Let’s get something straight: I don’t consider myself a theatre snob. In fact, I’m pretty easy-going. Unfortunately, Opera della Luna’s latest production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado challenged my desire to find a silver lining to every cloud.

Taking on a Gilbert and Sullivan script is a tall order for any company and Opera della Luna acknowledge this in their programme. Still, their risk in deviating from script doesn’t pay off. The blurb on the website grossly oversells the Company’s version of the opera as being ‘set in the flashy world of modern fashion houses’. I saw very little style in this production and the link to the world of fashion is tenuous at best.

Act 1 is set against the backdrop of a sewing room complete with spinning wheels and bolts of cloth, but no real attempt is made to incorporate this into the dialogue or the action on stage. The stage in act 2 is a visually impressive green velour box-hedge garden, but the costumes are attention-grabbing for the wrong reasons: Katisha’s costume is literally blinding, and the closing scene of the Mikado being shown different fabrics to choose from is a final weak nod to what was more gimmick than inspiration.

The quality of the cast, too, is quite uneven. Victoria Joyce has the voice to carry the role of Yum-Yum, but is quite wooden in dialogue with an unrelenting visage and painfully little chemistry with her on-stage lover, Nanki-Poo. Tim Walton’s West End experience is obvious in his depiction of Nanki-Poo, but he lacks the ability to perform the demanding solos convincingly and his musical theatre tone fails to mesh with that of his operatic co-star, Joyce. Louise Crane as Katisha is the strongest and most accomplished cast member by far, showing to best advantage in ‘Alone, and Yet Alive’. However, Crane is miscast in the role of Peep-Po, one of Yum-Yum’s girlfriends, being visibly older than the other two cast members and less fluid in the dance sequences,particularly during the catchy number ‘Three Little Maids From School Are We’. Richard Gauntlet as Ko-Ko was an audience favourite who seemed to be channeling Del Boy in the first Act, but his rendition of ‘On A Tree By A River’ was surprisingly moving.

Attempts were made to modernise the script, with Pooh-Bah answering a mobile phone and Ko-Ko criticising Botox, text-speak and big, fat Gypsy weddings in ‘I’ve Got A Little List’. These generated weak laughter at best and sat uncomfortably among the more outlandish features of the script. The Mikado is supposed to be a comic opera, but Opera della Luna’s production is too much of a pantomime to do it justice.