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 Martins Bank
Operatic Society in Utopia Limited by Gilbert and Sullivan
Staged: 22
to 26 March 1966 at the Crane Theatre Liverpool
 One look at the colour photograph
below, shows the sheer love and devotion to detail in every square inch of
the Operatic Society’s 1966 production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Utopia
Limited. With an impressive track record of lavish opera, and a number of
“rising stars” amongst their number, you might think that every time they set
foot on a stage, the Operatic Society would be able to swell the coffers with
cash towards their next project.
Remarkably however, Utopia Limited does little more than break even –
in fact it make a loss of £20! As
Martins Bank Magazine points out below, the cost of staging this particular
Gilbert and Sullivan treat puts many groups off, and it is not only rich with
expensive colour and costume: the sheer number of players required is not
something a faint-hearted director could manage. However, this production is
in the hands of the very capable Geoff Kelly, at whose direction the Operatic
Society finds itself producing success after success. So settle back now, and
quiet in the stalls please, the performance is about to begin…
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  the operatic society took a calculated risk in blowing the
dust from Gilbert & Sullivan's twelfth collaboration Utopia Ltd and giving six
performances at Crane Theatre, Liverpool, from March 22-26. The cost was £780,
packed houses added £720 to the £40 raised by social activities, and the
resultant loss seems a very small price to pay for a triumphant amateur
premiere of a show last produced in Liverpool by the D'Oyly Carte Company
in the 1890's. Quite apart from finance, said to be
the main reason for this colourful opera's rare performance, it demands
twelve principals who can sing and
act. How well this was achieved was illustrated in the reception by
press, public and friends who put the production ahead of anything the
Society had done previously.
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The full company on the stage
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If the principals
excelled, so too did the chorus in diction, acting, verve and sustained
interest, while Geoffrey Kelly's deft control of a highly competent
orchestra kept a fine balance throughout. We hope May Collins was proud to
have been once again the producer. What the Society will attempt next year
is not for us to decide, but few would regard an immediate return to G
& S as anything but anti-climax. In 1893 the services, the law. the
theatre, business, party and local government provided ample scope for
Gilbert's satirical wit.
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King Paramount and the Flowers of Progress hold a
directors’ meeting
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A scene from the Finale of Act I
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In March 1966, with
a general election only a week away, most of the situations were
disconcertingly applicable to life in Britain today; but if nothing is new
about the way our country is run, one must admit that everything about
Utopia was delightfully fresh and often hilariously apt—
terrifyingly apt since the election, when we recall that the people of
Utopia complained of
being 'swamped by dull prosperity' and that party government was therefore
introduced 'to bring about organised chaos'. The basic plot centres on King
Paramount's decision to anglicise his South Pacific island of Utopia
despite the scheming opposition of his Judges. As the King, Bill Morris was
outstanding whether he was being regally sincere or childishly naïve.
Barrie Stevenson and Kenneth Jones as the Judges and Harold Dixon as the
Public Exploder converted each role into a masterpiece. The King's conviction that the way of life of 'that
powerful, happy, blameless country' Britain is the right life for Utopia
has already prompted him to install Lady Sophy. Haughtily but
sympathetically played by Jill Kelly, to guide his two coyly cuddlesome
daughters (Nancy Klass and Jean Robinson).
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Kenneth Jones Bill Morris Barrie Stevenson
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Mary Nelson and Clive Jones
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The return from
Girton of his eldest daughter Princess Zara—a
role in which Mary Nelson improved on her already impeccable grace—and the
importation of six Flowers of Progress, set the stage for the island's
transformation. As
Captain Fitzbattleaxe, Clive Jones enjoyed a less inhibited role than hitherto
and made the most it, William Lawler blandly debunked the Lord Chamberlain,
lan Wilson bassooned joyfully as Captain Corcoran, k.c.b., and Frank Cohen slid along smoothly as a County
Councillor. A gem of acting came
from William Jones as Sir Bailly Barre. q.c.,
m.p. and Jim Roberts, as Mr Goldbury the company promoter, talked
himself persuasively into a niche as Comptroller to the Household. The singing of all the principals fully matched their acting and one
remembers particularly the early duet of Scaphio and Phantis 'In every
mental lore' which was later surpassed when they plotted with Harold Dixon
in 'With wily brain'. The two young daughters with Lord Dramaleigh and Mr
Goldbury were excellent in 'Then I may sing and play ?', and the high spot
for laughter was reached when the King and the six Flowers of Progress
outdid the Christy Minstrels with two encores of 'Society has quite
forsaken'. It is
indeed an achievement when an unknown tune staged by amateurs brings such
applause, but in our opinion, nothing can touch 'Eagle high in cloudland
soaring' which was sung by the whole company unaccompanied. It lasted two
and a half minutes and finished up bang on the right note—typical
of the whole production. 'Glory will crown the day . . .' they sang. And so
it did.
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 Hoylake and West Kirby
Advertiser March 1966
When Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Utopia
Limited” is given its Liverpool amateur premiere by Martins Bank Operatic
Society at Crane Theatre from March 22nd to March 26th four West Kirby
amateurs will be in the front line. Jill Kelly—better known to many by her
maiden name, Jill Winship—takes the contralto lead, Lady Sophy. Jill has
played many principal roles for the bank’s operatic society since joining
the staff in 1957. For several years she was a member of Deeside Gilbert
and Sullivan Society. Her husband, Geoffrey Kelly, is musical director of
Martins Bank Operatic Society and its chairman. A speaking part, Calynx, is
played by Eric Wylie, manager of Martins Bank in West Kirby. With forty
years’ experience of the amateur stage with the Revillo Comedy Company—he
is now that society’s chairman—he has also ... taken many leading parts
with Martins Bank’s Argosy Players. Clive S. Jones, who in recent years has
scored personal successes with the Birkenhead Amateur Operatic Society,
takes the tenor lead. Captain Fitzbattleaxe. ‘Utopia Limited’ has the
largest principal cast of all the Savoy operas and when first presented had
the most costly settings and costumes. For these reasons its professional
revival has so far been confined to America where it has met with great
success, inspiring an increasing number of amateur productions on both
sides of the Atlantic. The story concerns the converting of the South Sea
island paradise of Utopia to the ways and customs of Britain, creating some
very amusing situations.
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