The Grand Duke
★★★★☆ Inspired merriment
Edinburgh New Town Church: Fri 27 – Sat 28 Feb 2026
Review by Ruth Bennett
The Grand Duke, from The Edinburgh Gilbert and Sullivan Society (EDGAS), is a pleasurably silly delight from start to finish. Consistently stylised to the perfect degree of deliberate overacting, it elicits laughs without being overdone.
This is a rare opportunity to witness the final collaboration between famed librettist W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan. Unlike many dramatic works falling into the “rarely performed” category, however, there’s nothing amiss with the material here. While a particular joy for G&S fans, it is also riotous entertainment for anyone who appreciates comic opera.
The principal cast of EDGAS’ The Grand Duke. Pic Ross Main.
The plot is not especially conducive to summarising, but, fortunately, neither is it particularly important. A coup within a tiny duchy comes a cropper, but the concept of the “statutory duel” – utilising playing cards rather than pistols, in which the loser suffers only a “civil death” and the winner assumes their rights and responsibilities – saves both the plotters and the plotted-against Grand Duke. Chaos – naturally! – ensues, but all is made right in the end.
All the classic G&S moments are here, from multiple matrimonies gone wrong, swipes at pompous lawyers and puffed-up upper classes, long group numbers interwoven with principals’ solos, and bewilderingly arbitrary plot points, to a particularly sharp – and satisfying – instantiation of Gilbert’s obsession with “topsy-turvy” literary devices.
Thoughtful choices
Directed by Fiona Main with musical director David Lyle, on and around the dais of the Edinburgh New Town Church, EDGAS bills the show as “semi-staged”, which understates their efforts.
It is true there isn’t a grand set to match the outsized heart of the production, but its absence isn’t missed. Thoughtful choices of individual props are more than enough to evoke each setting, and many a show advertised as fully-staged fails to achieve as much.
A scene from The Grand Duke. Pic Ross Main.
Staging only feels pared back in that the chorus is not off-book and is often relegated to the wings. The only instrumentation is MD David Lyle’s flawless and quietly effective piano-playing throughout. An orchestra would have been magnificent, but, again, this solution to production constraints is adroitly successful.
Fiona Main’s clever and skilled direction keeps the natural tendency to ham up this type of melodrama in check. The production engages in the G&S society tradition of introducing modern elements to the script, but they are done with a light touch, and – unusually for the tradition – are actually funny.
keeps the energy in motion
Main’s choreography choices are a masterclass in what can be accomplished, creatively and hilariously, on a small stage. It isn’t crisp, and it doesn’t need to be: it keeps the energy in motion, so that the only static points in the show are the longer arias with obscure diction.
And this is the biggest frustration with the production: the diction is too often obscure. It’s a hurdle for every G&S operetta, given the trademark quicksilver wordplay, but audiences are usually too busy humming along with “For He Is an Englishman” to notice how much they’re remembering, as opposed to hearing, the words. In a lesser-performed work, the issue comes to the fore.
A dancing scene from The Grand Duke. Pic Ross Main.
It is especially problematic in the women’s roles, with their more difficult challenge of enunciating in the higher registers, and in the larger-group patter songs. The hearty laughs at the stray precisely-delivered stanza show how much of the material’s comic potential is left untapped.
The production’s remarkable strengths are in the blending of skilful musical and artistic direction with the excellence of the principals. Sebastion Davidson gives a fussy and fretful Grand Duke Rudolf; in his numbers with the miserly Baroness von Krackenfeldt (Mairi Coyle), each one displays exacting comic timing.
cuts through the frothiness
Matt Markham feels like he’s in every number as the plotting usurper Ludwig, but matches the role’s demands with boundless charisma. Annabel Hamid delivers a credible diva as the leading lady Julia Jellicoe, and Emma Lawson cuts through the frothiness, adding balance with her touching emotional paeans as Ludwig’s long-suffering lover, Lisa.
Theodore Rankine-Fourdraine captures the smarminess of his role as theatrical manager Ernest Dummkopf, and Peter Cushley is wonderful as the “ipso facto”-spouting notary Dr. Tannhauser.
Bruce Graham as The Prince of Monte Carlo. Pic Ross Main.
The show keeps its powder dry for the second act, revitalising the performance with the appearance of professional West End baritone Bruce Graham as the Prince of Monte Carlo. His powerful numbers are well-managed so as not to be jarring against the rest of the cast, and particular kudos goes to Nicole Dickie as his daughter, the Princess of Monte Carlo, who not only vocally holds her own in their scenes, but demonstrates how clear diction is possible even in soprano heights.
Special mention must be made of the bit part of the Herald. Ian Lawson makes an absolute meal out of a crumb-sized role, and it is equal parts hilarious and unsettling to see someone execute so much theatrics with just their face.
truly impressive
The serious acting within the comic roles here is truly impressive. Markham makes his Ludwig an appealing boyish dreamer rather than a schemer; Davidson’s hated Duke is not without his humanity. The amount of interpretation across the company is done so well as to be invisible, but individuates every role and saves them from becoming unidimensional caricatures.
Just as importantly, each person on the stage appears to be having a tremendous amount of fun, which communicates itself infectiously and ensures that The Grand Duke is a thoroughly rollicking good time.
Running time: Two hours and 30 minutes (including one interval)
Edinburgh New Town Church, 13 George Street EH2 2PA.
Fri 27 – Sat 28 Feb 2026
Evenings: 7.30pm.
Tickets and details: Run ended.
EdGAS Website: www.edgas.org.
Facebook: @EdinburghGilbertSullivan.
Instagram: @edinburghgilbertsullivan.
The company and chorus of EDGAS’ The Grand Duke in the Edinburgh New Town Church. Pic Ross Main.
ENDS
