It’s not often you get to see The Mikado accompanied by the occasional splashing of ducks, or with Ko-Ko making his first appearance in a punt. But this is all part of the charm of the Sunningwell Festival — a kind of mini Henley Festival set around a village pond instead of the Thames — and on Saturday this ten-day arts jamboree came to a rousing close with Opera Anywhere’s Jubilee-themed production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most popular operetta.

Despite the unusual setting, this was a fairly traditional Mikado, complete with Japanese costumes, but in a nod to the Jubilee the cast wore Union Jack trainers and the stage was framed by red, white and blue balloons. This interweaving of Japanese and British is, of course, entirely appropriate; although set in Japan, The Mikado is all about the British, and Gilbert’s dig at local authority incompetence has as much bite now as it did for Savoy audiences in 1885.

This was a pleasantly entertaining production, although it did lack a bit of oomph, partly because conductor Sally Mears seemed to be taking things at a rather pedestrian tempo, and partly because the chorus — seated on the opposite side of the pond due to space restrictions on the stage — could barely be heard in the Grandstand. The staging was sensibly minimalist, although quite why Mike Woodward, as Ko-Ko, had to sing his hilariously updated ‘Little List’ song while clinging precariously to the stage scaffolding is something of a mystery.

There was plenty to enjoy, though, with a cast of mainly young professionals delivering Gilbert’s humour with evident relish. The most memorable performances were David Ireland’s deliciously haughty, sneering Pooh-Bah and Christopher Jacklin’s gloriously urbane Mikado, while Lawrence Olsworth-Peter and Paloma Bruce were an appealing pair as Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum.

The Mikado is at Waterperry on July 19 (http://www. ticketsource.co.uk/ operaanywhere).