Scottish Opera: Trial by Jury & A Matter of Misconduct, Glasgow review: 'joyful'

Gilbert and Sullivan’s hopelessly out-of-touch duffer of a judge as a Bruce Forsyth-esque MC in a 1980s trial-by-TV reality show? Well, it makes a lot of sense in director John Savournin’s bright, breezy new production of Trial by Jury for Scottish Opera. And, crucially, Savournin’s updating provides a plausible distancing device for some of the one-act operetta’s more, let’s say dated humour. The director’s cunning conceit also serves as a joyful showcase for G&S veteran Richard Suart as the lilac-suited lawman, complete with catchphrase and iconic pose: Suart might take innumerable liberties with what he sings, but he delivers a winking, wildly entertaining account all the same.

There are a few longueurs in Savournin’s staging, but it’s nonetheless a relentlessly entertaining 45 minutes delivered with abundant spirit and gusto. Edward Jowle makes for a swaggering Usher, forever attempting to impose order on the chaotic courtroom-cum-TV studio, a setting that Savournin mercilessly mines for comedy, from over-enthusiastic bridesmaids to deadpanning camera operators.

Jamie MacDougall is suitably oily as two-timing scoundrel Edwin, while Kira Kaplan is sweetness and light as the bride he’s jilted. Choreographer Kally Lloyd-Jones ensures gracefulness among the frenetic on-stage movement, and Ben Pickersgill lights takis’s elegant wood-panelled set eloquently.

So strong and persuasive is Savournin’s Trial by Jury that it might have made a better close to the evening. As things stand, the pace slackens considerably after the interval with the new, rather less convincing political satire A Matter of Misconduct! Toby Hession’s score crackles with Tom and Jerry charm, but while Emma Jenkins’s libretto is alive with wordplay and innuendo, there are far fewer outright gags (barbed motorhome references notwithstanding).

MacDougall returns as a Malcolm Tucker-esque special adviser, but a bit more of The Thick of It’s bile and sweariness might have given A Matter of Misconduct! more bite. As it stands, its shortcomings are all too apparent after the gleaming wit and glorious preposterousness of G&S’s jewel-like courtroom farce.

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