THE musical extravaganza of The Pirates of Penzance is well known, and far from abnormal if you know the style of Gilbert and Sullivan, writes BEN WILKINSON.

It's a classic comic opera focusing on a ridiculous story line whilst being interweaved with important socio-political themes from family obligation and people’s sense of duty to the ridicule of those in authority- no better represented than the character of the ‘modern Major-General’.

However, in order to make this script-based phenomenon into a theatrical spectacle, you must have a number of things: a brilliant cast, a brave director, wonderful musicians and a fabulous theatre company, something The Invitation Theatre Company provided in bucket loads.

With beautiful harmonies, fantastical chorus and instrumental interludes and hilarious lines, TITCo, director Lyn Taylor and musical director Anthony Brown hit the spot with a slick and fast-paced performance at St Mary's Church, Devizes.

Despite my initial thoughts on the blandness of the stage, the ensemble bought colour and action to it, building up layers of amusing characterisations.

One must give a special commendation to the different groups of smaller ensembles from the Major-General’s Daughters, who acted like the pantomime ugly sisters, and the Policemen, a group of bumbling buffoons who bought many a laugh from the audience, to the pirates themselves, a group of naive men who aren’t exactly the perfect example of a ‘proper’ pirate, truly ‘a rollicking band’.

The Pirates were spearheaded by their ‘Pirate King’, performed amazingly by Chris Worthy, who held a powerful stage presence and performed this role with great skill, both vocally and in terms of his acting.

I’d also like to give a special mention to Phil Greenaway, one of the five policemen, who, if watched closely, made small but immensely significant comical actions really adding to the scenes this group was in.

The two main romantic leads Frederic and Mabel played by Will Sexton and Tamlin Morgan were very strong indeed. Despite their young ages, they held a wonderful stage presence, and projected vibrant and natural voices very well.

Neither missed their mark when aiming for higher or lower notes, which resulted in an amazing duo of extraordinary harmonies and a clear romantic relationship.

The two showed chemistry and had clearly put a lot of thought into their characterisation.

TITCo has stepped up to the mark when bringing in young performers, and it is really good to see young performers getting this quality of experience.

There are many more members of the cast I would like to name, as there were a number of outstanding performances seen on stage which just further added to the overall quality of the final production.

This is a group of immensely talented actors who clearly worked extremely hard to produce an amazing production of a fabulous stage story.

The Invitation Theatre Company is most definitely a theatre company to keep an eye on, and I would highly recommend to everyone to go and see one of their future productions.

The Pirates of Penzance was performed in St Mary’s Church, Devizes, from June 23-27.