ENO’s Iolanthe is an artful parody of WS Gilbert’s parody of Victorian life and politics in the tale of fairies taking on peers, but one that plays for laughs but keeps the politics lightweight. The parody here is more of the art form itself, including the use of model sheep pushed around by black-clad stage hands, a pantomime cow, people on wires, a steam train bursting through the painted backdrop, oh, and a pink flamingo that looks more like a ventriloquist’s dummy.

That it is well-performed, acted, musically played and sung, and indeed sumptuously costumed and choreographed, you take for granted with the ENO, but I do wish Gilbert’s rapier wit had been further honed to make it relevant to modern audiences, as with Private Willis’s memorable number at the start of Act 2. For example, in Young Strephon Is The Kind Of Lout at the end of Act 1, there was a golden opportunity missed to make a nod towards Brexit (references to French, Latin and Greek words in the English language), which were not taken. Too bad.

Taken at face value, this is still a sparkling evening, one that will attract many a newcomer to the world of comic operettas, and rightly so, but then it is testament to G&S respectively for their sharp libretto and haunting music that the Savoy Operas are as fresh today as they were in 1882.