Gilbert & Sullivan's parodistic operetta opened on 23 Apr 1881 at the Opera Comique, London, and ran for 578 performances at both the Opera Comique and Savoy Theatres. It pokes fun at the fashion of the time for 'aesthetics' - the kind of values associated with that ultimate aesthete, Oscar Wilde. The character of Bunthorne was not originally intended to be a parody of Wilde - he was made up to look like the painter Whistler - though the Irish wit is the association most commonly made with the character these days.

The county dames are in love with two poets while the poets are both in love with Patience, the village milkmaid. The brigade men don't see the point to all this aesthetics nonsense, but decide they had better give it a try to win the women's love.

Cast in order of appearance
The Lady Angela Jennifer Bermingham
The Lady Ella Toni Powell
The Lady Saphir Roxane Hislop
The Lady Jane Heather Begg
Patience, a dairymaid Christine Douglas
Colonel Calverley John Germain
Lieutenant the Duke of Dunstable Graeme Ewer
Major Murgatroyd Neil Kirkby
Reginald Bunthorne Dennis Olsen
Archibald Grosvenor Anthony Warlow
Solicitor John Miley

Conductor David Stanhope
Director John Cox
Designer John Stoddart
Lighting Designer Donn Byrnes
Stage Manager Phillip Serjeant
Musical Preparation Julia De Plater


Act I
The Castle Bunthorne. A group of young ladies, aesthetically garbed and in despairing attitudes, lament their lovesick state. Angela, Saphir, Ella and the rest are all distracted with love for the aesthetic poet Bunthorne. But Lady Jane tells them that their passion is a hopeless one. Bunthorne himself loves Patience, the village milkmaid, while she in turn is indifferent to him.

Before the arrival of Bunthorne on the scene the ladies were engaged to the officers of the 35th heavy Dragoons, who are understandably piqued to find themselves discarded for a long haired aesthete. However, when they complain of their ill-treatment the ladies scornfully wave them away. All the qualities which previously made the soldiers attractive are now abhorrent; even the primary colours of their uniforms have become distasteful! Bunthorne proposes marriage to Patience, but she will not have him. Having never experienced love, she asks Lady Angela what it is and is told it is ‘the one unselfish emotion in this whirlpool of grasping greed’.

Patience determines to fall in love with someone immediately. She soon has her chance, for the newly arrived Archibald Grosvenor, a beautiful idyllic poet, asks her to marry him. Patience finds him very attractive, but since he appears to be absolutely perfect she feels that there can be nothing unselfish in loving him, and she reluctantly declines.

Bunthorne now decides to put himself up to be raffled and the lovesick ladies become very excited at the thought of drawing that lucky ticket. However, Patience now offers herself as Bunthorne’s bride, and is accepted. The ladies find that their warm feelings for the Dragoons are returning, but Grosvenor suddenly appears among them, and they immediately transfer their admiration to him.

Act II
A garden. Lady Jane laments her fading beauty, but she still believes that Bunthorne will tire of the milkmaid and yield to her faithfulness. Grosvenor, whose idyllic precepts of the pure and simple now prevail among the ladies, still longs for Patience. Bunthorne and Lady Jane plot to bring Grosvenor’s successful reign to an end.

Meanwhile, in a desperate attempt to win back the love of the ladies, the Dragoons have abandoned their uniforms in favour of aesthetic costume, and their military bravery in favour of affected attitudes. Grosvenor, bored with his life as a poseur, tells Bunthorne that from now on he is going to be utterly commonplace. The delighted Bunthorne tells Patience that he, too, is reformed. His haggard looks and moody melancholy are gone, and from now on he is going to be ‘mildly cheerful’.

Once again Patience is faced with a perfect being, and so of course she cannot give herself to Bunthorne, since to do so would be selfish. Grosvenor, however, declined from his aesthetic pinnacle into complete ordinariness, is now a most suitable object and Patience can marry him without a single pang of conscience. The other ladies follow Grosvenor’s lead in casting off their trappings of aestheticism and pair off with the Dragoons – leaving only Bunthorne without a bride.

Information courtesy of Opera Australia