With professional soloists and orchestra, Surrey Opera returns once again to The Harlequin to present a sparkling new production of, surely, Gilbert & Sullivan’s most exquisite and finely crafted comic opera, The Gondoliers. With Gilbert’s razor sharp wit satirizing period class distinction and the monarchy, plus Sullivan’s colourful score featuring a barcarolle, cachucha, gavotte and endless singable melodies, this will be an evening to delight and enthrall.

Mistaken identity is at the heart of the plot, and the negligence of a drunken gondolier entrusted with the upbringing of an infant king, who has muddled up the young monarch with his own son, means that no one (well not quite) is sure who is the rightful heir to the throne of Barataria. What’s more, the young queen, who has journeyed to Venice with her father and mother unaware of what is in store for her, is in love with quite a different person and not, as she surmises, the rightful king, whoever he may be. A tangled skein indeed!

How to book

The Harlequin Theatre