By Pei Ling Wong A smoke screen featuring a larger-than-life pirate and Gilbert & Sullivan cherubim greets the audience upon entering the Playhouse. Little does it betray the extremely entertaining and hilarious evening about to unfold! The play, premiered in 1879, is brought to life again. The Musical Youth Company has succeeded in engaging the audience throughout. 'Oohs' and 'Aahs' and cheering and laughter can be heard at all the right places. As the story goes, Frederic (Ashley Harvey) the apprentice pirate celebrates his 21st birthday by announcing his intention to leave (and eventually exterminate!) the pirates. It was only through the error of his nurse Ruth that he was apprenticed to a pirate until his 21st birthday and it was his duty to stay. Upon leaving, Frederic looks for love, first in his nurse (!) before he chanced upon the beautiful daughters of the Major-General. Mabel (Emily Berrington) turns out to be the only one who would marry him to reform him. The story climaxed when Frederic is presented with an 'ingenuous paradox' by his nurse and the Pirate King. That is, as far as birthdays are concerned, Frederic has only celebrated his 5th as he is born in a leap year. He is thus technically still bound to the pirates! As Frederic rejoins the pirates, the plot to capture them has already been laid out by the Policemen. All hell is let loose when the pirates seek to seize the Major-General's daughters as wives and the policemen, in turn, struggles to capture the pirates. The only thing that finally brought peace is their mutual love for their Queen! Frederic looks very much his part as a coming-of-age pirate. Mabel, with the voice of a nightingale, also shows much talent. Especially impressing are the strong vocal and theatrical abilities of the Pirate King (Howard Grater) and nurse Ruth (Francesca Williams). Major-General Stanley (Emrys Matthews) enchanted the audience with his catchy tune 'I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General'. So did the Policemen and their tap-dancing. The strong supporting cast of 25 each of Pirates and Daughters are worth commenting as well. The Musical Youth Company of Oxford has done it again! The views expressed in these comments are those of the contributor's and not the BBC. | 
