The following was written by one of the Society's former Producers, Michael Swift:
For many in the first night audience, the biggest fault of Ruddigore was that it was not The Mikado, its predecessor at the Savoy Theatre and Gilbert and Sullivan's greatest hit. The original title of Ruddygore offended Victorian sensibilities.
They were surprised at Gilbert's choice of Victorian melodrama for the opera, a genre that was already out of date, with its villains, ghosts and Gothic settings. Sullivan had supplied a tuneful and, where needed dramatic, score complete with hornpipe and suitably scary effects. The picture gallery that came to life in Act II was a theatrical coup, and yet Ruddigore has remained one of the lesser-known of the Savoy operas.
So what was Ruddigore really about? The targets of the earlier Savoy operas are obvious - the Law (Trial by Jury, Iolanthe), the Aesthetic movement (Patience), the Navy (HMS Pinafore), etc - all subjected to Gilbert's caustic wit and topsey-turveydom. Here he took a theatrical convention of hero, heroine and villain and typically turned them all upside down.
The hero (Robin) is a cowardly egocentric who will always take the easy way out, regardless of anyone else. The heroine (Rose) is one of the best gold-diggers on stage, despite disguising all her comments in the language of the King James' bible. The dashing sailor (Richard) is no Errol Flynn except in his tendency to chase the first available attractive female. The first villain (Despard) reforms to the extent of taking a homicidal maniac (Margaret) under his wing. And the second villain (Roderic), despite his ghostly bluster, cannot be taken seriously when his nickname is revealed as Roddy-Doddy.
Ruddigore then is about human frailties. Simply sit back and enjoy its absurdities and splendid music. You might even care to hiss at any of the characters in true melodrama tradition.
