STAGE REVIEW: Iolanthe - at the Festival Theatre, Malvern, from Tuesday, July 10, to Saturday, July 14, 2018.

THE arrival in Malvern of this all-male operetta, which has fairies running amok in the Houses of Parliament, could not have been better timed given all the shenanigans surrounding the latest stage of our long drawn out Brexit strategy.

You’ve probably guessed. This is comic opera, and here is one facet of stage entertainment that is perfectly woven and presented by director Sasha Regan.

It’s another feather in her cap having decided, around a decade ago, to take a fresh look at the national institution of Gilbert and Sullivan operas. And boy, she sure has achieved considerable success and appeal.

Her ground-breaking all-male stagings are a perfect heady mix of the traditional and fresh originality.

This version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s 1882 comic opera was first seen eight years ago - with this latest tour proving that Regan’s vision is still intact and her G and S reworking becoming something of an institution themselves.

Iolanthe is sprinkled with as much stardust as the fairies can muster as they take on the House of Lords and win. No wonder the opera’s alternative title is The Peer and the Peri - the latter, in Persian mythology, being a superhuman being, originally represented as evil but subsequently as a good or graceful genie or fairy.

Falsetto sopranos, altos, impressive choreography under the guidance of Mark Smith and some great comic timing and gloriously garish costumes all add considerably to the enjoyment.

And how well we are all eased into this magical story. So neat and captivating as a group of torch-bearing schoolboys come across an old vocal score of Iolanthe in a dusty wardrobe deep in the dark recesses of an empty theatre.

Echoes of Narnia… but no witch and definitely no lion! But this is a roaring success by itself as the action sparks into life It’s the press of the switch that fires the show in the right direction as myth meets ‘reality’. This world has eccentric peers in hand-me-down costumes while the fairies are partially more appealing in their white and skin colour garments with gossamer wings.

It has charm, wit and warmth to comfortably nudge alongside its originality and total entertainment value, all provided by an energetic and talented cast including Duncan Sandilands, a down-to-earth Guardsman, Private Willis, with appeal; Micheal Burgen’s ever-so eccentric Lord Mountararat; and Alastair Hill’s equally madcap Lord Chancellor. There’s also Richard Carson’s jaunty Strephon and Adam Pettit’s deftly daft Lord Tolloller.

As for fairies to the fore there were fine performances from Christopher Finn (Iolanthe) and Richard Russell Edwards (Fairy Queen).

There’s sparkle, there’s precision and it’s stirring.

And what a dazzling solo display from pianist Richard Baker. Who needs an orchestra when 10 fingers will do quite admirably?!

As the action progressed you couldn’t help but wonder how Mrs May could do with a few fairies herself loitering among our current crop of lords and ladies, not to mention the MPs, to ensure the country gets what it voted for two years ago.

These fairies, without doubt, get the vote and would deliver.