or Castle Adamant

Book by Sir W.S. Gilbert
Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan

A medieval battle of the sexes, with a nod to Tennyson

OMP Productions:
  Autumn 1990
  Autumn 1997
  Autumn 2004

When Ida was one year old, she was betrothed to Prince Hilarion, two-year-old son of King Hildebrand. Our curtain rises twenty years later as Hildebrand and his court eagerly await the arrival of Ida and her father, the ill-tempered King Gama. Gama indeed arrives with Ida's three brutish brothers, but informs us Ida now rules a women's university at Castle Adamant and has forsworn mankind. Prince Hilarion and his friends, Cyril and Florian, set out to win her, leaving Gama and his sons behind as hostages.

Arriving at Castle Adamant, Hilarion and his friends disguise themselves as female students by donning academic robes. The ambitious Lady Blanche finds them out, but she remains silent, hoping to replace Ida as head of the university. The men are finally undone by Cyril's tipsiness. In the shock of discovery, Ida falls into the moat below but is rescued by Hilarion. Refusing their pleas for mercy, she has them taken prisoner. Just then, Hildebrand's army storms the castle.

Ida is unable to inspire her army of women to defeat Hildebrand. Her father arrives and conveys Hildebrand's offer to resolve the dispute by letting her three brothers fight Hilarion, Cyril and Florian. Ida accepts. The result is another rescue, and a marriage after all.

Last updated: 06/30/09