A key to the success of the comic operas written by the English Victorian team of librettist WS Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan in the late 19th century was how they addressed the social and political issues of the day, encapsulating issues with a razor-sharp wit within a comic framework. This has been the enduring legacy of their work even though the social norms they discussed are light years away from our world today. One imagines that they would have had a field day with issues such as Brexit, Donald Trump and even climate change, for example. It is an important consideration when updating their work, essential to any modern interpretation, as to how it then becomes relevant to our time and place.

^{Roxane Hislop and chorus in Opera Queensland’s Ruddigore. Photos © Stephen Henry}

In Lindy Hume’s sparkling new interpretation of Ruddigore or The Witch’s Curse, the scenic elements and costume designs by Richard Roberts are pivotal to the production. Steeped in the English humour of the Goons and Monty Python, the set is based on Terry Gilliam’s 1980’s animations for Monty Python’s Flying Circus with its cardboard...