You can have “jam today” if you go and see the delightful comic opera double bill from Jam Factory Opera, currently showing at the Hen and Chickens Pub Theatre, Highbury Corner. These two gems of the English comic opera tradition are examples of Savoy opera “curtain raisers”. Warm-up pieces to tee up the audience for the main show, usually a Gilbert & Sullivan. Mr. Jericho was first performed at the Savoy Theatre on The Strand on the 18th March 1893 and Old Sarah on the 17th June 1897. They are absolute classics of Victorian entertainment. They are not only very funny but give a fascinating insight into the nitty gritty of Victorian life. Jam Factory Opera are all highly talented and totally devoted to their genre and as you might expect, go out of their way to put on a memorable show. I came away full of admiration for their skill, dedication and commitment to comic opera. Ninety minutes of thoroughly enjoyable Victorian variety, verisimilitude and vivacity.
One of the many fascinating aspects of this double bill is the way it debunks some of the misconceptions we may have about the Victorians. For example, sex. Queen Victoria is usually portrayed as a frump dressed in black who mourned the death of Prince Albert for decades. In fact, she and Albert enjoyed a vigorous sex life and had many children. Sex and class are adroitly presented in the first offering Mr Jericho. Set in Clematis Cottage, Kensal Green, the de Vere’s have come down in the world. Onetime aristocrats now make ends meet and pass the time driving buses and pottering around the garden. The relationship between de Vere senior (Rob Sanders Hewett) and de Vere junior (Alex Carpenter) is reminiscent of that between Charles Pooter and his son Lupin in The Diary of a Nobody (1892). The difference being that whereas the Pooters really are lower middle-class nobodies living in ‘The Laurels’, Brickfield Terrace, Holloway, the de Vere’s are déclassé aristocrats living in disguise, disgrace and despair. Alex Carpenter is terrific at bringing out the faintly absurd situation of the son of the Earl of Margate driving an omnibus along the Harrow Road. He has set his heart on marrying Winifred Bushey (Victoria Mulley), daughter of Lady Bushey (Helena Culliney). The plot twist is provided by the intervention of the fabulously wealthy Mr Jericho of Jericho’s Jams. Stephen Roe is excellent as the avuncular, benevolent saviour. The songs are witty and sung with verve and clarity. The accompanist Mark Pim is bang on the money.
If Mr Jericho is about sex and class, then Old Sarah is about sex and tax. Archibald Jones is torn between his love for Margery, the daughter of a smuggler, and his duty as a tax collector for the Inland Revenue. The titular Old Sarah is the mother of Margery and the wife of the smuggler Simon. Helena Culliney as Old Sarah is outstanding. She knocks her ineffectual husband into shape (fanning him with her skirt, after he’s fainted, is only the half of it), threatens the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Claud Newcastle, with death by bathing machine and leads the celebratory pipe smoking, drinking and dancing in true knees up Mother Brown style. It’s the Victorian woman as you’ve rarely seen her: funny, dominant and running rings around the men. There are some wonderful lines to savour (rhyming ‘pecker’ with ‘exchequer’ was a highlight for me) and the sea side resort of Dullport is brought to life in a set featuring said bathing machine, winding gear and smugglers basket. It may be set in Dullport, but there is nothing dull about Old Sarah. It’s a multi-layered comic joy. Many of our sitcoms – Steptoe and Son, To the Manor Born, The Good Life, Keeping Up Appearances – can be traced back to these forgotten Victorian gems. Take this unique opportunity to see them, as it were, in the original. They are both great fun and hugely enjoyable. Go and get some jam today.
Review by John O’Brien
Cast: Victoria Mulley, Alex Carpenter, Stephen Roe, Helena Culliney and Rob Sanders Hewett
With Mark Pim on piano
Book and Lyrics: Harry Greenbank
Music: Ernest Ford (Mr Jericho) and François Cellier (Old Sarah)
Director: Victoria Mulley
Musical Director: Alex Carpenter
MR JERICHO AND OLD SARAH
Hen & Chickens Theatre
1 to 5 July 2025
