ENO's Gilbert and Sullivan Walking Tour

Satire that poked fun at the establishment and music on a par with the best in Europe are combined in the comic operas of WS Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. New life has been breathed into these sparkling works by innovative companies such as English National Opera, and now ENO takes these operas to the street.

On two days only in August, the brilliant director, singer and actor John Savournin will be among those leading a succession of walking tours devised by him, and retracing the steps through central London that are Gilbert and Sullivan landmarks.

As a part of Westminster City Council’s Inside Out Festival, the ENO’s Gilbert & Sullivan Walking Tour is a free 75-minute tour that will take audiences on a musical journey around Westminster. Walks start at the Savoy Theatre, the 19th-century home of Gilbert & Sullivan’s comic operas, and end at the ENO’s home, the London Coliseum where many of Gilbert & Sullivan’s works are performed today.

Listening through headsets provided on the tour, audiences will hear music performed by the ENO's indefatigable Chorus and Orchestra, alongside live performances from Gilbert & Sullivan characters appearing at stops along the tour.

Expect to encounter a local bobby, a wondering prisoner of the Tower, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and, yes, fairies too, at famous London landmarks, and learn all about the operettas they came from as well as the men who created them.

In addition to curating this tour, bass-baritone Savournin will be guiding audiences and performing. Joining him along the journey will be tenor Ruairi Bowen, bass Trevor Eliot Bowes, soprano Zoe Drummond, soprano Harriet Eyley, bass-baritone Ossian Huskinson, mezzo-soprano Bethan Langford, baritone Richard Suart, and actors Charlotte Gittins and Dom Hodson.

Culture Whisper first came across John Savournin directing his astonishing Mikado in 2018, and we've been fans ever since. You can see more of Savournin when he directs and performs in Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore (9-12 Aug) at Opera Holland Park – just before the walking tours.

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ENO's Gilbert and Sullivan Walking Tours are on Thur 17 and Fri 18 August 2023 at 10am, 10.30am, 12pm, 12.30pm, 2.30pm, 3pm, 4.30pm and 5pm