the rather stark and cold design sets from Alison Chitty, which are simply a few colourful backdrops that look like Ikea castoffs. The play is crying out to have more beautiful set pieces from the pirate ship to the town centre to the courtyard to the beach. I guess this makes sure that the audience concentrates on the performers, but it shouldn't be at the risk of a relatively boring stage.

The choreography was also rather tame at times. Several songs saw the cast simply stuck in one spot without being able to move around freely. The Pirate King song and 'Sighing Softly to the River' needed lots of movement and jumping about, but the cast remained stationary, which was a massive shame.

While the performances from the likes of Andrew Shore as Major-General Stanley, Robert Murray as Frederic and Claudia Boyle as Mabel were passionate and funny, there was something missing about the wit and tone.

In the Kevin Kline version, there were plenty of moments where they altered the way certain lines were sung to give the comedy a modern update without changing anything too drastically. In Leigh's version, the lines appeared to be rushed at times, and there weren't many laugh out loud moments.

That being said, Jonathan Lemalu and his policemen were very entertaining and overall the production was as fun as ever and definitely worth a ticket. It's probably unfair to compare it to another version made over 30 years ago, but it lacked a certain punch that it deserves.

The Pirates of Penzance runs at the ENO until July 4. A live performance will be shown in cinemas across the UK on May 19.

Watch Mike Leigh discuss The Pirates of Penzance below:

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