Written and set during the 1950’s at the start of the TV advertising explosion, Gallantry is touted as a parody of a soap opera with sung commercial sponsorship messages.
Choosing to open the performance with a video roll of carefully selected TV commercials from the 50s/60s, the comical tone of this one-act opera is clear from the start. The performance certainly seems to focus far more on mocking the excessive nature of advertising than the actual soap opera and achieves this with great aplomb.
The ‘announcer’ (Jane Webster, in a wonderfully comic performance) opens the show by presenting us with messages from Billy Boy Wax and Lochinvar Soap, the internal soap opera’s sponsors. This is followed by the soap opera itself which is set in a hospital and parodies traditional soap characters and storylines; in this case the sexy nurse who is in a love triangle with two doctors. With a further commercial message delivered by the announcer half-way through the soap, the performance eventually ends with one final commercial message, this time with the hilarious participation of the three soap opera characters.
With what I can only describe as beautiful performances by Karlene Hayworth, Robert Lomax and Xiaoran Wang, with excellent musical accompaniment from Richard Black, Gallantry brings opera into the Camden fringe in the classiest and most accessible of ways.
For many, the prospect of seeing an opera can be a little frightening and this performance is a wonderful place to start if that is the case! Written and performed in English, it is a genuinely funny story with a poignant message that is easily followed. Delivered with class and incredible precision by five immensely talented professional musicians/actors, this is certainly one not to be missed!
