Stephen Beamish

Brent Carver stars as the swashbuckling Pirate King in the famous Stratford Festival's rollicking production of the Gilbert & Sullivan classic that pits British bobbles against unlikely pirates on the Cornish coast. Sullivan regarded this operetta - a hit ever since its first production in New York in 1879 - as the best comedy he composed. He even said of his collaborator, "The libretto is ingenious, clever, wonderfully fun in parts and sometimes brilliant in dialogue - beautifully written for music, as is all Gilbert does." Indeed, audiences will find the music every bit a match for the lyrics, with the genius of the score lying in its parody of grand opera. Filmed in 1985 at the world-famous Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario.

This 1984 production from the Stratford Festival breathes new life into Gilbert and Sullivan's fanciful 1882 operetta that, in its day, was regarded as a scorching satire of England's pre-eminent politicos. The performance features illustrious contralto Maureen Forrester as the Queen of the Fairies, who tangle with the House of Lords to unite the title character's half-fairy, half-mortal son and his true love.