Ruddigore: The Witch’s Curse
★★★★★ Electric verve
Bedlam Theatre: Weds 1 – Sat 4 Apr 2026
Review by Ruth Bennett
Ruddigore: The Witch’s Curse, presented by the Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group at the Bedlam Theatre to Saturday, is absurdly good.
That is not to say that every last detail is perfect. But the audacity and creativity of its ambitions, and the degree to which it achieves them, would be notable even for the professional stage.
Hunter King, Nina Birbeck (behind), Abi Westcott, Julie Girardin, Hannah-rose Laverick, Natalie Rengger, Rosa Snow, Pippa Colao and Maia Jones in EUSOG’s Ruddigore. Pic Andrew Morris.
In the comic opera Ruddigore, by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, on which this Gothic fantasia is based, the Baronet Murgatroyd suffers from a family curse. He has to commit a crime each day, or die a horrible death.
Sir Ruthven, the rightful heir to the title, has gone into hiding under the name Robin Oakapple to avoid his fate, letting his younger brother Sir Despard carry the burden. When romantic rival Richard Dauntless outs his real identity, Sir Ruthven acquires the curse and loses the affections of his fiancée, the sweet Rose Maybud.
In EUSOG’s version, the curse is elevated to a daily murder and brought front and centre as the main focus. Rather than opening on a bucolic scene of singing bridesmaids, a ten-minute cinematic mime of murders and mayhem unfolds before the first note is sung.
it’s alive!
The sequence manages to call out to an extensive tradition of Gothic horror, and also, somehow, to be very, very funny.
What EUSOG have done here under director Lewis Eggeling is not just to graft some supernatural elements onto the standard Ruddigore, à la Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but to cut open the subject, move around some vital organs, and sew it back up again, like Frankenstein’s monster. And, yes: it’s alive! More than that: it crackles with vitality and intelligent mischief.
Hannah-Rose Laverick and Maia Jones in EUSOG’s Ruddigore. Pic Andrew Morris
The first act largely belongs to Hannah-Rose Laverick, flawlessly portraying the etiquette-obsessed Rose Maybud as a slightly demented Disney princess. She completely nails the role, hitting the perfect degree of comic exaggeration with unerring consistency and an effortless poise rarely seen in student drama.
Her love interest Robin Oakapple (Maia Jones, in gender blind casting) doesn’t bloom dramatically until the second act, but the powerful clarity of her singing — which wouldn’t be out of place on Broadway — establishes her character from the start. Later, as the Baronet Ruddigore, she demonstrates the dramatic range to compellingly show the ruin of the once-carefree suitor.
outsized charisma
As the unfairly burdened Sir Despard, Zac Askham has a terrifically warm, hearty voice and strong presence. Hunter King commands the stage in the show’s second act as the deceased Sir Roderic Murgatroyd, and is magnificent in his fully operatic singing and outsized charisma.
A clever story change divides Mad Margaret into twins, allowing Natalie Rengger and Poppy Hunter to duet in a wonderfully inventive way and showcase some creepy Victoriana along with their fine acting chops.
Julie Girardin, as the swaggering mariner Richard Dauntless, has a softer and faster delivery than the other principals, but adds top-notch physical clowning.
Mad Margaret – Natalie Rengger and Poppy Hunter in EUSOG’s Ruddigore. Pic Andrew Morris
In scattered appearances as Adam Goodheart, Lou Limpenny is the henchiest of henchmen, comically channelling both Igor and Gollum. As Dame Hannah, the excellent Nina Birbeck has too few opportunities to flaunt her versatile voice, but nevertheless claims one of the most standout vocal performances.
In a show that’s utterly brilliant for its singing – not only in overall quality cast-wide, but in sailing over the perennial hurdle of enunciating G&S’s blistering-fast lyrics – two songs are especially stunning.
The first is the trio patter song My Eyes are Fully Open, one of the more difficult pieces of the entire G&S repertoire. Poppy Hunter and Maia Jones master it, but Zac Askham owns it, with a confidently deft precision that is easily on a level with professional performers who have decades more experience.
conjures an entire backstory
The second is the duet There Grew a Little Flower, between Birbeck and King. Birbeck injects such heartfelt, rueful emotion into the piece that she conjures an entire backstory. Within a production of stylised humour and detached irony, the vivid burst of raw feeling is deeply affecting.
The production is greatly aided by an unseen but impressively talented live orchestra under the direction of Franky Leong-Murphy. The unified creative vision across the onstage roles extends to the musicians in the wings: the notes distort and curl around in a satisfying way that’s entirely appropriate to the Gothic horror theme.
Lil Hodge, Natalie Rengger, Aisling Ní Dhochartaigh, Alex Murray, Nina Birbeck, Xiaowen Xu, Maia Jones, Rosa Snow, Poppy Hunter, Chloe Brandwin, Pippa Colao and Zac Askham in EUSOG’s Ruddigore. Pic: Andrew Morris.
Rachael Steel’s choreography is undaunted by the number of actors on the small stage. It is, in fact, deliriously frenetic, throwing together cartoony moves with steps from 1980’s fighter games, efficiently and hilariously milking every detail.
The crowded stage means the set consists only of the framed cut-outs on the backdrop that recall the ancestral portraits of the original opera. Here, they house disembodied limbs (or occasionally heads). Kudos goes to lighting designer Carys Hrebenar for nevertheless evoking the feeling of a set, especially through the reptilian hues of the underworld in the second act.
Given the live orchestra and unforgiving acoustics of the Bedlam, the decision to mike the actors is understandable, but the sound glitches that abounded on opening night show that more care needs to be taken in this department.
a faithful and fitting homage
Unsurprisingly in such a deep rewrite, not everything works equally well. Unnecessary overreach (altering “crimes” to “murders”) weakens one of the Baronet’s scenes. The new ending doesn’t quite make sense, though it’s a faithful and fitting homage to the tropes of the genre. And it might just be possible to have a few too many dancing zombies on stage for too long, which is not a criticism traditionally levelled at G&S productions.
These would be small gripes even for a merely good production, which this is not. Ruddigore: The Witch’s Curse is an extraordinarily bold, risk-taking, ebullient production with electric verve and exceptionally masterful performances. See it if you possibly can.
Running time: Two hours and 45 minutes (including one interval)
Bedlam Theatre, 11B Bristo Place, EH1 1EZ
Wed 1 – Sat 4 Apr 2026
Evenings: 7.30pm; Sat mat: 2.30pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
Hunter King in EUSOG’s Ruddigore. Pic: Andrew Morris.
ENDS
