Opera North - Ruddigore

Bad baronet Sir Despard Murgatroyd has inherited a centuries-old witch’s curse forcing him to commit a crime a day or die in agony.

So it’s a huge relief when timid Robin Oakapple is revealed as his long-lost elder brother and the true inheritor of the curse. Robin’s romance with the faultlessly correct Rose Maybud looks doomed, but his troubles really start when his feeble crimes drag his exasperated ancestors back from the dead to haunt him…

A reluctant villain, a modest maiden, amiable ghosts and scary professional bridesmaids: Gilbert & Sullivan make merry with Victorian melodrama in this hilariously inventive confection. Jo Davies’ (Carousel, Kiss Me, Kate!) production was hailed as an instant classic when it opened and is full of the spirit of G&S’s celebrated topsy-turvy invention.

“Wickedly funny… one of the great Gilbert & Sullivan stagings” ★★★★★ — The Guardian

“Operetta bliss. A must for all G&S fans” ★★★★ — The Telegraph

“A comic masterpiece” ★★★★ — The Stage