Nicola Lisle speaks to Jeff Clarke, the director of Opera della Luna

Opera della Luna — one of the UK’s most versatile and energetic small-scale opera companies — makes a welcome return to Oxford next week with a revival of its 1999 production of The Mikado.

In typical OdL style, Gilbert and Sullivan’s most popular operetta has been given a bit of makeover. Gone are the traditional Japanese kimonos, and in their place is an array of bold, dazzling costumes inspired by the 20th-century Italian designer, Gianni Versace.

It may all sound a bit radical, but director Jeff Clarke — who founded Opera della Luna 20 years ago — insists he is recapturing the stunning effect that the original production had on Savoy audiences in the 1880s. “I specifically didn’t want to do it Japanese,” he says. “I was searching for a concept that would emulate that, and find something that paralleled the effects of the Japanese costumes.

“Those designs had a huge impact on Victorian London. People hadn’t seen anything like that. One of the reviews spoke of the ‘blinding splendour of the dresses’, so I was searching for something like that.

“I was in New York and went to an exhibition of Versace designs at the Metropolitan Museum, and I remember seeing this dress and it was a real wow factor. And I thought, that’s the impact we need. We need to try to create amazing, wacky designs like that. It was the dress we ultimately copied for the three little maids.

“I remembered that in the original story Ko-Ko is a tailor, so it was an easy shift to make him a designer like Jean Paul Gaultier or Christian La Croix, and to set it in a fashion house and recreate the colour and visual pizzazz of the original Japanese with this rather more modern look.” As always with Opera della Luna, this is a chamber-sized production, with a cast of just seven. This means the singers have to double as chorus and occasionally play more than one role — such as OdL stalwart Louise Crane, who achieves the incredible feat of singing both Peep-Bo and the scary harridan Katisha.

Also in the cast is John Griffiths, who played the title role on OdL’s original tour, as well as two other OdL stalwarts — Martin George (Pooh-Bah) and Richard Gauntlett (Ko-Ko). Singing the role of Yum-Yum is outstanding soprano Victoria Joyce, while two rising stars, Nichola Jolley and Christopher Diffey, play Pitti-Sing and Nanki-Poo respectively.

They are joined by a seven-piece band, consisting of a piano, violin, cello, three wind instruments and percussion.

The Mikado comes to Oxford as part of a UK tour, which started in Keswick last month, and Jeff is delighted that the production is still winning audiences over with its daring approach, coupled with the company’s trademark wit and panache. “That’s our style, really, of being very energetic and bold and theatrical, and it seems to work with that piece,” Jeff says. “I’m very excited because we’ve not done it at Oxford before. It’s a very strong cast and we’re having a good time.”

Opera della Luna: The Mikado
Oxford Playhouse
Friday and Saturday, March 28 & 29, 7.30pm
Call 01865 305305 or www.ticketsoxford.com